Dismissal as an action from the heart and mind, part I

I have been dismissed twice in my career. They weren’t pleasant experiences at the time, but looking back I benefitted from them strategically. I came to understand the steps I could have made to avoid being dismissed, but at the same time, I knew I didn’t want to take them, because the roles did not match my interests, ambitions, and values. With each dismissal, a new period of my life began. When I became ‘Head’ of a department, I found myself in the position where I too would need to have these conversations with my employees from time to time.

Dismissals are often considered to be stressful and confusing for all involved. But I believe we should avoid thinking about it negatively and look to convert the situation into a positive event that offers potential for both sides. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject:?

?1. Firstly, any leader must feel confident and reassured that their decision to dismiss an employee is the correct one. It can be comfortable to look like the ‘good person’ at all times and not do ‘bad things’ that may displease others. A lack of communication or attempts to avoid conflict will inevitably lead to the same poor results and disruptive behavior. By not offering timely, adequate, honest, calm, and supportive feedback to your employee – you risk creating an explosive, or cold and distant atmosphere if it comes to dismissals. There is also the risk that this outcome will come as a surprise to them, as up to this point they might believe they were performing well and to your expectations. We should always keep in mind that we are the eyes and ears of the organization and should take care of problems as they arise, if not before! If an employee in their current position is showing poor results, and we don’t see or deal with the issue, we are not effectively and rationally utilizing the resources provided to us by the company. It also negatively influences other employees, who see this bad example and may feel a sense of injustice. So, if someone is performing poorly, it is always the responsibility of their senior leader to take steps to remedy or look to dismissal.

A bad habit here is to behave as a ‘rescuer’ – treating employees as children or closing your eyes to many things because of an attachment. When you observe that an employee has used all the benefits afforded by the company to little effect, or even resulting in harm, then this kind of attitude can negatively impact both employees and the company. It reinforces non-responsibility, negligence, laziness, weakness, and stagnation. This kind of enabling stands in the way of offering real help and positioning yourself to positively influence someone's professional growth, and to contribute to new openings and possibilities. Dismissal can also be the final word in the communication process when you don’t want to support destructive or non-professional behavior. In summary, to be the ‘good person’ in this scenario is, unfortunately, being a bad senior leader and mentor.??

?2. A dismissal should be a considered, carefully-formed and well-prepared decision. It begins with identifying and communicating your reasoning through honest and supportive feedback and being mindful to highlight the person’s positive qualities as well. At all times, your team member should be treated respectfully and with an awareness of their emotional state. It’s also good to take the inner psychological attitude, “I’m OK and you’re OK”. Everything is OK on your side, as you have the company’s best interests at heart, you are doing your job well and will seek to coach your employee through this challenging period. And everything is OK with your employee, because they would wish to perform their job well at all times, unlock their potential and find his or her own place, where they will feel capable, useful and valued.

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An honest, professional conversation can really help. Taking a step back, it is a very good habit to give feedback to employees from time to time – it will help with their orientation and reflection on how they are doing. So, if we see a problem, we should arrange a meeting to have the necessary conversation. Here, I prefer a coaching style, whereby I ask questions designed to bring my employee to a more conscious and strong position. For example, if someone is struggling to fulfill their sales plan on a regular basis, they may become defensive or offer a ‘why not’ to explain their shortfall. The conversation should be steered away from why they were unable to achieve a particular goal, and towards what they attempted to do to make it possible. I like to ask questions such as: “Did you consider ‘x’ or ‘y’?”, “What other variables were you thinking about?”, “What was your back-up plan?”. This leads to an extension of their thinking, and developing an active, conscious, and responsible inner position.

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Take the role of a sales employee working with a Fortune 500 company as an example. Here, a fast result is not expected, and any deal could take up to two or three years to complete. In such a case, we can always find and measure intermediate indicators, such as: how many people from these companies your employee got acquainted with; how many meetings were held, what topics were discussed, and what were the results and promises made; and if there were any pilot studies, how many were there and what were the outcomes. In this scenario, we have plenty of opportunities to provide ongoing feedback and, if serious problems are observed, to address them. If we see that our employee can’t or doesn't want to make the changes that are necessary, then the next step is to look at dismissal – it is the best decision to save time and resources for the company.

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The continuation of this article will be published next month