Unit 26: Negative Messages
Learning Objectives
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
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- organize and write negative messages
- outline the structure of an indirect-approach bad-news message
- explain the importance of communicating bad news carefully in professional contexts
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Introduction
Just as in life, the workplace isn’t always sunny. Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, and it’s your job to communicate about them in a way that doesn’t ruin your relationships with customers, coworkers, managers, the public, and other stakeholders. When doing damage control, bad-news messages require care and skillful language because your main point will meet resistance. Rarely are people okay being told that they’re laid off, their application has been rejected, their shipment got lost en route, prices or rates are increasing, their appointment has to be moved back several months, or they’re losing their benefits. Though some people prefer that the messenger be blunt about it, in most cases you can assume that the receiver will appreciate or even benefit from a more tactful, indirect approach. Keep in mind the following advice whenever required to deliver unwelcome news.
The Seven Goals of Bad-news Messages
The video above provides five strategies for delivering bad news. Your ability to manage, clarify, and guide understanding is key to addressing challenging situations while maintaining trust and integrity with customers, coworkers, managers, the public, and other stakeholders. The list below provides a few more goals when delivering bad news in person or in writing:
- Be clear and concise to avoid being asked for additional clarification.
- Help the receiver understand and accept the news.
- Reduce the anxiety associated with the bad news as much as possible by expressing sympathy or empathy.
- Maintain trust and respect between you and your audience to ensure the possibility of good future relations.
- Deliver the bad news in a timely fashion in the appropriate channel(s).
- Avoid the legal liability that comes with admitting negligence or guilt.
- Achieve the designated business outcome.
Let’s look at how we can achieve these goals in examples of the tricky situations in which we might find ourselves in the workplace.
Let’s say you are a supervisor and your manager has tasked you with getting Chris, an employee who is usually late for work and has been arriving even later recently, to start arriving on time. Chris’s tardiness is impairing not only his performance but also that of the entire team that depends on his work. You figure there are four ways you can handle this:
- Stop by Chris’s cubicle and simply say, “Get to work on time or you’re out”
- Invite Chris out to a nice lunch and let him have it
- Write Chris a stern email
- Ask Chris to come to your office and discuss the behaviour with him in private
Let’s see how each of these alternatives meets our seven goals in delivering bad news.
The aggressive approach might prompt C