122: How to Fire Someone

Is Firing Someone Bothering You? Here's What to Do

Do you find yourself as the leader of your salon, having to let someone go? It can be that they aren’t fitting in to your culture, or that they have toxic & derailing behavior, or maybe you caught them doing something, like stealing or lying…Whatever the situation, firing team members can be stressful.

What I'm going to share with you, is a result of years of experiences mostly doing this terribly. And what I want to do is help you avoid some of the things that I had to navigate, some of my own head garbage around how to do this well- how to be clear, how to be kind, and how to not let a situation get out of hand to the degree to which both of you are surprised by the outcome.

If you’re a salon owner and need some guidance with one-on-ones, grab  our FREE .pdf The "Must Have" Questions for a Successful One-on-One

0:00
When you find yourself as the leader of your salon having to let someone go, it can be that they aren’t fitting into your culture
1:19
When it comes to firing people, I did this horribly.
3:26
Firing someone is one of the most stressful parts of running a salon.
5:13
Mistakes I’ve made in letting people go.
7:12
What do you do when you have a team member who’s struggling?
9:16
Don’t surprise people.
10:36
On the very first day, let them know your expectations.
12:42
If you need help with monthly one-on-ones, you can sign up for a free PDF.

Use my Gloss Genius link to start using today!

Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel as well!

Visit my Amazon Store for all my favorite products!

Grab your Ultimate In-Salon Training Toolkit!

Website: www.danisekeilitz.com
YouTube: All About Hair

Shop my favorite Eufora Products.

