Write a reflective writing based on the attached documents.

Writing that Works (2010). Oliu, Brusaw, & Alred

Business Communications, MGT 309

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

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Hello Class. This week’s presentation is on ‘Delivering Bad News.’

I have a question for you? Do you have to deliver a bad news in business? Lots n lots of bad news.

What are some bad news examples in business?

Firings and layoffs. - Students, in class, always mentioned ‘firing’ first

Rejections & refusals. - Social rejection is extremely painful to us all.

Announcements of policy changes that do not benefit customers/consumers.

Requests the reader will see as insulting or intrusive.

Negative performance appraisals.

Product recalls or notices of defects.

Disciplinary notices

Here’s the important point to remember - the people who succeed in business are those that can deliver ‘bad’ information without destroying relationships.

So, let’s talk about how to maintain good relationships despite having to deliver the bad news that we don’t want. The secret is in how we deliver the bad news.

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Do’s

Stay in integrity

Careful analysis of the situation!

Adapt your medium to the message

Choose the appropriate tone

Take your time when writing

Stay relevant

Stay factual. Stay neutral

No “Pollyanna’

Be fair & reasonable

Stay concise

Assertive (avoid apology) . Consult supervisor & legal advisors

End positive

Passive voice is okay.

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Here is a list that is important to do. Let’s talk through these items.

Do what you say are going to do. Loosing our credibility in business means we lose our business.

Carefully analyze the situation. Jumping to conclusions without reviewing the content or information is least effective. Make sure you give plenty of time to the situation before you are ready to make the decision.

Adapt the medium to the message. Most of the time we want to deliver bad news face-to-face. It’s not always what we can do always; its what we can do the best. So in lieu of face-to-face think of the best way to connect and deliver your message. Its usually the phone we next go to. It is difficult, but choose your best medium.

The tone is very important. It is necessary to say something and not be very negative as well. The person receiving your message is more likely to pick up the negative in our body language. So focusing on the tone, the edge, in addition to the words because people feel the vibrations, the energy.

Take your time to write. There are many situations that comes to my mind. There was this one time I had to tell a staff member that they will not be hired upon completing their probation. I had to write and rewrite the message many times because I was very emotional (angry at the staff member’s behavior that lead to the unit’s decision not to hire as full time past the probation period). I had to get my emotions out of the way. I see this among people around us. We must ask ourselves on how we write when we are emotional. Do we do an emotional rant? or stick to facts? Or communicate feelings with facts to show how or ways you see the situation? It is important we show our reader that we can stick to the facts.

Stay relevant – avoid brining in past. You must focus on the relevant, current and related information. This happens a lot in personal relationships. Please avoid this.

Stay factual. Stay neutral. In a complex and conflicting situations, we tend to throw our opinions a lot. Stay close to the facts.

No “pollyanna” – means don’t put flowers around a lot and try to make it lot prettier than it is. That makes our efforts and message untruthful.

Stay reasonable. People don’t like unreasonable events and unreasonable people. As business professionals, we got to stay fair

Stay concise. If you can say it in 7 words than in 25 words, 7 words is much better than 25.

Be assertive. No need to apologize. Consult a supervisor or a legal advisor . Be careful with apology because apology is also accepting responsibility. If you are going to chose responsibility make sure your supervisors are aware of that and any legal ramifications that comes with your decision.

End positive.

Passive voice is okay. End in direct approach. We don’t want the passive voice. We want the strong active voice. In the indirect approach passive voice is necessary. There is a document in BB that shows what passive voice is. The first one is The Verb ‘To be’ For example, “I have purchased” is passive voice. “I purchased” is active voice in past tense. So pay attention to excess words and tense usage in your writing

Now, let’s move to the next slide.

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+ Buffer - Positive words with neutral feel

- Body – 3 sentences

Sentence 1 – Positive words with a neutral feel

Sentence 2 - Negative information.

Sentence 3 - Positive words with a neutral feel – transition out.

+ Goodwill close

“Sandwich” Construction + - +

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While there are many ways to write an indirect message, in this course, we will practice the one nicknamed ‘the sandwich.’ I expect your assignments to be in this construction.

The first paragraph is the buffer. It’s a slow lead in to your purpose. The next slide details Buffers.

The middle paragraph is where the bad news is….it’s nested in the center of the center paragraph.

The last paragraph is a positive goodwill-building close.

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Buffer – (Introduction)

Sincere

Express appreciation

Relevant

Not misleading

Neutral

Respectful

Succinct

Assertive

Brief

On point

Buffer Statements:

Thank your for participating in our competition.

It was great to see you at the conference. The keynote speaker gave a fantastic presentation. (Email hello)

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“Thank you for participating in our competition.” That’s a great example of a buffer. It’s positive, it’s specific, it’s concise and it’s relevant.

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Minimize the space allocated.

Subordinate bad news in a complex or compound sentence.

Embed the bad news in the middle of a paragraph or use parenthetical expressions.

Use a condition statement (if, then)

Tell what you will do, not what you won’t do

However, don’t let the bad news get lost by overemphasizing the positive.

State the Bad

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In the body, your task is to ease into the bad news. You are to deliver the bad news in the center of the center paragraph. Your first sentence is a lead into the bad news. Your second para is your bad news with a lead into the goodwill statement.

Here are some tips:

Since the reader can re-read the bad news, you only need to say it once, and in a small way. Your job here is to minimize the bad feeling the reader will have receiving the information.

Remember, longer sentences cause us to lessen our thinking ability, so, use a compound complex sentence to minimize the bad news.

Consider using an if then statement in construction of the bad news sentence.

Or tell what you will do, not what you won’t do. Turn it around.

However, I caution you, be sure you don’t loose the truth. Stay in integrity. Stay honest. Persuade but don’t manipulate.

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Examples: Bad News using Positive Words

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Here are some examples to help you understand how to re-language your intention.

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Positive

Final

Optimistic

Sincere

Confident

Remember the end is a power position!

Goodwill Close

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End on a positive note. Think – goodwill close.

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Construction’s for Specific Situations

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Review the next three slides for some specific situations of delivering bad news.

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When you have a reason the audience will accept, give the reason before the refusal.

Then give the negative information

Present an alternative

End positive

Downplay the emotion. Neutral tone.

Organization: Negative message to clients/customers

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Define the problem.

Tell how it happened.

Describe the options for fixing it.

Recommend a solution & ask for action.

Downplay the emotion. Neutral tone.

Organization: Negative to superiors

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10

Describe the problem.

Present an alternative.

As for input or action.

Downplay the emotion. Neutral tone.

Organization: Negative messages to peers and subordinates

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This is the more challenging situation – working in a peer relationship. It’s easier when hierarchy exists.

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Delivering Sensitive and Negative News