About three years ago I was let go from my former employer. From one day to the other – with one phone call. My up-until-then network was screaming and shouting for 24h, then mocking a bit for another 24h and then moving on. I always knew that one day this will happen (most probably), so for me this was something I expected to a degree and I kind of was prepared what to do next and how to handle this going forward (more about that maybe in a different post ;)). And until this point I was part of this system and the way I was let go was “normal”. And I had done this in the past as well and I thought this is how the system works.
Yesterday a famous football club decided to sack its coach and replace him per immediate effect. I am talking about Bayern Munich and its coach Julian Nagelsmann. He was not aware about any change and he got the news from the press as there was a leak. Normally he would have been informed just a minute before the new coach would have been announced. Now, this looks like nothing special in this industry but from my point of view I fundamentally believe this is wrong and it is definitely not the way how to let go people.
It is the duty of companies to assess their personal and make decisions like this – so do not get me wrong – that is what they have to do. But the way how to communicate this, how to live up to simplest values of integrity and respect should be considered all the way. Not only when the sun is shining but especially when it gets rough. Maybe it is because the actual leaders of this club are new to their roles and this is the first hard decisions they have to take (but I do not believe that – unfortunately).
I would urge everybody to have the courage and talk to the affected people in time and honest so that everybody can move forward with respect. There will be solutions together and they will be much better than you believe. This is not easy to do and it is even harder to recognise it and then change it. I worked for 30 years this way and it took my now 3 years to change my course. Think about it. Become a different – better – person/leader.
