I fired someone for the first time today. This person was the first I hired and was with me for 18 months. It was a hard decision and probably months overdue. She didn’t take it well and ended up threatening me. The close friendship we had feels fake. I helped her in her times of need so many times and feel taken advantage of.
I couldn’t sleep last night and feel sick. I’ve done nothing wrong. I understand looking back at former bosses why they kept their distance. It’s just my nature to want to get close to employees because it’s a small business and we are together so many hours a week. Any words of advise from my fellow small business owners?
Business is a process. Relationships are a personal matter.
If you damage the process then you hurt everyone.
The simplest way to justify any change is to review the process with your team member, make sure to list the performance criteria that is essential for success, and then discuss why you need to move forward with change.
If you comment on your employee’s shortcoming, it is taken as a personal attack with matching emotional responses.
If you talk about process and NOT comment on your team member, then you are discussing options with your team member. The business has needs. And your job is to make sure that those needs are met.