But when once you’re in a position of authority, it doesn’t get better. You’ll still need to communicate, and in situations that no college course will have prepared you for. That’s right, as a manager, you’ll eventually wind up in a position that not even a communications course can prepare you for: You’ll need to fire someone.
The Firing Rule
The most common firing problem is that the manager or CEO will avoid firing someone because they don’t want to think about it, or they don’t want to acknowledge that they made a mistake in hiring that individual in the first place. But the longer you wait, the worse it gets. Situations that might genuinely deserve a pink slip include harassment, PR nightmares, or working on personal projects during company time. But when you do sit down for the meeting itself, keep one rule in mind: Put yourself in the shoes of the employee across the desk from you. As hard as it is for you to say, it’ll be tougher for them. It’s a rule Julia Grace of Slack recently noted in a Medium blog:
How to Put It in Practice
We’ve even touched on the details before at TechCo, with some tips about how to go about thinking of the employee first. Be nice, be transparent, and think of everyone. Don’t treat the fired employee as if they can be forgotten, but keep your entire team’s well-being in mind, too, as well as your own stress levels. Read more about employee management at TechCo
