As the saying goes, "think before you act" comes to mind. It is important to plan your
delivery adequately. Acceptance of the bad news you will deliver is the ultimate goal.
When the bad news is directed to an employee it is best to do it in person. This
shows the level of seriousness of the negative message and respect to the employee,
giving them a chance to apply their thoughts. This brings to mind a unfortunate
situation I had today at my son's speech therapy. The speech therapist was very
unprofessional and was out of line with the way she spoke to my son. I spoke to her
manager of how uncomfortable she made my son and I feel. She stated she will takes
things in matter. I can imagine she delivered this bad news with a talk face to face
for seriousness of the matter, respect and let her fill her in with her details of the
situation, and acceptance to what she did and how she can be more professional and
respectful to her patients. A direct approach while delivering a negative message is in
other words getting to the point of the matter, filling in ways to resolve the matter,
and ending with a good relationship. An indirect approach while delivering a negative
messages in other words slowly getting to the catch. This approach slowly gets to the
main point. The using of these approaches depends on the severity of the bad news.
When it comes to a less minimal negative message then using the direct approach is
the go to, while a more serious negative message then needs to be delivered with an
indirect approach. The goal is to deliver your negative message with a positive
outcome. There is a three step process to writing negative messages. With that there
are five goals to consider in delivering negative messages. Those are to deliver the
bad news, to inspire people to embrace it, maintain the audience's compassion, keep
your companies positive image, and control the amount of future discussion with the
situation. When you are writing a letter with bad news, it is possible to keep negative
comments at a minimum. A couple of circumstances that need to be considered when
delivering bad news would be an indirect or direct response. You also need to
understand how your audience might take it whether it would cause great distress or
the audience just likes to hear the facts straight up. When communicating the bad news
the best case scenario is always face to face. If you are having to address the negative
message in a letter or e-mail you should know your audience to be able to determine
if you should use the direct or indirect approach. Should you just start with the bad
news or will your audience be in shock from the news. With indirect approaches it
opens with the reasoning and why, ending on a positive note, and then explains the
situation. A direct approach starts out with the bad news, continues on to explain what
happened and why, and gives other content that may benefit the reader and in closing
coming up with a proposal or a solution to fix the problem. Delivering bad news is
something that should always be handled thoughtfully. The way you deliver news can
either build and employee up and make them want to do better, or completely tear
them down and make them feel like a failure. You should always try to stay positive
when delivering bad news. Instead of focusing on what went wrong, focus instead on
what good was done and how to improve on that good. The receiver should be clear
on the news with a clear statement, the reasons why, and a respectful close. A direct
approach is ripping the band aid off. It may sting at first, but its over and done. An
indirect approach is careful not to hurt or offend the receiver. An indirect approach
may start with a buffer; it may tell the receiver how valued their work is at the
company or point out some of the receivers company achievements before telling them
any bad news. In either case, you never want to burn any bridges, so careful thought
and consideration of peoples feelings and long lasting affects should go into the
planning process of delivering bad news. A direct approach is preferred, its always
best to just get to the point when delivering negative news.
Proper strategies can include being clear, empathetic in your message, apologetic. Plan
out your message and what you want it to say. Answer questions within your message.
Provide additional reasoning and plans going forward. Avoid insulting
statements.Deciding the channel of the delivery makes a huge difference. The channel
depends on your relationship with whomever you're delivering the messages to. Some
people prefer for bad news to be delivered in person, others may prefer an email or
text message. If someone prefers an in person approach and this approach isn't feasible
at the time, I would think that it'd be better to use the indirect approach. When using
the direct approach to deliver a message, the bad news is delivered first. This is
followed by additional details or reasoning. The direct approach can also include
positive outcomes or a resolution to the bad news. The indirect approach for negative
messages reminds me of a "sugar coated" approach. Meaning, you'll deliver the
positives, the solutions, alternative plans and reasoning prior to dropping the bomb, for
lack of better words. When using the either of these approaches, it is important to be
sincere. No one wants to hear of bad news, therefore you have to take into
consideration the different perceptions of the message. A proper strategy for delivering
negative news is to, first, start off with stating the bad news that is given to the
organization. If and when an apology is required; apologize sincerely. When the
apology is a standard one and it is not from the heart, it can make the reader feel as
if they are not important and that the apology was just to finish with the issue. It is
also best to give reasons or details of the issue. It is important to keep you audience
in the know but also makes your audiences feel important to you or the company.
There are special circumstances that are needed when delivering a message. For
example, a death of a relative of an employee, a written letter shows that employee
that you really care. Another example is when a company has stopped creating a
certain item that many customers approve of, a mass email to employees and written
notices to online sites better directed to the consumer are best. Those factors of
communication show your business as well as your consumer that you are worried
about the issue as much as they are. An indirect approach is a more indepth when it
comes to a negative message. Unlike the direct approach, that gets to the point quickly.
