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Stereotyping

I just terminated an employee who was performing poorly. I felt particularly sad about this because she is a single mom and is now out of work right before the holidays. During my meeting with her, I felt my eyes well up a little, but I did not cry. I met with my manager afterwards, and he saw my eyes and said he wonders if I have what it takes to be in management. Now I feel even worse. What should I do?



Your manager's comment indicates that he might not have what it takes to be in management. Obviously, if managerial decision-making throws you into an uncontrollable sea of tears, you may want to rethink not only your job, but also many other elements in your life.

The fact that your eyes slightly welled up when you were terminating this employee could just as easily be signs of empathy, sympathy, and sensitivity, all valuable traits for a manager to possess. Today's best managers have a good deal of insight into their employees as individuals, and that can easily be reflected in tearful eyes.

The best way to determine whether people have what it takes to be in management is to look and their performance and productivity, as well as the performance and productivity of their team. It is actually a crying shame to report to a manager who casts negative judgments based solely on tearful eyes.



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