Raising your prices? Cutting
services? Not giving out staff
bonuses this year? Putting an
employee on probation?
No one wants to deliver this kind
of unwelcome news—or receive.
But sometimes it’s a necessary
evil of doing business, and
you’re the unfortunate soul who
has to bear the burden. Here are
five tips to mitigate the drama:
1. Let your own emotions run
their course before you have to
share the news with others. You
may not like or agree with the
news you must deliver, but there
is a reason why it needs to be
done. Come to terms with it so
you don’t bring your negative
emotional energy to the
communication. Your audience
will take its cue from your
approach, and if you’re
defensive, nervous, weepy, or
angry, it will only fuel their
negative response.
2. Restrict your build-up and get
to the point. By the time people
get through six long paragraphs
of posturing and pussyfooting in
your email or press release,
their B.S.-radar is on high alert
and involuntary butterflies in
their stomach are flooding their
brain with negative emotion. So,
when you finally hit them with
the unpleasant punch line in that
last paragraph, their adverse
reaction is intensified by the
emotions you nurtured in them.
The same thing holds true for
verbal delivery. Often, the
anticipation is worse than the
actual news.
3. Consider the timing carefully.
Procrastinating often makes it
worse (especially if there is a
rumor mill in the mix), but
rushing to break the news just
because you want to put it
behind you comes with great
risk. A knee-jerk communication
is usually delivered with clouded
judgment, high emotion, and a
lack of due diligence. Most
importantly, consider when this
news will best be received. Bad
news is never welcome, but
before you decide on the ideal
time consider factors such as
time, day, and your audience’s
state of mind.
4. Avoid misdirection and
trickery. It’s tempting to load up
bad news communication with a
bunch of good news in the hopes
of distracting your audience.
However, it will only damage
their trust in you. You may
choose this path because it
makes you feel better (“See?
I’m not that bad—look at all the
good things I’m still sharing.”)
but to the news recipient, it
just looks wishy-washy and
weak. And in many cases, it can
give the appearance of
trivializing serious news and not
treating it with the respect it
deserves.
5. Remember that nothing is
confidential. Emails can be
forwarded, and social media is
designed to be the world’s
fastest grapevine. Whatever you
do—whatever you say—before
you “go there,” answer this
question: How would I feel if 50
million people knew about this
tomorrow? Nothing tames you
into acting gracefully like the
thought of being vilified by an
outraged public. United Airlines
(among other companies) learned
this lesson the hard way.
Above all, you must remember
that no matter how you spin it
or when you say it, your
audience won’t like it. That’s
why it’s called “bad news.” It
would be irrational for you to
tell your customers you’re
raising prices and have them
respond “No worries, we don’t
mind.” So, be realistic. If you
expect to deliver bad news and
have people walk away happy,
this will not work out well for
you.
And that brings us to the last
point: Delivering bad news is not
about you . The recipient does
not want to hear about how you
were up all night bellyaching over
this conversation or that it
gives you no pleasure to do this.
Asking for their empathy at a
time like this will likely result in
their wanting to smack you. Let
them have their moment of
sadness without trying to steal
some sympathy.
Christina Miranda is a principal
at New York-based Redpoint
Marketing PR and author of the
marketing education blog
redpointspeaks.com. Visit the
Redpoint's website to learn
about the firm's PR expertise in
the travel, hospitality, culinary,
home furnishings, and design
industries.
services? Not giving out staff
bonuses this year? Putting an
employee on probation?
No one wants to deliver this kind
of unwelcome news—or receive.
But sometimes it’s a necessary
evil of doing business, and
you’re the unfortunate soul who
has to bear the burden. Here are
five tips to mitigate the drama:
1. Let your own emotions run
their course before you have to
share the news with others. You
may not like or agree with the
news you must deliver, but there
is a reason why it needs to be
done. Come to terms with it so
you don’t bring your negative
emotional energy to the
communication. Your audience
will take its cue from your
approach, and if you’re
defensive, nervous, weepy, or
angry, it will only fuel their
negative response.
2. Restrict your build-up and get
to the point. By the time people
get through six long paragraphs
of posturing and pussyfooting in
your email or press release,
their B.S.-radar is on high alert
and involuntary butterflies in
their stomach are flooding their
brain with negative emotion. So,
when you finally hit them with
the unpleasant punch line in that
last paragraph, their adverse
reaction is intensified by the
emotions you nurtured in them.
The same thing holds true for
verbal delivery. Often, the
anticipation is worse than the
actual news.
3. Consider the timing carefully.
Procrastinating often makes it
worse (especially if there is a
rumor mill in the mix), but
rushing to break the news just
because you want to put it
behind you comes with great
risk. A knee-jerk communication
is usually delivered with clouded
judgment, high emotion, and a
lack of due diligence. Most
importantly, consider when this
news will best be received. Bad
news is never welcome, but
before you decide on the ideal
time consider factors such as
time, day, and your audience’s
state of mind.
4. Avoid misdirection and
trickery. It’s tempting to load up
bad news communication with a
bunch of good news in the hopes
of distracting your audience.
However, it will only damage
their trust in you. You may
choose this path because it
makes you feel better (“See?
I’m not that bad—look at all the
good things I’m still sharing.”)
but to the news recipient, it
just looks wishy-washy and
weak. And in many cases, it can
give the appearance of
trivializing serious news and not
treating it with the respect it
deserves.
5. Remember that nothing is
confidential. Emails can be
forwarded, and social media is
designed to be the world’s
fastest grapevine. Whatever you
do—whatever you say—before
you “go there,” answer this
question: How would I feel if 50
million people knew about this
tomorrow? Nothing tames you
into acting gracefully like the
thought of being vilified by an
outraged public. United Airlines
(among other companies) learned
this lesson the hard way.
Above all, you must remember
that no matter how you spin it
or when you say it, your
audience won’t like it. That’s
why it’s called “bad news.” It
would be irrational for you to
tell your customers you’re
raising prices and have them
respond “No worries, we don’t
mind.” So, be realistic. If you
expect to deliver bad news and
have people walk away happy,
this will not work out well for
you.
And that brings us to the last
point: Delivering bad news is not
about you . The recipient does
not want to hear about how you
were up all night bellyaching over
this conversation or that it
gives you no pleasure to do this.
Asking for their empathy at a
time like this will likely result in
their wanting to smack you. Let
them have their moment of
sadness without trying to steal
some sympathy.
Christina Miranda is a principal
at New York-based Redpoint
Marketing PR and author of the
marketing education blog
redpointspeaks.com. Visit the
Redpoint's website to learn
about the firm's PR expertise in
the travel, hospitality, culinary,
home furnishings, and design
industries.
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