You Have To Fire Someone Tomorrow. Here's What To Say

There is a meeting on your calendar for nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Fifteen minutes. You have already talked to HR, the paperwork is done, and you have been rehearsing the first sentence all night. This is the first time you have to fire someone, and nobody ever showed you how.

Most new managers think firing an employee is the meeting. It is not. Letting somebody go is three things: everything before you walk into the room, the first minute once you are in it, and the next morning with the people who are still on your team. Most of us only get ready for the middle one.

Researchers Allan Lind, Jerald Greenberg, Kimberly Scott and Thomas Welchans interviewed almost a thousand people who had just lost their jobs to find out who decides to fight it. Money mattered, but what stood out most was how people were treated on the way out. People who felt treated with dignity and respect almost never went after their employer. People who got no explanation were far more likely to. How you do it is not the soft part. It is the part that matters.

In this episode John Espinosa walks through The Clean Exit, three moves for the first time you have to let somebody go.

ONE. NO SURPRISES. If they would be shocked, you are not ready to fire them. You are ready to have the conversation you skipped: your job is at risk, here is what is not working, here is what has to change, here is when we will look at it again. Then talk to HR, know the answers to their questions, and write your first sentence down.

TWO. LEAD WITH THE DECISION. No small talk. Say it in the first minute: I have some hard news. We have made the decision to end your employment, and today is your last day. Give the same reason they have already heard. Do not argue, do not make it about you, and let them leave with their dignity.

THREE. ANSWER THE QUESTION THEY WON'T ASK. The next morning your team is wondering one thing: am I next? Get them together, say what it means for the work, do not share the reasons, and make one promise. Nobody on this team gets blindsided.

This is employee termination done the way a good manager does it: honest before, clear in the room, and steady with the team after.

WHO THIS IS FOR New managers facing their first termination, first time managers dealing with an underperforming employee, and experienced managers who want to let someone go without losing the trust of the team that stays. --------------------------------- Get my coaching frameworks behind the scenes. One idea and one small shift to your inbox every week. Start here: https://www.thejohnespinosa.com/start-here

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