How to Deliver Bad News to Your

Employees
 Amy Gallo

Delivering bad news is tough. It’s even harder when you don’t agree with the message or
decision you’re communicating. Maybe you have to tell your star performer that HR turned
down her request for a raise or to inform your team that the company doesn’t want them
working from home any longer. Should you toe the line and act like you agree with the
decision or new policy? Or should you break ranks and explain how upset you are too?

What the Experts Say

“In a managerial role, it’s natural to feel ambivalence” when delivering disappointing news,
says Joshua Margolis, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
This is because you always have two different parties’ interests at heart — that of your
employees and that of upper management. Talent management expert
and humanresources.about.com writer Susan Heathfield agrees: “As a manager, you walk a
fine line between being a company advocate and an employee advocate.” Reconciling the two
is no easy task and you often feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. Here’s how to
navigate the situation.

Prepare for the conversation

Be sure to have all your ducks in a row before talking with your employees. Specifically, you
need to know how the decision was made, who was consulted, what other possibilities were
discussed, and the rationale behind the final outcome. “The manager should take as much
time as necessary so that she is confident in her own understanding of the answers,” says
Heathfield. “And, if you aren’t sure, go back to your boss, HR, or whomever made the
decision to ask these questions again.” Margolis agrees:  “If you think all concerns weren’t
heard, you should seek further explanation and, if warranted, appeal the decision before
conveying anything to your team.”

Be direct and avoid mixed messages

One of the biggest factors in whether employees will listen to and accept bad news is how it’s
delivered. Watch your body language. “Be sure that your nonverbal cues aren’t telegraphing
something different than what you’re saying,” warns Heathfield. Slumping your shoulders,
avoiding eye contact, or fidgeting will send the wrong message. Even if this is an obvious
setback for everyone, you need to confidently convey the information and leave no room for
interpretation. Consider rehearsing what you’re going to say ahead of time. “Go to a buddy —
a fellow manager — who can give you feedback on how you’re appearing,” she says.

Be thoughtful and caring but don’t sugar coat the news.  That makes it more difficult for
people to digest. Instead “laser-focus on the decision and explain why it’s the final call,” says
Heathfield. “For example, if you need to explain to your team that the company has banned a
particular software they’ve been using, you might say: We’ve made a decision. You may not
use this software going forward. Our IT department determined that it’s a threat to our
security system.

Explain how the decision was made

Studies show that people are willing to accept an unfavorable outcome if they believe the
decision-making process was sound. This is often called “procedural fairness.” You might say
to your employees, for example: Here’s the process that was followed, the people we spoke
with, and where things came out.

Heathfield and Margolis agree that sharing your viewpoint on the decision is not necessary,
and can in fact cause harm. “Managers have a great deal of influence on employees. If they
give them the ammunition of ‘not even my boss believes this is right’ it can spark a lot of
chaos, turmoil, and unhappiness,” says Heathfield. However, Margolis says, if you feel you
need to acknowledge your disappointment in order to maintain credibility with the individual
or team, you might add something like: It’s not ideally where we wanted it to land but they
followed these steps.

If you disagreed with the process, be sure to share your misgivings with the higher-ups, but
don’t do it with your people. “You won’t do anyone any favors by telling your team that you
think the process was rigged,” Margolis explains. Instead, say: This is how we made the
decision this time but we’re going to look into how these decisions are made going forward.

Allow for venting, not debate

Once you’ve delivered the news and explained the decision-making process, ask the
individual or group for a reaction. “You have to listen to their concerns,” says Margolis, even
if you’re uncomfortable. “It’s part of your role as a manager to absorb some of that emotion,
whether it’s anger, surprise, or something else.” Heathfield points out that this is when most
managers are quick to align with the team and say, “I think this is a bad decision, too.” But
resist that impulse. “The one thing you don’t want to do is get into a debate about the merits
of [a] decision” that has already been made, Margolis says. “This is not a time to revisit it,”
Heathfield agrees.

