Page 97 - Communication in Organizations Basic Skills and Conversation Models

Communication in organizations 86

believe that I find the whole thing most disagreeable. You are the third person I have
had to disappoint this week [sigh]. But well, it’s just the way it goes.’

Phase 3: Looking for solutions

In the preceding paragraphs we have pointed out that one should only look for solutions
when the bad news has been somewhat absorbed. Whether the other person is ready can
often be deduced from comments such as: ‘But what should we do then?’ Sometimes
such a question fails to arise and then one must carefully move on to this phase: for
example, ‘I understand that this must disappoint you terribly. Shall we try, though, to see
if there are other possibilities to do something?’ In this example the deliverer of the bad
news explicitly introduces the phase of looking for solutions. Then one can best allow the
other to speak about possible solutions. For if the deliverer starts in with alternatives, a
reasonable chance exists that the other may reject them out of frustration. Only when the
other has given their own possible solution may the deliverer come up with any other
information about possible solutions. It is not advisable to be too optimistic about this
phase. Often bad news is simply bad news and there are no simple solutions. In this case
there is no alternative but for both parties to accept the situation, however difficult that
might be for them: ‘I’m sorry, but I really can’t help you with this problem.’ Such a
reaction may appear hard, but it is often more honest than feverishly to seek solutions that
do not have a chance of success anyway. To round off the conversation one can
summarize what was decided during the conversation. One can declare oneself prepared
to answer any questions that may arise later.

Mistakes in phase 3
When someone has delivered bad news they may often find it unfortunate for the other
and like nothing more than to make it a little better, so they look for solutions. This can
result in allowing the other too little time to absorb their emotions. Common ‘mistakes’
in phase 3 include:

1 Starting phase 3 too soon. One can proceed to the third phase too fast. For example, the
other may already ask: ‘What now?’ at the beginning of phase 2, but in fact be still too
emotional to think about it rationally.
2 Zealously thinking of solutions yourself. The more solutions coming from the deliverer,
the greater the risk that the solutions are not applicable to the circumstances of the
other. The intentions may be very good, but the chances are that the latter will criticize
or reject such solutions.

Figure 10.2 presents an overview of how to break bad news.