The one piece of advice I always give managers who are facing the tough task of terminating a team member is this: “Don’t make it harder on the employee than it already is.”
Certainly losing a job is usually painful on many levels. Loss of face, loss of income, loss of relationships—all those things really hurt and can’t be avoided no matter how gracefully a manager exits someone. But sometimes companies make things worse than they need to be and, as a result, the terminated team member often gets angry and tries to fight back. And this is where things can get ugly.
Sometimes managers deliver the news poorly by choosing the wrong method or words. When this happens, fired employees often feel blindsided or stung or humiliated, and they lash out in response.
