To fire or not to fire…

Right ways of being when there’s no “right answer”

There have been so many edgy topics lately for the various executives in my world. Losing sleep over the decision to lay off a team member is one of the toughest moments leaders face. More than once someone has confessed that this economic crisis might simply be a convenient time to face a situation he or she has dreaded addressing for months.

I notice I’m hesitant at this moment attempting to even write about this topic, which is now reminding me of the immense emotional bandwidth it can take up for those actually devoting their lives to building something together!

That said, some observations:

However objectively one might assess another’s failure to perform, the leaders I’ve trusted the most also realize it may be impossible to discern all of the factors at play. Is someone doing the right things just not at the right times, are others not honoring their end of the bargain, and might someone suddenly achieve concretely with just a little more resources, or a little more time?

In the face of these uncertainties, and with so much on the line for everyone involved, I often see leaders feeling some (or all) of three archetypal impulses:

#1 Conservative impulse — if you’re unclear it’s working out be willing to “call a spade a spade”, ideally cutting ties while wishing each other well and, if not, cutting your losses without looking back

#2 Liberal impulse — conflicts are opportunities if we’re willing to relate to them as such, the most loyal members of a team are sometimes the ones with whom you’ve worked through the toughest challenges

#3 Integral impulse — acceptance (hopefully even celebration) that leadership requires one to perpetually balance the above impulses, but only forever!

I’ve seen so many examples of exhaustive measures taken to salvage a “bad hire” situation only to have it eventually go up in flames, leaving managers regretting extending so much for so long. It’s literally left some leaders in a crisis of faith, wondering whether seeing the best in people is naive. Yet I’ve also seen, first hand, an exit interview clear up so much misunderstanding that the very engineer who was absolutely committed to leaving instead offered to stay. He immediately began to perform beyond expectations.

From this perspective leaders rarely if ever make the “one right choice”. Leaders can instead attempt their best choice knowing this actually means:

“With this choice I’m committing to do what I can to ensure as many people as possible are happy I chose what I chose”.

As you balance the impulses above, you may find yourself letting someone go yet no longer asserting authority on whether they are competent or not. You can simply own the ways you can never be 100% certain of all that went awry. What you can know is that you wish things had gone differently, that it had become clear he or she was the right hire sooner. What you can know is that this outcome is a loss for your company and that you’re grateful he or she devoted this stretch of life to your cause. What you might be able to feel is warmth emanating from your eyes as you thank him or her for at least that. In the cases where the person being fired is upset and disagrees with your decision, what you can know is that he or she may be right, and that either way you hope next successes come with a light step and laughter that comes easily.

Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in seed-stage companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation and computing