Separate the Decision from the Implementation
Decide for the stakeholder as if there were no feelings, then solve each hurt in implementation
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 90%
A decision-making framework for emotionally loaded calls like firing. First, make the decision purely for the stakeholder you're solving for (usually the customer), ignoring who gets hurt. Then, separately, in implementation, list everyone the decision hurts, ask what each person truly wants, and engineer a way to give it to them. The two must never be blended.
Origin
Attributed by Mochary to Wei Deng, CEO of Clipboard Health, whom he calls one of his favorite CEOs and 'the most compassionate' at letting people go.
Core principles
- 01Identify the stakeholder you're solving for — in a company, usually the customer
- 02The customer wants only strong employees, so the decision is clear regardless of feelings
- 03Implementation is a completely separate exercise from the decision
- 04For each hurt party, find what they truly want and help them get it
- 05The fired person actually wants a role where they're needed — which they aren't here
How to run it
- 1
Name the stakeholder and make the decision
Ask who you're solving for (usually the customer) and decide what they'd want to see happen — as if no feelings were involved.
Pro tip The customer wants only great employees, which makes the decision unambiguous.
- 2
List everyone the decision hurts
Separately, in implementation, enumerate who gets hurt: the employee, yourself (painful conversation), the rest of the team (sad to lose a friend).
Watch out Do not let the list of hurt parties contaminate or reverse the decision itself.
- 3
Solve what each hurt party truly wants
For each person, identify what they really want and engineer it: the fired employee wants a role where they're needed (help them find it); you want to avoid a hard talk (CBT says just do it); the team wants to release emotion (let them share and be heard).
Pro tip Realize you're holding the employee back from what they truly want by keeping them where they aren't critical.
In the wild
Wei Deng separates decision from implementation: the customer wants only the best employees, so the decision to remove an underperformer is clear. Implementation then addresses each hurt party — the employee gets help finding a role where they're needed, the manager overcomes the hard conversation by having it, the team releases its sadness by being heard.
→ Mochary cites her as the most compassionate person he knows at letting people go, someone from whom he learned more than she learned from him.
Common mistakes
Letting the hurt drive the decision
When managers fold 'but this person needs the job / their mother has cancer' into the decision, they never make the call the stakeholder requires. The hurt belongs in implementation, not in whether to act.
Assuming keeping someone is kindness
Retaining an employee who isn't critical actually holds them back from the needed, fulfilling role they truly want — the 'compassionate' inaction is not compassionate.
Is it for you?
Best for
Leaders facing emotionally charged personnel or resourcing decisions who keep freezing on the human cost
Not ideal for
Low-stakes reversible choices where the overhead of a formal decision/implementation split isn't worth it
From the transcript
“she separates the decision from the implementation meaning she thinks about who is the stakeholder here that I'm solving for and almost always in a…”
“the customer would want to see only the best employees”
“decision is one thing implementation is completely and utterly separate”
“you're actually holding them back from what it is that they really want”
From the episode
How to fire people with grace, work through fear, and nurture innovation
Matt Mochary (CEO coach)