Transcript

1:32

Do you find yourself as the leader of your salon having to let someone go, it can be that they aren't fitting into your culture, or that they have toxic and derailing behavior, or maybe you caught them doing something like stealing, or lying. Whatever the situation firing team members can be stressful, what I'm going to share with you is a result of years of experiences, mostly doing this terribly. And what I want to do is help you avoid some of the things that I had to navigate some of my own head garbage around how to do this well, how to be clear how to be kind, and how to not let a situation get out of hand to the degree to which both of you are surprised by the outcome. Well, hey there. This is Denise. And this is the salon ownership Made Easy show a podcast for salon owners who are searching for simple solutions to their everyday challenges. Think about it, we then learn how to be successful salon owners and beauty school. So why don't you let me share what has worked and hasn't worked for me over the last 30 years, you do have what it takes to be amazingly successful. You just need to master a few key techniques, develop some solid systems and create a leadership mindset to be on your way. So let's do this. I'm so excited you're here. When it comes to firing people, I did this horribly. And when I say horribly, I was embarrassingly bad for a very long time, I would fire people abruptly and dance around issues. The reason is because this is not natural for so many of us giving people feedback, and letting them know how to improve their performance, shining a light on the things that they're either not seeing or probably don't want to see. It's a skill set that we don't really learn any other way. Many of us have been on the receiving end of extremely poor feedback. I remember when I was in a salon years, years years ago, I mean, it was devastating, to be humiliated on the salon floor by the salon owner. I told myself Long, long ago, if I was ever responsible for other people, I would never let them feel small. Never. But it kind of has backfired on me a little bit too, because it almost swung the other way, the swing word, I don't know. Anyway, I was almost too kind. Because I didn't want to hurt people's feelings. So I really wasn't taught how to fire people, or how to let them go or even how to give feedback properly. So I want to share some of that today. I look back on a time when I let somebody go, I mustered up all the courage that I needed to have this really challenging conversation, you know, when you've stared at the ceiling all night losing sleep, thinking about what to say and how the situation can go in all sorts of ways and your mind just goes crazy. Well, in this case, the team member was constantly late, one of my biggest pet peeves not showing up ready to work and talking rather negatively, not only in the break room, but on the salon floor. So the salon manager and me. We had spoken to her a few times about her tardiness and her behavior generally. But she just didn't seem to get it. She just really she just didn't seem to care. Because her behavior sure didn't change. And but you want to know the truth. What was really stressful. We really couldn't afford to fire her. We really needed her behind the chair. Our little Salon at the time was growing. And we needed stylists like bad. Does this sound familiar? Especially in today's environment? However, this behavior was taking our little team down fast. Our culture was dying. So here I am. Do I do this before the day starts? Or is the end of her day? Look, there's never a good time. So I called her to my office mustered up the courage because yeah, it takes courage. And I told her she was let go. And you know what? She was surprised. She didn't even see it coming. What? How could she not know we had talked to her so many times. Anyway, being a salon owner is so rewarding on so many levels. However, firing someone is probably one of the most stressful parts about it. No one likes confrontation. And no one likes to be told they don't fit in. However, it's our responsibility as the leader of the team to uphold the salons values and culture to protect the rest of the team. and your salons reputation. Let me give you another couple of examples before we get to help firing a person should actually look like because yes, I I've actually experienced some pretty successful parties of the way. Well, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit. But I've made so many mistakes in letting people go. I've either gotten really frustrated in the moment and let them go on the spot. Or what about the times I've fired people through a text? Oh, my goodness, what the heck? How weak of a person is that? Oh, well, you know what I've learned looking back. I'm a person who hates to hurt people's feelings. I hate confrontation. And it probably stems back from being belittled on the salon floor long, long, long ago, by a salon owner when they did to me. But you know what, who doesn't hate confrontation. But what I've learned is people need to know how they're doing. And it's our job to make sure they know through clear communication of what's expected of them from the very start. So don't assume they know what they're supposed to be doing. So you're probably wanting another example. Let me just say, if there was a wrong way to let someone go, I've probably done it. I'm not proud of that fact. In fact, I'm embarrassed by it. But you know, what you learn. And you try not to make the same mistake. Again. Like I mentioned, I've let people go through texts, totally not advisable. I've let people go over the phone. Not a good way either. And I've also let people go without gathering all the facts, which is really not good. In all these instances, it's not fair to the person, it doesn't leave them feeling good about you, your business, nor themselves for that matter. And frankly, it doesn't sit well on this end, either. It feels terrible. But most important, they don't have the opportunity to correct their mistake or their behavior. They just leave with a bad taste in their mouth had nothing good to say about you, your salon, or their experience at your salon. So many of you might be listening. And you might be like me prior to learning these hard lessons. Maybe you've been too harsh with someone, maybe you could have handled situation better. And you might be saying to yourself, oh my gosh, what do I do now I actually have somebody who I'm frustrated with who I'm struggling with, who I'm having a hard time with. And I don't really know how to start the conversation because I've let things slip. I've let them get away with not meeting commitments, or I've watched them break commitments, or I've watched them underperform in the areas of responsibility that they're assigned to. And you might be trying to figure out what it is that you do in this situation? Well, the first thing that you want to do is start with the needs of the business and have that