Uploaded September 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
► ► Subscribe to My Channel Here youtube.com/c/CameronMorrissey
Transcript:
Hi there everybody, and thanks for joining me today. If you’re in leadership very long, and it might happen on the first day that you step into your leadership role, you’re going to have to deliver some bad news. Now bad news isn’t fun, it’s not what any of us like to do, but it is a reality of the job, and it’s a place where you’re going to be put in the spotlight a little bit. So it’s an important thing that you make sure you get right. A couple of things that you want to do right away, is bad news is best delivered in-person. You want to do it in-person as much as possible, because that is the best way of communicating. They can see your body language, the can catch your tone. They can ask questions really quick to you. Bad news is best delivered in person. Sending out an e-mail is a recipe for misunderstanding and exacerbating any problems that are out there. Second thing you want to do is you want to do it as quick as possible. Bad news isn’t wine, it doesn’t get better with age. So the quicker you give the bad news, the better it’s going to be for everybody, and the quicker everybody can get to solving the issue. So those are a couple of basics, do it in person and do it as quickly as possible. Now a few things that can take us to the next level as far as our bad news is concerned is giving a plan, the next thing as far as “next level” bad news delivery is giving the plan. Don’t just tell somebody what went wrong, tell somebody the bad news, what you want to do is give them what the next steps are. Here’s what happened, bad news. Here’s what we’re going to do about it. And so what happens is that they don’t dwell on what’s going on, they quickly move into action and getting things fixed, and that helps everybody get out of those doldrums as quickly as possible. So give them the plan. The second thing is that you want to be as transparent as possible in regards to the bad news. You don’t want people thinking that there is something else behind it, or there’s more bad news coming, that sort of thing, so be transparent as to what happened, not necessarily who is at fault, but how it happened, and then move on from there. But be transparent. So give a plan, be transparent, and the third thing, and the place that a lot of leaders fail with is you want to give it all out at once. A lot of leaders think that they’re doing the right thing by kind of “piece mealing” out their bad news delivery. “You know, I don’t want to hit them with everything all at once.” But what happens is you make your team wonder what’s going to happen next, what’s the next shoe to drop? If all of a sudden, every week they’re getting a little bit of bad news, well then shoot. Now it’s a pattern. Whereas, if you had delivered all of that at once, they can move on from there and they can start the positive momentum, and not have it get stalled every time you give out the rest of the bad news. So don’t “massage” it, don’t give it out “piece meal”, give it all out at once. So going back over those five things as far as bad news delivery is concerned. Do it in person, do it as quickly as possible, tell them what the next steps are and the plan for taking action on this bad news. Be as transparent as possible, and don’t “massage” it, give it all out at once if at all possible. Thanks so much everybody, I hope your bad news delivery goes much better now. Thanks.
► ► Subscribe to My Channel Here youtube.com/c/CameronMorrissey
Transcript:
Hi there everybody, and thanks for joining me today. If you’re in leadership very long, and it might happen on the first day that you step into your leadership role, you’re going to have to deliver some bad news. Now bad news isn’t fun, it’s not what any of us like to do, but it is a reality of the job, and it’s a place where you’re going to be put in the spotlight a little bit. So it’s an important thing that you make sure you get right. A couple of things that you want to do right away, is bad news is best delivered in-person. You want to do it in-person as much as possible, because that is the best way of communicating. They can see your body language, the can catch your tone. They can ask questions really quick to you. Bad news is best delivered in person. Sending out an e-mail is a recipe for misunderstanding and exacerbating any problems that are out there. Second thing you want to do is you want to do it as quick as possible. Bad news isn’t wine, it doesn’t get better with age. So the quicker you give the bad news, the better it’s going to be for everybody, and the quicker everybody can get to solving the issue. So those are a couple of basics, do it in person and do it as quickly as possible. Now a few things that can take us to the next level as far as our bad news is concerned is giving a plan, the next thing as far as “next level” bad news delivery is giving the plan. Don’t just tell somebody what went wrong, tell somebody the bad news, what you want to do is give them what the next steps are. Here’s what happened, bad news. Here’s what we’re going to do about it. And so what happens is that they don’t dwell on what’s going on, they quickly move into action and getting things fixed, and that helps everybody get out of those doldrums as quickly as possible. So give them the plan. The second thing is that you want to be as transparent as possible in regards to the bad news. You don’t want people thinking that there is something else behind it, or there’s more bad news coming, that sort of thing, so be transparent as to what happened, not necessarily who is at fault, but how it happened, and then move on from there. But be transparent. So give a plan, be transparent, and the third thing, and the place that a lot of leaders fail with is you want to give it all out at once. A lot of leaders think that they’re doing the right thing by kind of “piece mealing” out their bad news delivery. “You know, I don’t want to hit them with everything all at once.” But what happens is you make your team wonder what’s going to happen next, what’s the next shoe to drop? If all of a sudden, every week they’re getting a little bit of bad news, well then shoot. Now it’s a pattern. Whereas, if you had delivered all of that at once, they can move on from there and they can start the positive momentum, and not have it get stalled every time you give out the rest of the bad news. So don’t “massage” it, don’t give it out “piece meal”, give it all out at once. So going back over those five things as far as bad news delivery is concerned. Do it in person, do it as quickly as possible, tell them what the next steps are and the plan for taking action on this bad news. Be as transparent as possible, and don’t “massage” it, give it all out at once if at all possible. Thanks so much everybody, I hope your bad news delivery goes much better now. Thanks.
