my boss was abruptly fired and my staff are freaking out — Ask a Supervisor

A reader writes:

I work at a small firm and my group is even smaller: it’s simply me, two individuals who report back to me, my boss (till yesterday), and the rather more senior one who leads the group. My boss has at all times been extremely competent, performed nice work (by my very own account and by my grandboss’s account), and been an ideal supervisor/trainer/mentor to me and my direct reviews.

Yesterday my grandboss abruptly introduced that my boss had been fired, which was utterly out of the blue for me and, based mostly on the panic I used to be fielding from my direct reviews, for them as effectively. My boss clearly additionally didn’t see it coming — the morning he was let go, he was speaking with me about logistical issues (suppose “I’ll be tied up on a name for X mission at 11 am, are you able to deal with ABC and we’ll debrief afterward?”).

My grandboss and the pinnacle of my firm gave us the information, and explicitly mentioned this had nothing to do with efficiency or work high quality (they reiterated that each of these have been distinctive) however actually simply that it wasn’t an ideal match they usually simply didn’t see him having a future right here. They instantly adopted that up with pleasure in regards to the alternative for my boss, to whom they’ve apparently already prolonged a suggestion (allegedly, the alternative verbally accepted the provide the night time earlier than they fired my boss).

My direct reviews are understandably extremely anxious about what this implies for them and the group, and the obscure “his efficiency was superb however we didn’t see a future for him right here” solely heightens the worry that they might simply be fired at random with no concept why. The announcement in regards to the alternative additionally felt callous and pointless and visibly rubbed my group the fallacious manner.

My grandboss approached me later to say that I shouldn’t fear about my job, and he requested if I believed he ought to speak to the 2 extra junior folks on the group. I believed it was apparent that was the precise factor to do, however he dealt with the announcement so poorly that possibly it wouldn’t be!

I have already got common check-ins with my reviews individually to debate efficiency and am very clear with expectations (what’s required for his or her present position and to be able to advance within the group), areas for enchancment, and so on. They each are doing an ideal job. I additionally took every of them out individually after we bought the information so they might vent and/or ask me any questions. However given 1) this was explicitly not performance-related and a couple of) I actually was visibly blindsided by the information (I blurted out “What? Why?” earlier than I might cease myself, and have been very vocal previous to this about how extremely I consider my boss), I can’t think about both of them feels comforted by any reassurances coming from me.

Your staff are proper to be alarmed, as are you!

If your organization fires somebody they themselves say was an “distinctive” performer, then it’s logical for everybody else to fret that they too could be fired out of the blue.

Now, possibly that’s not truly true. Possibly his boss had talked with him about different ways in which the job wasn’t a match. Who is aware of, possibly your boss was decided to pursue technique X when his managers needed technique Y and this was only a distinction in visions or ways — though in that case you’d suppose they might have simply mentioned that, because it’s quite a bit simpler to elucidate. Or possibly he questioned them an excessive amount of, or possibly he did an ideal job on the day-to-day however struggled to set a broader imaginative and prescient, or he was good at X however they need the position to be extra Y, or he had unhealthy chemistry with the folks above him. It’s additionally potential that your organization uncovered one thing egregious (like, I don’t know, hiring intercourse staff on the corporate dime) and, in attempting to guard his privateness, flubbed how they messaged it.

Or possibly it’s none of that they usually make capricious choices based mostly on little or no. Or they needed to rent a senior supervisor’s brother-in-law and unceremoniously kicked out your boss so they might.

We don’t know, as a result of their messaging on this was so unhealthy.

You possibly can’t credibly or ethically reassure your staff that their jobs are secure except you’ve got a greater understanding of what occurred.

Are you able to speak to your grandboss and clarify that persons are alarmed to be instructed somebody was fired for causes that explicitly had nothing to do together with his efficiency, and that when you admire the necessity for discretion round personnel choices, with out some further data folks will assume they too may very well be fired with out warning and with out cause … and so if there is a cause, it might assist to share extra data with folks?

In the event that they count on you to do the work of reassuring folks and stopping panicked job hunts, they should provide the instruments to try this with.