Guest blog: Phil Gerbyshak, management expert
Phil is a management expert who also happens to sit on the HDI Member Advisory Board. Until recently Phil worked as a vice president of information technology at a financial services company based in Milwaukee, WI. Now he teaches companies like his former employer how to use social media by offering speaking, training, consulting and outsourcing services through his own company Social Media Sphere
Sometimes, things just don’t work out.
It could be the employee.
It could be the employer.
It could be both of you, or neither of you.
And unless you’re Darth Vader, it’s never easy to fire someone.
It doesn’t feel good for the person doing the firing.
It definitely doesn’t feel good for the person getting fired.
So what’s the secret to firing someone?
Two simple words, but they’re golden: Be human
Treat the other person as a human being, and act like a human being yourself.
Let the other person respond to you, human to human.
There may be some:
Yelling
Screaming
Anger
Tears. Don’t take it personally. But do: Be human! And let the rest take care of itself.
What’s YOUR secret to firing people?
Phil,
This is beautifully simple.
I guess my secret is to not let it be a surprise.
Talk along the way about performance. I remember talking to a couple of employees and stating “You can’t be having fun in this job.” We opened dialogue about how to make it fun and how to get the employee “winning.” All along the way I openly and honestly told them that if we can’t get them winning here that we’d work out a good transition plan for them to find another job, but help me out meanwhile.
Jules