Advice to New Managers: Don't Joke About Firing People (2020)
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Re: Advice to New Managers: Don't Joke About Firing People (2020)
#2I love advice like this - it is clear, easy to remember, and simple to apply.
Re: Advice to New Managers: Don't Joke About Firing People (2020)
#3Extremely important advice. Add to that: push upper management for change details, keep timelines and punctuality, define delivery, be up front on status and results, go home at a reasonable hour, take people to lunch or otherwise spend time with them, make your team appointments your number one priority, and praise publicly/coach privately.
Re: Advice to New Managers: Don't Joke About Firing People (2020)
#4No one told me this prior to becoming a manager, and I did make this mistake once and immediately regretted it.
It seems like obvious advice, but the circumstances where this sort of thing could happen are described very well in the article.
I revert to humour in awkward situations, like a lot of people, but I quickly realised that there are some things that you can’t joke about when in this position.
Thankfully I don’t think the team member took any offence by it (although how would I know) - we had a good rapport and relationship, but I immediately realised my “joke” could be taken so many different (wrong) ways that I made a conscious decision to be much more careful after that.
Like many things in life, it seems blindingly obvious in retrospect but not necessarily when you’re caught up in the moment.
Re: Advice to New Managers: Don't Joke About Firing People (2020)
#5I love advice like this - it is clear, easy to remember, and simple to apply.
And now we have a URL we can direct our managers to whenever they make these stupid jokes.
Re: Advice to New Managers: Don't Joke About Firing People (2020)
#6That's excellent advice that many have learned the hard way...
Honestly even as a non-manager it's a very bad idea. When I was a junior one of my colleagues was called to the manager's office. I assumed it would be for some mundane project scheduling or whatever, so I jokingly said "you're getting fired" as he was going there. And he was.
This is one of these memories that come back to haunt you late at night when you're trying to sleep...
Re: Advice to New Managers: Don't Joke About Firing People (2020)
#7What about quitting? I always joke about quitting
Re: Advice to New Managers: Don't Joke About Firing People (2020)
#8That's excellent advice that many have learned the hard way... Honestly even as a non-manager it's a very bad idea. When I was a junior one of my colleagues was called to the manager's office. I assumed it would be for some mundane project scheduling or whatever, so I jokingly said "you're getting fired" as he was going there. And he was. This is one of these memories that come back to haunt you late at night when yo…
Ouch!
Re: Advice to New Managers: Don't Joke About Firing People (2020)
#9What about quitting? I always joke about quitting
Depends on company morale. I wouldn’t make that joke if people are on edge and worried that you might quit.
Re: Advice to New Managers: Don't Joke About Firing People (2020)
#10The same advice applies to all managers, not just new ones.