Part of being a boss is having difficult conversations. But some aren’t always ready to. 

Nobody wants to be the bad guy. Unless you’re one of… those guys who enjoy it. Then you’re a true freak, and I don’t want you as my colleague. But most people generally have a distaste for causing other people suffering. They’d rather avoid it, and skate along trying to make everyone happy. But this isn’t a solution either. If you’re working hard on something and care about it, then you probably want to call things out when they go wrong. You’re bound to have conflict, and you’re definitely not going to see eye-to-eye with everyone. And you might even have to call someone out on bad behavior. If you want control, then that comes with responsibilities. 

That’s part of the job of the boss. Not only do you have to lead in the good moments, but you have to lead in the bad moments, too. And sometimes you have to let someone know that they’re doing a bad job. And sometimes that means you have to let them go. There are ways to do this that will cushion the blow, but you still have to summon up the gumption to do it, and that can be unpleasant for everyone. But what’s even more unpleasant is letting a bad situation fester. If you leave it alone, the problem won’t go away. It will just ferment and percolate until it becomes an even worse situation.