A longstanding employee is injured on the job and has to take six weeks off to recover. The leadership tells you, the newly hired supervisor, that you need to fire this longstanding employee. What should you do? What does that say about the culture of your place of work? Could you be next soon? How do you address this brand killer behavior and take a stand to define your management style?
Fear not, Dear Readers! The JMS team is back with actionable tips that will help develop your leadership skills with confidence. If it’s your first time here, Dear Readers welcome, and thanks for stopping by the JMS blog. FYI, JMS is a consulting firm located in Philadelphia that advises organizations and businesses on how to manage crises with efficiency and expediency. To that end, the JMS team is in the business of designing recovery plans as robust as possible that avoid behavioral and financial paralysis. In other words, Dear Readers, this blog will answer all the questions you might have to help you become the best leaders regardless of your industries.
Dear Readers, ad hoc firing of longstanding employees is an unforgiving brand killer. It lets everyone know that leadership can replace anyone at any time for any reason. It is also the surest way to kill productivity as employee morale is likely to hit an all-time low. How is a newly hired supervisor expected to improve team performance if direct reports are feeling unappreciated and so easily replaceable? Furthermore, such a destructive behavior does not encourage innovation as employees are scared to take any risk or spontaneously address shortcomings to boost productivity.
Think about it, Dear Readers, how would you feel if you’ve worked for 10, 15, or 20 years for a company only to find yourselves let go because you were injured and had to miss work for six weeks? You wouldn’t feel warm and fuzzy inside either!
Therefore, Dear Readers, the best course of action for this new supervisor is to manage expectations on both ends: with the leadership as well as with the longstanding employee. The truth of the matter is that as a recent addition to the department or company, a new supervisor is not yet embroiled in office politics and has a lot more freedom to fight for his/her team.
Dear Readers, it’s scary to stand up to anyone, but it’s a must if only to establish yourself as a force of nature so that executives learn to respect your opinion moving forward. Otherwise, Dear Readers, this new supervisor will be treated as a lackey and never will be able to bring about the changes needed to allow the team to perform its duties as effectively as possible! Being new is never an excuse to be a doormat! Always aim to take a stand and fight for your team, Dear Readers! It will go a long way to earn the trust, loyalty, and dedication of direct reports or what the JMS team calls the trifecta of team DynaMix.
Consequently, this blog suggests that the new supervisor pushes back a little by asking the leadership to justify the firing. The plan is not to prevent the firing but mitigate the damage to the psyche of the team and an inevitable drop in productivity likely to ensue as employee turnover tends to dampen team performance.
At the same time, the new supervisor will have to be honest with the injured longstanding employee and express just how unhappy the leadership has been with his/her performance. It is preferable to disclose potential barriers to rejoining the team. But, to avoid any wrongful termination lawsuits, the new supervisor should consider offering a tangible path to return to work, such as the completion of a certificate or online training that would address the concerns or reticence of executives!
In doing so, Dear Readers, the new supervisor takes a stand, successfully mitigates expectations on both sides, and makes sure that future negotiations will always include his/her point of view. That’s how you earn respect Dear Readers! And remember that it is not so much about what you say but how you say it that will resonate with your colleagues and make you an effective leader.
There you have it, Dear Readers! Thank you for stopping by today and taking the time to read this quick and dirty management tip. This blog hopes that this tip is helping you reconsider your approach to management or at least remind you that how you treat employees matter immensely. Delivering bad news is an inescapable part of any supervisory position; but, if you can do it in a manner that takes into account past service while understanding potential discontent Dear Readers, you are ahead of the game. The JMS team wants to see you win and is here to inspire you to be the greatest asset to your company and community.
Drop us a line in the comment section below or at jms@branding24seven.com to let us know if you agree with us. The JMS team loves to get mail, so don’t be shy, and feel free to send your letters at 21 S. 11th street 2nd Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107.
You can also send us your management dilemmas on LinkedIn, which we use as inspiration to bring this series to you every week Dear Readers! We’d love to interact with you in direct and boost your morale every chance we get on social media, so follow us on Facebook. Finally, here is more inspiration to help any supervisor, both new and veteran, connect and motivate employees to prioritize team effectiveness.
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