FLOW

A. INTRODUCTION
- Greetings
a) “Good morning, everyone, I will be your instructor for today, my name is Maria Aloiza A. Zabala, you can call me
Loiza for short. Nice to meet you all.”
b) “So, how’s everyone? (answer) that’s good to hear, so let’s proceed”
c) “For today we will discuss about Delivering Difficult Message”

B. ENGAGE
- Ask them a question:
a) “Have you ever experienced telling someone bad news?”
b) “How was the experience?”
c) “What was their reaction when you told them?” Their initial reaction will be mad right? But that is normal, we will
react the same way as them if that will be us.
- Explain
“At one point or another, we will experience delivering bad news to someone, right? Who among you guys haven’t
experienced it? You’re very lucky if you have not experienced it. I hope this will help you”
“Okay let’s continue. Breaking negative news to a person is not easy because we would need to deliver an upsetting
message that other people wouldn’t want to receive. Although we may opt not to be the person to deliver the bad news and
may be tempted to avoid it, the truth is you must do it.”
“But we are working in this industry so we really need to tell them the bad news, and there are sometimes that we cannot
grant their request, or we can’t provide what they want. So, if this instance will come, what are we going to do?”

C. DISCUSSION
- Explain
“Today, we will discuss some helpful ways how to deliver difficult message to them”

1. Prepare – “The first one is you should be prepared. There are sometimes that the customer will rant at the beginning
of the call. Some of them will do the opening spiel by ranting, right? You will encounter some people that will not let
you speak, some will say bad words that you don’t want to hear and many more, but you need to listen and take time to
calm your mind, focus, and think about what you want to say. If we do this, your emotions are less likely to get the
better of you during the conversation.”

a. Make sure you gather information – you can take down notes so that you will remember all the important
details that they will provide to you. Speak in a clear manner, it will demonstrate that you're prepared and
professional.
b. Be composed and calm – If you start talking with people while you’re emotional, you may forget to include all
of the details. It can make the news seem worse to them, and we might make them uncomfortable. Make
sure you’re calm and composed beforehand.
“What are the things that you are doing to keep yourself calm?”
“Me personally I’am muting myself for just a few seconds and take a few deep breaths and emotionally
prepare myself for what you’re about to do.

2. Provide Solutions

a. Check all your resources – after all the details that they have provided to you. Advise them that you need to
check all of your resources. Make sure that they know what you are doing, give them update so that they will
not feel that you are not taking care of the issue.
b. Be accurate with all the details – take down notes. List the options and the resolutions that you see. If there is
none, set up proper expectations. Explain every detail what happened to them.

3. Communicate

a. Listen actively – after you deliver the bad news, of course they will rant. They will say a lot and some of them
will be emotional. All you just need to do is to listen and make them feel that you are with them, and you
understand them.
b. Use the right tone of voice – make sure that you don’t sound so happy or not interested while explaining. Use
the right tone when talking to them, we might not see them, but they are like us who feel bad as well. Talk to
them like you are talking and comforting your friend. All of us comforted a friend right?”
 c. Empathize – acknowledge their feelings, make them feel that you understand them, you need to put yourself
in their situation. Imagine yourself that you are in that situation so that you can feel what they are feeling and
empathize with them.

4. Be Genuine

a. Be authentic and compassionate. Avoid repeating words – there will be some people that will shout at you and
will say bad words, but you still need to respect them. Their emotions are valid. Avoid telling them the same
phrases or explaining the same thing to them because there will be a tendency that they will say that “I know
you already told me that earlier.”
b. Direct to the point. Do not “sugarcoat” the truth - it's best to be forthright and honest about what's happened.
Tell them the real situation, avoid telling them incorrect details because that can make the situation worse.
c. Address their emotions – when you deliver bad news, take care to validate the other person's emotions. If he
or she says, "I'm angry!" try to show that you understand. For example, you might say "I understand that you're
angry, and you have every right to be.". Make them feel that you are listening and understanding their
emotions.

“Do you have any spiel or phrases that you usually use when your callers are angry?”

If appropriate, we can also add this last part:

5. Focus on the Positive

a. Focus on what is available and what you can offer – Once they have calmed down, provide the solutions that
you have checked. Ask them if they have questions about the situation. Make sure to address all of their
concerns and they understand everything before we let go of them.
b. Use the right words to say – be sensitive, even though they have calmed down already there will be some
words or phrases that might trigger them. Be aware and cautious.
c. Appreciate and thank them still – appreciate their time and the details that they have provided to you. Thank
them for letting you explain the things that they have questions about.’

Each of us should have a goal and our goal in delivering difficult message should be:

o Ensure Clarity – make sure that you deliver everything in a way that they understand. One way to ensure clarity in
our communication is to be specific. Don’t make it any more difficult for the other person to understand what you
are saying than is absolutely necessary. Avoid using jargon and don’t use big words when small ones will do.
o Display empathy and compassion – make them feel that you understand their situation and you are listening.
Listening is one of the most important ways you can show empathy. Use appropriate words and phrases when
talking.

D. CONCLUSION
- Key Points
o Remember, delivering bad news well can actually strengthen your relationship with other people. Therefore, it's
definitely worth learning how to do it successfully. We can also gain their trust if we listen and explain the details
thoroughly.
o Take time to prepare before you deliver the news; this gives you a chance to center yourself and decreases the
likelihood that your emotions will influence your message. Come back to them with solutions and explanations
that they need, and make sure that you're honest and genuine during the discussion.
o To sum it all up no matter what our role is, we've probably had to deliver some form of bad news to someone. The
way that we communicate during these tense situations can affect our career in any number of ways, which is
why learning how to communicate this effectively is so important.
o So that would be all. It’s been a pleasure being with all of you today. Hope you learned something from this. If you
have questions, you can just ask me. Thank you everyone! Till our next session!