Delivering negative message to a company is not a position anyone wants to be in. I
remember a time , I was working for a company and they just brought a new
company. Every month the company have a safety meeting and the president of the
company give us and update on how we are performing as a company and news. With
them buying that company. They will have to shut down 20 others plants and a lot
of family will have to relocate. The president apologizes but did gave a lot of family
a nice relocation funds. The plant I work for was not affected with the changed. The
proper strategies for delivering negative news within an organization is to always think
about the possible income for everyone involved. A proper strategy to use when
delivering negative news is to be clear in communication this can eliminate confusion.
Another strategy that you could use is helping the organization accept the news and
this will help with the outcome you can use the direct approach or the indirect
approach. The communicator needs to consider how the message is being put out you
should always be realistic, clear and get to the point and keep in mind that it's not
about you. Delivering bad news has always put me in a awkward and uncomfortable
position but I managed to do it when I had to do it. The channel of communication
that factors into delivery when in a work place is face to face communication it allows
you to have retreats and meetings and it all depends on what message you are sending.
The difference between and indirect approach and direct approach is that an direct
approach is used to deliver good news and a indirect approach is for persuasive sales
or bad news messages. Having to deliver negative news is not enjoyable at all. The
strategies one can take to deliver negative news in an organization is to be clear, get
to the point, be real, give your audience forward looking assurance, and stay calm.
Some of the guidelines to help minimize negative reactions when giving the bad news,
these five goals will help;
1. to convey the bad news
2. to gain acceptance for it
3. to maintain as much goodwill as possible
4. to maintain a good image for your organization
5. if appropriate, to reduce or eliminate the need for future correspondence on the
matter.
By accomplishing all five goals requires careful attention planning, writing, and
completing your message.
Selecting the right combination of medium and channel is critical, I think bad news
for employees needs to be delivered in person it shows respect for the employees it
gives them a chance to ask questions if needed. Although many managers uses email
and other digital need to convey negative messages to employees, just be sure you are
sending the appropriate message.
There are two approaches to writing a negative message, direct approach presents the
bad news first and the indirect approach may state something positive first and then
presents the bad news. By writing clearly and sensitively of the bad news will help
your reader accept and move on ,and be honest don't beat around the bush. The proper
strategy for delivering negative news within an organization is using the three steps
writing process for negative messages which includes: planning negative messages,
writing negative messages, and completing negative messages. In the planning stage it
is best to gather all the information that is needed for the target audience and deliver
it in a way that the audience will be the most receptive, and accepting of the message.
In the writing stage it is best to avoid using a tone that could be interpreted as
accusatory. Lastly in the completing stage it is best to proofread the message to ensure
that any errors are omitted. Some special circumstances a communicator needs to
consider when delivering a negative message is to ask, is the message urgent, which
style of communication does the recipient prefer, the importance of the message to the
receiver of the message, and how will the message be interpreted to the reader? The
channel of communication has a great factor into the delivery of your message because,
depending on the circumstance of the message and the news the message holds, certain
channels of communication can be insulting or inappropriate to the recipient. The
differences between between direct and indirect approach for negative messages is, that
the direct approach is used mainly when bad news will have negligible impact on the
recipient and, use the indirect approach when news may have a devastating impact to
the reader. There are a lot of different ways you can deliver negative news while still
being professional. I would start off by being clear and concise, help the other person
understand and accept the news in a positive way. Maintain trust and respect for the
business and for the other person is very important, no one likes to be talked to like
they are smaller than you. For the business side it is very important to avoid any legal
liability by making sure you are keeping the conversation professional. When your
delivering bad news to anyone you need to make sure you are still thinking of the
other person and there feelings. The way the channel of communication that is factored
into how your the conversation goes is beyond important and has to be understanding
from both sides. I think we all have been in a situation at work were your boss comes
up to you in such a negative tone about something wrong you did and it did nothing
but make you want to say something back or even leave. The direct approach is more
of a forceful report and indirect approach is when the evidence is presented first, taking
a test back and looking at the big picture before you talk to the other person. The
proper strategies for delivering negative news within an organization are to be real
because many people have the impulse to try to spin bad news into a positive. Get to
the point because burying bad news under a mountain of PowerPoint slides will only
generate confusion and a likelihood of aggressive questioning. Be clear because being
clear absolutely essential when you have to deliver bad news that involves complexity.
Give your audience forward-looking assurances because when delivering bad news you
may need to explain some factors that went into the outcome.Stay calm because while
this one is a bit of a no brainer, it is often easier said then done (especially if the
news is unexpected). There a re certain circumstances that a communicator need to
consider when delivering a negative message. Those circumstances are to be clear, help
the receiver understand accept the bad news, maintain trust and respect for the business
and organization and for the receiver, avoid legal liability or erroneous admission of
guilt or culpability, maintain a relationship, reduce anxiety associated with the negative
news to increase comprehension, and achieve the designated business outcome. The
channel of communication factors into the delivery by helping you to communicate in
a better and more professional way. There is a difference between an indirect and
direct approach for negative messages. The difference is that a direct approach is used
for good news or routine communication. The indirect approach is used for persuasive,
sales, or bad news messages.
