How to Fire with Compassion (Quick Study)

2 Mar 2020

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Firing needs to be handled well: the person you’re firing today could become a key contact or client tomorrow. Firing is never easy, and shouldn’t be. But it is something a manager should strive to handle well. Building great teams requires picking the best talent and also removing talent that isn’t working out. Letting someone go is a painful process, but if done well, it won’t come as a surprise to them and you’ll set them up for success when they leave. Being compassionate during this process is key to building a lasting professional network. Joel Peterson, chairman of JetBlue and an adjunct professor at Stanford, has fired plenty of people during his long career—and he’s been fired himself. --------------------------------------------------------------------- At Harvard Business Review, we believe in management. If the world’s organizations and institutions were run more effectively, if our leaders made better decisions, if people worked more productively, we believe that all of us — employees, bosses, customers, our families, and the people our businesses affect — would be better off. So we try to arm our readers with ideas that help them become smarter, more creative, and more courageous in their work. We enlist the foremost experts in a wide range of topics, including career planning, strategy, leadership, work-life balance, negotiations, innovation, and managing teams. Harvard Business Review empowers professionals around the world to lead themselves and their organizations more effectively and to make a positive impact. Sign up for Newsletters: https://hbr.org/email-newsletters Follow us: https://hbr.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/harvard-business-review/ https://www.facebook.com/HBR/ https://twitter.com/HarvardBiz https://www.instagram.com/harvard_business_review

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