Entrepreneurial Leadership

Make feedback fun, a way to learn and to grow, never taking offense, always seeing it as information that can either be incorporated or ignored.

Consider hiring a coach to help you gain the skills you need, just as if you were an elite athlete.

Treat [the person you’re firing] the same way you’d want to be treated if you were in that situation. They’re still a good person, just not the right fit.

entrepreneurial leaders must become as skilled at firing as they are at hiring.

People will always need to be let go because it’s impossible to be error-free in hiring—to bring on only those who fit with the organization and perform flawlessly.

People need to move on, and they won’t always be the first to recognize it.

What matters as much as actually removing people is how people are treated during the process.

Don’t wait for a “firing offense.” It’s natural to procrastinate when deciding to move someone out of a job. Good managers are compassionate and empathetic, and this leads many to repeatedly give underperformers one last chance. Some managers go further, awaiting some dramatic event or ethical breach to clearly justify the firing. Avoid this trap.

Document the smaller, quieter moments of underperformance and establish a trendline.

When that situation can’t be fixed quickly, it’s time to act. Just as when a wide receiver consistently fails to catch the ball, the rest of the team deserves to have a more reliable player on the field.

four lies managers tell themselves to avoid firing people: (1) the person’s performance will get better; (2) having somebody in the role is better than having nobody while we search to fill it; (3) it’s smarter to transfer the person to another department than to fire him or her; and (4) firing the person will be bad for morale.

Be willing to fire friends or family.

Good managers separate friendship from work—

clearly communicate that this status won’t protect the person if he or she underperforms

Don’t surprise people. Subordinates deserve frequent feedback, and this is especially true when someone is underperforming. No one should be surprised when he’s fired—and if he is, it’s a sign that you’ve failed not in the termination conversation but in your feedback and evaluation processes.

Most firings are not because of a single event; therefore, they should come at the end of several discussions and perhaps after implementing a performance improvement plan (PIP) in which an employee is put on notice (and the problem is clearly documented).

Unless it involves discrimination or harassment, it’s very difficult for a fired employee to successfully sue a former employer—and even if he or she tries, it typically takes years.

If you give people frequent, honest assessments of their performance, behave fairly and humanely, and don’t take them by surprise when you ask them to leave, the odds of a suit are lower than you may fear.

Deliver the message clearly and immediately. A manager who has decided to let someone go should schedule a meeting and deliver the termination message within the first thirty seconds of sitting down: “We’ve decided to make a change, to terminate your position, to replace you.”

Throughout the discussion, play it straight: any attempts at humor, or showing sympathy, or at blaming the decision on someone else merely create risk for offense or misunderstanding. The sooner you deliver the basic message and shift the discussion to severance, benefits, and the transition plan, the better.