Transcript

I’m Tim Burningham and this is The Culture Guide podcast! 

Hey welcome everyone to the podcast. Grateful to have you listening in to the show today. As a reminder, our podcast exists to help you create amazing organizational cultures, and we believe that amazing cultures can transform the results within any business. 

So last week on the podcast we talked about what you may not know about organizational culture. So if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to go back and to listen to that episode. 

So today we’re going to talk about something that a lot of us really dislike and  in my mind is one of the most difficult things when I was leading different teams throughout my career…and that is terminating employment of one of your team members. So we’re going to talk about how to effectively terminate people. 

 But before we do that, it’s important to understand that how we terminate people actually has a really big impact on our culture, and I think sometimes we don’t take that into consideration. But the way that we terminate people is important to establishing a healthy and strong organizational culture, because the thing about terminations is…is that everyone hears about it. 

People will know what went down.  They’ll want to know what went down, they’ll ask each other, and there will be lots of conversations about what happened during that termination. So keep that in mind as you’re terminating employment…that it will impact your culture and that people will know what happened during that termination.  

5 Tips for Effectively Terminating Employment

So today I’m going to share with you 5 things you can do to most effectively let someone go. 

Make Sure Your Heart and Mind are in the Right Spot

 So number one is you have to make sure your heart and mind are in the right spot. If you’re angry or upset, you really need to take some time and wait until you’re at a better place. If you step back from the situation, no matter the reason for the termination, surely this individual in some way has contributed to your organization or to your team. So I want you to 1st think about that. 

Also, to make sure you’re in the right place, you need to make sure that you don’t take things personal. You shouldn’t feel personally wronged by someone as hard as that may be from time to time and then to make sure your heart is right. You also need to genuinely wish the best for that person. 

Though you’re letting someone go, you need to have kindness in your heart toward that person. So the number one thing is to make sure your heart and mind are in the right place.  

Don’t Procrastinate Sharing the News

#2 is once you begin the conversation with that person, don’t procrastinate sharing the news. 

One of the worst things you can do in a termination is to engage in small talk with the person or talk about certain projects that are coming up or act as if there’s nothing big that’s about to happen…because you’re about to drop a bomb, most likely in this person’s life. And so just cutting to the chase and getting to it immediately is really the most effective way to let someone go. So come clean as soon as possible as soon as you sit down with that person. As hard as it may be, let them know immediately that you’re going to be terminating their employment. 

Be Clear

#3 is you need to be as clear as you possibly can be about why the separation is necessary. Again, you don’t need to go into great details here. You don’t need to list out everything that the person has maybe done wrong that has led to your decision, but there should be a simple and concise, maybe one or two sentences at the most, explanation of why they are being terminated.  

So for example, you may just say simply. The reason why it’s necessary to separate your employment at this time is because we continue to fail to meet our budgetary requirements within your Department and this is impacting our ability to live our mission and to achieve our vision.  

People need to know and they’ll want to know why they’re being terminated, and this will help them learn from their mistakes and to improve in areas maybe where they’re lacking. And so thinking about, before you ever get into the termination conversation, what that one or two concise clear explanation will be for the reason of why the separation is necessary is really important. 

And remember, during the conversation you don’t need to agree with what the person says. You don’t need to argue. At the end of the day, you want to be honest and you don’t want to make up excuses or blame someone else or blame outside circumstances for the decision of separation. You also don’t want to downplay why you’re having to terminate that person. You need to come clean. You need to be sincere and honest, but make it concise. Again, you don’t need to go into every detail or point out every flaw or everything that led up to the decision to separate employment. 

Give Plenty of Time and Listen

#4 is give yourself plenty of time and come prepared to listen. So oftentimes leaders we’re extremely busy and so we try to rush and handle a termination quickly in between meetings or when we don’t have a whole lot of time. This is a big mistake. 

Give yourself plenty of time to conduct the termination. And the reason for this is you want to listen empathetically. Allow the person that you’re terminating to get whatever it is they want to get off their chest. That doesn’t mean you have to agree with them, it doesn’t mean you have to argue with them. In fact, you shouldn’t argue with them. Just sit there and listen, listen to what they have to say. 

Lots of times people feel so much better when they’re able just to get something off their chest and feel like they were heard or understood. Again as leaders, lots of times our natural inclination is to just end the meeting quick and try to shew them out the door again. This is a mistake. Take the time that the person would like to take with you and listen to them. Listen to what they have to say. Again, don’t rush this process. 

Express Grattitude for their Contributions

#5 is at the end of the conversation. You should be prepared to genuinely express gratitude for the contribution that this person has made, even if they are leaving a mess behind, or even if they did something really bad. Point out the things that they did do well. Nearly everyone in your organization has tried to contribute in some way and for the most part people aren’t looking to cause problems. People aren’t looking to not be successful in their jobs. Many times they’ve given it their all. They’ve worked hard and they’ve tried and so it’s a good idea to recognize that and to thank them for their contributions. 

At the end of the day with terminations, the goal should be to help people feel like valuable human beings. You want them to feel good about themselves as much as they can in this difficult situation, and you can do this by being kind by, being hopeful and by being helpful to them. 

It is so much better if the people you terminate continue cheering you on outside of your organization rather than trying to hurt your organization. When terminations are done right this is possible. 

How Terminating Employees Fits in The 4 C’s Model

So how does all this fit into The 4 C’s model? How can The 4 C’s Model help with this? One of the C’s is clarity And so again, being clear on the reason for separation is important to effectively terminating someone. 

 Also, consistency in how you handle terminations is really, really important. If you show kindness and give one person a lot of time when terminating them, but then another person you’re quick, short, to the point, get him out the door and don’t listen to them…people are going to see that, and they’re going to wonder why there’s inconsistency. They’re going to question why there’s inconsistency, and it’s going to help foster a feeling of instability within your organization. 

Then celebration, and this is acknowledging again the contribution that the person has made. And then of course at the end of the day you want people leaving feeling like they’re valued human beings, and you want to have your heart in the right spot before you start. And both of those things relate to charity within the model.  

Remember anything that you can do to strengthen clarity, consistency, celebration and charity within your organization, including in the termination process, will help strengthen your organizational culture.  

So to review the five things you can do to most effectively terminate someone is: 

1. Make sure your heart and mind are in the right spot. 
2. Once you sit down with the person, don’t procrastinate the reason for your meeting. You need to share with them right away that you’ll be terminating their employment. 
3. You need to be as clear as you possibly can be about why the separation is necessary. 
4. Give yourself plenty of time and be prepared to listen. And  
5. Genuinely thank them for the contribution that they’ve made to your organization.  

 

When you handle terminations in this way, it will help you create a stronger organizational culture within your organization, which will help you improve your results. 

Thanks everyone for listening in today. Hopefully this podcast has been helpful to you.  

If you haven’t had an opportunity to do so yet, I’d like to encourage you to leave us a review on iTunes. Also, feel free to share this podcast with your friends out there. You could also learn more about us by going to the cultureguide.com. You can also check out our book on Amazon called How Leaders Can Strengthen Their Organization’s Culture. 

Thanks a lot again for your time and I hope you have a great one.