conversation first. And it might go something like this, Hey, team member, I'm noticing you're doing this, and I really need you to be doing this. See how easy that might be? I know I'm making it sound easy. It's not easy. As a salon owner, as a team leader. There are many, many sleepless nights thinking about what's the right thing to say to someone. But what I'm really trying to say is that firing somebody should never be a surprise, unless, of course they're stealing from you. Or they're engaging in some kind of criminal behavior. It should never be a surprise to the person. And how is that you should be giving feedback and coaching them from the very start. I know a lot of salon owners want to dance around this, they want to try to go around this process. They want to not give clear feedback or not have specific areas of responsibility for an individual, because it's kind of hard to tell people what to do. But unless you're that type of person who likes to tell people what to do. I'm just kidding there. But what I want to share with you is that if there's not a strong awareness on what they're specifically responsible for, or tracking on a particular area of responsibility, no matter how talented that team member is doing hair, you will fall into the same pattern with the next team member. So going back to my original piece of advice is to never surprise people. I mean, in theory you could, but here's what's going to happen, take it from my experiences. If you surprise people, and you cut off all access, you remove their logins from the system, they will see themselves as a victim, and they will often retaliate. Above and beyond that. They never got the feedback they needed to be successful in their next role. It might be that there was too much broken between the two of you that the trust is too far gone, that there's been too many promises made that couldn't be kept and you get to a certain point in which your relationship now needs to turn into one of the former employee instead of two. Remember, giving them that feedback so that they can carry it forward is the right thing to do. It is the more uncomfortable, harder conversations that we get to have as leaders of our company. But it is the most honorable and human way to encourage somebody else, even if you're feeling frustrated with them, so you can set them up for success in the future. So if you're starting from scratch with a team member, and you're trying to think about how do I make sure that I handled this right moving forward, I recommend taking a look at your onboarding process, have a two week trial period. On the very first day, make sure you let them know your expectations, then coach after their first day, see how they're feeling, see if they have questions and give them feedback. And then coach after the third day. Again, looking for questions and concerns, and then give feedback. And then coach after the first week. Then again, at the two week time point, which will be the decision time for both you and the new team member review with them their concerns and yours. And if they're a good fit, congratulate them on becoming a team member. Yay. And outline how you see their future. Lay out their career path and their expectations. And then get excited you just onboard a new team member. Sidenote on this though, make sure you put all these dates on your calendar to hold yourself accountable the day they start, make sure at the end of the day you meet with them the third day, the end of the first week in the end of the second week. These are meetings you don't want to cancel. They are imperative to the success of your new team member. When you're giving feedback. Check in with your other team members to see if they have anything to share too. And make sure it's behavior based. Make sure that you can make it as clear as possible, as trackable as possible as to what are the specific behaviors, what are the tasks that were committed to but they never got done? What are the behaviors they need to change or shift. So when it comes to managing team members is not easy. Never is managing people. It's hard. It's very much an art and a science. And one thing, I really encourage you to make sure that people are incredibly clear on what it is that they're expected to do. It's extremely easy for somebody to get distracted or for their priorities to be not your priorities anymore. So continuously realigning, making sure that they know what they're responsible for, and ensuring that you are there to coach them to help support them. But you're not going to do the work for them at all, make sure that you guys both get the best out of the relationship. And these can take place at your monthly one on ones. If you do need help with monthly one on ones, I do have a free PDF that you can sign up for and get it it gives you great, great tips on how to have a successful one on one. Look, at the end of the day. If you need to fire somebody, and you want it to go really good. You want to do it in a way that's humane and with grace and kindness and consideration. That's, that's all there is to it. Don't don't do it like I did. Don't storm out of a room make hasty decisions that you've felt gret don't end good relationships just based on that they just didn't fit into your culture. It just doesn't feel good on either end. So hey, if you love this episode, we please let her know. And if you know somebody who's struggling with their team members, send it to their way and then send me a message I have so been there. And sometimes it can consume all your thoughts and energy when you're struggling with somebody that you care about that you like and that you've developed a personal relationship with. And now you have to figure out how to give them the right kind of feedback to get you both back on the same page. I get it. I've been there. And I hope this podcast episode helps you. If you know somebody else that it could help make sure to Ford along and let them know to subscribe so that they can learn more about salon ownership made easy with less stress and more joy. Make sure to visit our website Denise pilots.com where you can subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode. And while you're at it. If you found value in what you heard today, we would love a rating on Apple podcast or if you simply tell a friend about the show that would help us out to thanks so much for listening. Until next time, stay awesome. Hey there thank you so much for listening to the podcast this week. I'm so honored you come back and listen and that you share the salon ownership Made Easy show with your friends and family. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode. Just know that I love bringing you this content and I love bringing you great guests and one of the ways you can help us is to leave the podcast a review. So if you have just a second Would you go over and leave us a review for the salon ownership Made Easy show. Thanks again guys. Until next week, stay amazing