Focus on the future

Once you’ve heard them out, take a break — this may be a few minutes or a few days — and
let people process the information. Then help the team or individual move forward. Margolis
suggests enlisting them in the problem-solving by saying something like: Now how do we
make this best work given the concerns you have? Be sure to indicate that you are a partner in
doing whatever comes next. If people are disappointed, they’ll need your support.

Putting it all together

To give you a sense of what this all sounds like, consider the following example. If you have
to tell a direct report that he didn’t get the promotion he was hoping for you can say
something like: We’re unable to give you the promotion (be direct). HR says that in order to
be at a director level you need to have responsibility for a larger scope of the
business (explain the rationale). It’s not necessarily how I’d approach it, but I understand
why as an organization we do it that way (express procedural fairness).  What questions do
you have for me? How are you feeling? (Allow for venting). Now let’s look at what you can
do to get that promotion next year or the following one (focus on the future).

Principles to Remember
Do:

 Understand why the decision was made before sharing the news
 Prepare and rehearse what you’re going to say
 Explain the rationale and the process for making the decision

Don’t:

 Sugarcoat the news — be clear and direct

 Let your body language belie your words
 Allow people to debate the merits of the decision — focus on moving forward

Case study #1: Explain the process and stand by the decision
Mark Costa’s (not his real name) team of IT professionals had put a lot of work into
researching three software options their company might use to monitor employee’s online
activities. They analyzed the costs and benefits for each one and strongly recommended the
software that cost the most upfront but would yield the most long-term benefits, expanding
easily as the company grew. But when management reviewed the team’s work, they decided
to instead go with the cheapest option. Mark didn’t agree but he understood the reasoning:
The recommended package was deemed too expensive and investing in it would result in a
short-term risk to the cash position.  He was therefore  “happy to explain the rationale and
support the process,” he says.

He walked the group through the logic of the decision and met one-on-one with members who
were still unhappy with the decision, always keeping his personal opinion to himself. “I made
it clear that there were pros and cons but there was no point in saying anything else as it
would have demotivated the team,” he explains.  “To be honest, as a manager, I sometimes
have to take one for the people above me.” He also didn’t share some of the details he’d been
privy to, like the concern about the company’s cash flow. He didn’t want to worry his
employees, especially about something they had no control over.

The team took it well. They were disappointed that they had spent so much time coming up
with the recommendation, but Mark focused them on their other work. “At the end of the day,
there were bigger issues to address,” he says.

Case study #2: Focus on what you can do to help the person
As a regional HR director for a global company, Jihad Gafour, was responsible for
onboarding a new project director to the Middle East office. The new hire, Sulayman (not his
real name), had been recruited from outside the country and had quit his job to join Jihad’s
firm, moving his wife and family with him. But only a few weeks after his start date, upper
management began to complain about Sulayman’s performance and to question his
trustworthiness.

Soon, the CEO asked Jihad to fire the new hire. Jihad worried that Sulayman was being
judged unfairly since he was an outsider challenging the company’s status quo and told the
CEO that, in his opinion, this was an unjustified termination. But the CEO would not reverse
his decision, so Jihad set about preparing for the conversation with Sulayman. “I gathered a
list of recruitment managers and consultants I thought would help him, his wife, and kids,” he
says. Then, although almost all of his previous communication with the man had been over
the phone, he arranged a face-to-face meeting. He cut right to the chase. He said, “As per the
labor law and the contract between you and the company, senior management has decided to
terminate the employment contract with immediate effect.”

Despite his repeated attempts to understand the reasons behind the firing, Jihad felt he
couldn’t explain the rationale so he told Sulayman that he would be happy to set up a meeting
with the CEO. Jihad offered his list of contacts, and closed the conversation by offering his
help, saying, “Let me know if you need any other services from HR or from me personally.
Here is my number.” Sulayman shed tears during the meeting but came away understanding
that the decision was final. He did request the meeting with the CEO and Jihad succeeded in
getting the two together, despite some initial resistance from the boss.

Sulayman found another position soon after, and several months later, Jihad also left the
company. They’ve both stayed in touch.