Q: My boss told me to fire an employee who he feels isn’t doing a good job. I’ve never had to fire anyone. Ironically, that night I went home and saw a story on TV about a man who had been fired and went in and shot several people in his office. I don’t know what to do. – Kristin

A: J.T.: I can appreciate your fears. I recently felt a personal connection to an instance of workplace violence. The gunman turned out to be my date to our eighth-grade graduation dance. I recall him as the kindest, sweetest, shyest guy ever. My first thought on hearing of the shooting was, “He must have been in such acute pain.” Then I thought, “How can we stop people from becoming so upset that they resort to violence on the job?”

Dale: Maybe you can get your boss to be a bit more open-minded. Is this employee really hopeless? The majority of people who get fired could have had their jobs saved; many even could have become workplace stars. You have the chance to go to your boss and say, “I think I can turn this guy around.” That’s true leadership.

J.T.: And if you can’t save the employee, you could ‘de-hire’ rather than fire him. Yes, I said ‘de-hire.’ That word was coined by my writing partner, Dale. In his book “Great Employees Only,” he shares techniques to get substandard employees to either step up or move on, keeping their options and their dignity. It’s a great book, and I’d love to see a company make the radical decision to adopt de-hiring and announce that they will never fire another employee again. It is possible; Dale’s written the how-to. I think it would help us feel a bit safer on the job, don’t you?