firing

From Claire Lew:

From our online leadership community of 1,000+ managers in The Watercooler in Know Your Team…

What’s the best way to let someone go?

Opening sentence should be delivered in 5 seconds or less.

Second sentence should articulate terms (severance, impact to equity, etc)

Final sentence should indicate this is non-negotiable

Once the decision’s been made, let them go as fast as humanly possible.

Ultimately, there’s no such thing as an “optimal” time to fire someone. Time of day or day of week shouldn’t become an excuse for delaying.

Cut to the chase right away. Literally nothing you can say will soften the blow and nobody will appreciate your platitudes right now.

Listen to their reaction. Not because you’re giving them an opportunity to argue their way back into their job, but so you can better adjust your message if needed.

Remember this sucks, but it’s WAY suckier for them. So, don’t make it about you or talk about how hard this is for you.

Be a good human. Respect the terminated employee’s privacy, even if it was completely their fault they were fired. Your other employees will care and notice how you’re treating their former coworker.