I was talking with a business owner about how to treat a senior manager that was causing a lot of trouble. What’s the right thing to do? Make life miserable enough that they’ll leave on their own? Just drop the hammer one day and get them out of your life?
While that’s tempting, I always suggest imagining that you didn’t work for your company, but were an outsider who was close to the offender. Let’s say you were their best friend or sibling or spouse or dad or mom. How would you expect them to be treated?
If it were my best friend, I would want to know that:
- He had fair and impartial warning about his bad behavior
- He was given a fair chance to mend his ways
- If he got fired, it was no surprise to him
When you look at things from that perspective, you’re going to make HR moves that will leave all parties feeling that they were treated fairly. It’s just a variation on the golden rule – treat others as you would wish to be treated.
