I recently saw an interview with Linked In CEO – Jeff Weiner.  He spoke about how when it comes to firing somebody it needs to be a compassionate situation.  What?!  Firing somebody is compassionate?!

Yes, it can be the right thing to do… even for the employee.

Many times if somebody is not performing they are more unhappy with their job than the company is with their performance.  The more time goes on they lose confidence, they are uncomfortable at meetings, they lose their passion/drive, mistakes (which we all make!) become a bigger regret than they should be and well, things can get unhappy at home.

What are we all doing then?

So yes, providing somebody an opportunity to again feel as excited about a fresh start as they did when they first joined your company is a good thing.  Look, I understand there’s strong emotion and somebody getting fired is hard on everybody.  My point is don’t wait too long.  When it’s reached the right progression do the right thing… for everybody.