Leopard’s spots, game theory, and firing people

Some people say you aren’t truly an entrepreneur until you have to let someone go. I don’t entirely agree. Firing bad people is part and parcel of business. Hopefully as an entrepreneur you’ve developed a good enough recruitment process that you don’t hire too many bad people.

Letting good people go is whole other story. Letting good people go is the hardest part of any business, startup or not. There is no purer reflection of the self than how you handle letting a good person go.

Separate your business head from your personal head = you’ll be fine

I smell MBA bullsheet here. Nobody, with a conscience, can completely remove the human aspect of letting people go, even when the person being fired is an a-hole. Jobs, for most people, are their lifeblood; They not only support a person’s monetary needs but also provide many with a large part of their identity. When you let someone go you take those away and so much more. It’s hard not to be guilty, even if it’s the right decision for your business and the longer you wait to make the decision, the more negatively it impacts your company, especially when you’re a startup.

Instead of trying to completely separate the business from the personal, here’s a few more practical things I suggest you do before the big talk.

1. Put some actual numbers behind what this person is costing your business. When we keep things in our head as theoretical / emotional / stressful internal conversations, we miss out on the chance to cold hard (cash)numbers talk.
2. Write a letter of recommendation for them, before speaking to them. This helps you put your thoughts about them as an employee down on paper. Be honest, write down what they are good at and highlight what could use improvement. Then tear it up but remember your thinking. When the time comes, and if they are deserving, you can offer to write one for real.
3. If you’re feeling guilty, that’s ok. Just don’t let it come out too much in your conversation with the person you are letting go. You don’t want to be apologising for what you are doing as it will sound like you think it’s a mistake.

Firing people doesn’t have to be a zero sum game

The last point to the one above is worth looking at in some detail. While it may be hard, you need to realise the person you are letting go might be better off somewhere else and, you might just be able to help them get there. If you can help them, even just a little, you won’t feel like you’re on the losing end of the game when you let them go. Here’s what I offer people in each of the following scenarios. Feel free to discard it all if you disagree.

Scenario one: Good people doing poor work.

• I give them an honest assessment of their strengths and weaknesses and let them know why it didn’t work out in the role they are in.
• I make recommendations on how they could improve their performance in their next role. This might be by taking a course or other.
• I highlight companies I know are hiring
• I write them an honest letter of recommendation based with no (guilty feeling) exaggerations — this would reflect poorly on my own brand.

Scenario two: Bad people doing good or poor work.

• I give them an honest assessment of their strengths and weaknesses and let them know why it didn’t work out.
• I don’t attack their personality. I do inform them that it played a significant role in the reason for firing them.
• I don’t offer to write a letter of recommendation.

Scenario three: Good people doing good work (but the role is changing or you’re down sizing)

• I give them an honest assessment of their strengths and weaknesses.
• I offer to write them an honest letter of recommendation based on my experience working with them.
• I offer to make personal introductions to companies I know are hiring roles their skill sets match.
• I write them a glowing letter of recommendation. No exaggerations but none should be needed if they do good work.

While it may be hard to believe this, not everyone loves their job as much as you do. And, while the initial reaction is generally a combination of disbelief / disappointment, I’ve had people tell me, a few weeks after being let go, that being let go was the best thing that had ever happened to them. They’ve found an amazing company with a similar role, or an amazing new role, or they’ve decided to start their own thing. I’m in contact with most of the people I’ve let go. While it may sound strange, they’re the most honest people I deal with in terms of feedback. They have nothing to lose by telling me the truth and we can all benefit from the lessons learned elsewhere.

If you liked the thoughts I’ve shared you can do one of two things:

1. Nothing — and you’re welcome.
2. Clap, share on social, add your insights via commenting, and check out what we are up to at SyndicateRoom. That’s the best thanks I can ask for.

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 312,043+ people.

Subscribe to receive our top stories here.