For most managers the worst part about their job is having to deliver bad news to employees even if it is rightfully so to this person. Whenever you are work with someone for some time it becomes much harder to break bad news. the article I posted below speaks about how great leaders go about delivering bad news.
The first step talked about is speaking up. This does not mean your volume but instead telling employees the news sooner then later. Some managers are either afraid of what might happen if they tell employees bad news and just go with out saying anything until it happens. This is by far the worst thing you can do for this. My manager at Wentworth Douglass has been very vocal about the merger with Mass General and what could happen which has been better then staying quite,
The next step is to be accurate.When managers try to twist the facts it can be much worse in the long run. At my old job as a purchasing coordinator for a point of sale electronics company, the management announced that we were expanding out plant facilities in new Mexico. People on the business side of the company were safe but this could have meant layoffs for many of the warehouse and tech employees whose jobs would be decreased. When the question was brought up at a company meeting one day, one of the employees had asked about potential layoffs and it was obvious he was avoiding the questions which was a clear answer that there were layoffs coming but instead of being honest he dodged around the answers making employees dissatisfied.
Another one is taking responsibility. Bad managers will play the blame game but a good manager knows that many issues in some ways can be traced back to them, and even if its not their fault they should take responsibility. When companies do not take responsibility we see cases like with BP. Initially the owner said that the spill was not entirely their fault. This only worsened the companies image even more then the spill already did. As a manager you must own up to mistakes and errors but not stop their. You have to also address what the next steps are in combating the issues. That shows a good leader because they are taking blame but addressing things need to change and they have to improve.
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For more of the reasons you can see them in this article below.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2013/03/06/how-great-leaders-deliver-bad-news/#61ca52cd3dc6
Great example of the new plant in New Mexico! I was doing recruiting at an internship 2 summers ago and they did a lot of training about not evading questions over the phone, but rather addressing them quickly and getting back on track.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Erin - good example.
ReplyDeleteBad news is not like wine - it is more like milk - it does not get better with age. The natural human instinct is to avoid dealing with conflict and uncomfortable situations, but avoidance just leads to more problems. I've been guilty of that in the past. But I have also stepped up and taken the rounds when something went wrong. People will respect you if you admit you made a mistake. You may pay a price for the mistake, but that price will ultimately be less than if you try to push the blame onto someone else. People who don't take responsibility don't get given responsibility. I have a story about this that I may share in class at some point.