FirstSpar
How to fire an employee without reopening the decision
The decision is made before you walk in. What is not decided is what you say when they ask, three times, whether anything can change it. Here is how to hold it.
Facing someone on your team
Guides
The conversation you are dreading, one guide at a time
You already know which one you are here for. Somebody on your team has to be told something, or somebody above you has to hear something, and you have been running it in your head for days.
Each guide below is about one conversation: what makes it hard, what to settle before you walk in, how to open it, and what tends to happen after they answer, which is the part nobody rehearses. None of them will hand you a script. The opening line is the easy part. What goes wrong is the ninety seconds after the other person speaks, and the only way to practise that is out loud, with someone answering back.
That is what FirstSpar is for. Every guide ends with the written scenario that rehearses it, and you can build your own version from your own facts for free.
Giving feedback
How to give negative feedback without it turning into a debate
Priya has quietly missed three check-ins. Marcus shamed a colleague in front of six people. What you say after they answer back is the part worth rehearsing.
Facing someone on your team
How to resign without burning bridges, and without wavering
You decided a fortnight ago. Kenji will hear it as the start of a negotiation. Here is how to give the date, answer the counter-offer and keep the decision.
Facing your manager
How to tell an employee their position is being eliminated without hiding behind the company
Her last review was strong and you wrote it. The decision was taken two levels above you. Here is how to say it is the role and not her, and stay in the room.
Facing someone on your team
How to tell an employee they did not get the promotion and keep them
Maya was told six months ago to keep doing what she was doing, and did. The answer is still no. How to own your part, say it plainly, and leave her with a path.
Facing someone on your team
Saying no
Saying no to your boss when you have too much work, and not taking it back
The no is the easy part. The hard part is the pause after it, when she says nothing and you hear yourself adding "but if it's urgent". How to let it stand.
Facing your manager
Making the ask
How to ask for a raise without walking the number back
You make the case, Dana agrees with every word, and then she says March. The raise is not lost on the argument. It is lost in the silence after the number.
Facing your manager
How to negotiate a job offer that is lower than expected, with no other offer behind you
The offer is twelve per cent under the advertised range, you have no other offer, and Nour will ask. How to ask for more once, on the merits, without bluffing.
Facing your manager
Three spars a week on your own conversation, no account needed. The written scenarios and the harder pushback are Pro.