Get Comfy With Delivering Bad News
Most of us dread delivering bad and unwelcome news. Yet while negative news messages can feel uncomfortable, you’ll feel more at ease when adopting a positive vs. negative mindset and having strategy and frameworks on how to deliver the message.
Whether you’re announcing layoffs, a botched project, lost clients, or missed numbers, following these five helpful tips will ensure your audience receives the message well. (Note to readers: I’ve written this post with a written message in mind; however, the same tips apply to oral delivery of your bad news message.)
1/ Understand the Root Fear
If you’re nervous saying ‘no’ to a request or sharing other negative news with your audience, explore what’s the fear behind this message? With your coach, share all of the negative emotions you’re feeling around this situation. You might fear:
Losing your job or popularity
Falling into harm
Missing an opportunity or falling back in other ways
Whatever it is, unpack all of what’s obstructing you from writing or saying this negative news as you want to say it. Then, call the bluff of those Judge’s lies. And move to a place of acceptance and strength as you share your message. This Sage approach applies Positive Intelligence methodologies and truly works.
2/ Keep the Bottom Line Up Top
Your bottom line remains the most vital information within your negative message. Given that the email stack is real for many, we must assume many read only the opening lines. To ensure your reader gains the pivotal information, at a very high level, the bottom line should contain the following:
What went wrong
How/why it went wrong
How you/your team plan to fix it
To help harried readers, I suggest adding the good news (and the bad news) within the bottom line, too. For example, if your negative message tells leadership (or a high-stakes customer) you missed a launch date, include the revised launch date within the bottom line.
You may also want to hint of the negative news within the subject line, or at least ensure the subject line doesn’t read like an informative message. So, Delayed Launch of Project X vs. Update on Project X.
3/ Avoid Jargon and Other Annoying Language
To ensure your reader follows the reason(s) for the bad news, and how exactly you plan to fix it, clarity and brevity remain key. I see a few jarring and recurring patterns within negative messages:
Burying the bottom line when they deliver bad news
Sharing the message in ways that feel good to them; but not the audience. We often see writers avoid the bottom lining of wide layoffs for this reason.
Using camouflaged (also known as “fake” or “hidden”) verbs such as transformation, reorganization, modernization and termination. (The real verbs become transform, reorganize, modernize and terminate.)
Employing passive vs. active voice so the communicator can distance themselves from the action; but in doing so, seem weak, patronizing, and weaselly.
Let’s dissect Walmart’s stab at announcing laid off staff at its corporate office:
“This is all about aligning and creating efficiencies as we change how we work to seamlessly serve our customer through our stores and e-commerce,” read an official Walmart statement spokesperson Ryan Curell sent this news outlet.
My suggested edit reads:
Remove the false subject (this is). You’ll sound more executive if you just jump straight in. If you must use “this is,” add a concrete noun for clarity. This move is…
What does aligning and creating efficiencies mean? Replace the jargon with a direct mention of the poor souls who just lost their jobs.
What does change how we work to seamlessly serve our customer through our stores and e-commerce mean? Are you hiring robots? Do you mean you’re investing more in online shopping? Please explain using plain language.
4/ Decide Whether to Use a Buffer
Some business and military work cultures want no buffer. They just want to hear the news. All the same, buffers tend to work well when you’re writing down the chain (to a vendor, for instance, or you must let a teammate go). If you’re declining a task, buffers help soften the blow, especially if the audience feels accustomed to you saying ‘yes.’
Writers tend to avoid buffers when they value brevity, the message feels time sensitive, and/or you can’t risk the audience misinterpreting the news. If you decide a buffer feels right, I recommend:
Remaining creative (depending on your relationship with the audience).
Avoiding generic language. Stay specific. If you’re letting a candidate know they didn’t make the cut, tell them they were one of 800+ global candidates, 1:4 to receive a phone screen and 1:2 to interview on site. (The receiver of this message will feel uplifted vs. dejected.)
Writing the buffer in ways you’d like to receive it and keep it brief, a sentence or two, tops.
5/ End on a Positive, Upbeat Note
The beginning and end remain the most memorable part of the message. Therefore, strive to sound most “executive” in these two places. I recommend a warm greeting up top vs. a terse one. E.G. Dear Team, vs. Staff, or, All.
As you conclude, you may want to include something endearing and heartfelt to show, not tell your reader you genuinely feel sorry and you genuinely plan to not repeat this mistake again. If apologizing doesn’t seem right, that’s fine. But whatever tactic you take, remain humble, hopeful and optimistic.
Now you’ve some helpful concepts and frameworks for plugging into your next bad news message. Good luck and stay strong.
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