This article speaks to a similar experience that struck very close to home. Very upsetting! To the Manager Who Just Fired My Friend by Bruce Kasanoff A close friend of mine got fired this afternoon, after working for a non-profit agency for five years. My friend is a generous, responsible, and highly capable person; I personally watched her chair - as a volunteer - fundraising events that brought in over $250,000 for two schools in our area. Over her tenure at this agency, my friend received strong performance reviews, except for the last one, when - pay close attention - she had a boss who was new to the agency. This new manager got very upset when an embarrassing (to her) error occurred. My friend was to blame, but lets put this in perspective... if I only made one error every five years, it would be a huge improvement over my actual performance. For much of my friends previous four years, she worked for a former colleague of mine. This colleague is a tough, smart, demanding and highly professional woman. She gave my friend excellent performance reviews; to this day, they remain friends. Unfortunately, that woman moved on and was replaced by the new manager. To recap: new manager comes in, decides she doesnt like my friend, and sets the ball in action to fire her. At her first possible opportunity, she does. Did I mention that this is a non-profit agency designed to help people? Ive taken pains in this piece to keep everyone anonymous, because my intention is not to criticize anyone - even the manager who fired my friend - but rather to inspire other managers to aim a bit higher. If you are part of an organization created to do good, then do good. Dont be petty or vindictive. Dont fire people because you feel like it. But heres my main message: if you join an organization and find that a person who has thrived at that organization suddenly becomes incompetent once you start supervising them... the problem is you, not them. So think twice before you give up on people. Dont label them as expendable. Dont send them out the door, simply because you dont feel like working with them. If you only work with people whom you naturally like, then you will put yourself in a box and marginalize your own career. In the short run you may have the power to make other people stumble, but in the long run you will only trip up yourself. Bruce Kasanoff is a ghostwriter for entrepreneurs. Learn more at Kasanoff. He is the author of How to Self-Promote without Being a Jerk.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 05:07:53 +0000
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