Page 15 - Twenty Four Lessons for Mastering Your New Role

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flinching or feeling too overwrought about it, your employees may
focus more on your pained demeanor than the news itself.
End on an upbeat note. Set a goal for future improvement or
present a strategy that addresses the source of the problem. Left to
fester, bad news can hurt morale. Dangle hope or offer solutions to
boost employees’ attitudes.
Here are three techniques to make bad news more palatable:
Display “ego strength”: Show that your ego isn’t threatened by the
bad news. Use non-defensive language such as, “I take responsibility
for contributing to this state of affairs, and I take responsibility for
leading us out of this.” As a new manager, you can say, “I’m learning
every day, so I want you to know what I’ve learned.”
Set the context: Tie a specific piece of bad news to larger organiza-
tional goals. Say, “This adds to our challenge, but we can overcome it.”
Get to the point: Stay on track and don’t waste words. State the
most important news up front. Then add facts, evidence or other
supporting information.

“Communicate everything you possibly can to your part-
ners. The more they understand, the more they’ll care.
Once they care, there’s no stopping them.”
—Sam Walton

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