Conveying bad news to your employees is always a tough task as they work their mind off for the betterment of the company and keeping whatsoever competition at bay.
While on the other hand conveying the good news to your employees is always like a reward to your employees for their sheer dedication and love.
However mastering the art of conveying bad news to your employees can be tough, since it is not always possible to bask in the grace of good fortune.
Yet how bitter a pill it is to swallow, you will have to come to terms with it in terms of breaking it to your colleagues. However, it is always on you to keep the light of hope in your employees alive by inspiring them not to lose their hearts.
Here are a few useful techniques that you can use while conveying good and bad news or messages to your employees:
How to Deliver Bad News to your Employees:
1. Always take charge:
While giving out bad news, do not leave your employee/s feeling alone in danger and disappointment rather step up for what has gone wrong by maintaining the right and positive attitude and take responsibility for things that have gone in contrast to what was planned.
Doing so will help to instill your employees’ trust in you that is much needed to keep the rudder of the company running.
Facing the music with your employees will always work in your favor in the long run as the world has seen too much harshness and moreover, this will keep your employees from breaking down.
Failure is just as important as a part of life as a success because without it all excitement will be lost and there will be no room for improvement.
Nevertheless how you handle a crisis with your employees determines how you will be perceived in their eyes.
2. Matter of addressing:
How you address the issue to your employee/s is also to be taken care of because most of the time a failure to meet demands of the market is due to carelessness from some of your employees.
But it does not work for the better if you insult them or blame them outright and thoroughly in front of everyone. This can only play against you as being abrasive about something as sentimental as failure can get you on the wrong side of the employees.
They might start thinking of you in a digressive and tyrannical light which will all the more hurt the best interests of your company.
So take care of how you speak to your employees and while you are speaking to them do not speak about the things you think they did wrong but speak from a constructive point of view without criticizing anyone.
3. Delivering in the right manner:
While delivering bad news to your employees it is of utmost importance that you keep the team spirit intact. Always remember that your office and every member of it constitute a family.
So to maintain that integrity of unity does not try to sabotage their hopes by blatantly demoralizing their efforts because the company has to suffer a financial blow or something of the sort.
Keep in mind that money can be made easily but a good team of workers who would dedicate their time and effort to the company honestly is really hard to assemble.
4. Do not be too officious:
Try to break the news without offending anyone. Often company heads make the mistake of detaching themselves from the downside results owing to any managerial fiasco.
Try avoiding this mistake since this will only show how incoherent you think the role of your employees is at hard times. This is a negative impact upon your employees and they will not spend a moment’s hesitation to label you as a shock.
So to sideline all of these negative conditions you will do well to behave like the head of the family in taking up the matter to discuss about solving it with your employees without being unenthusiastic in any way.
5. Keep hopes high:
Clearing the air with your employees is imperative when you are trying to move things towards the better after you have delivered bad news to them.
Do not admonish them in any way as it will ruin your chances of getting the corrections you are hoping for, to avoid any possible mishap that might damage company prospects in the future.
Rather fill them up with constructive criticism to help them rectify themselves without being negatively dismissive.
Furthermore, make sure your words of advice have a positive effect on their minds so that they can recover from the malady as fast as possible and start working all the more attentively as if nothing ever happened.
6. Addressing minor problems:
While declaring bad news at its most minimum, try bringing it to everyone’s notice in a very jovial manner and not in a manner of mourning.
Give the impression that you are one of them and you are ready to take things as they come up just like them.
Do not try to be too hard on your employees without much reason, on the contrary try to incorporate an animated atmosphere where your employees can feel at home and give their best effort to work.
7. Addressing major issues:
While addressing a blunder that the company has recently undergone, do not blame anyone in charge of a project publicly.
Nevertheless, if you think that it has been someone’s fault then call that person and talk to him/her personally without projecting his/her failure outside closed doors.
Taking the helm at times of major crisis is a mark of true leadership and is integral to having your employees look up to you when they have hit rock bottom.
8. Lend a helping hand:
Always be eager to step forward for your employees in times of crisis. Do not step back from helping them out because if they are driven up the wall they are most likely to be clueless about what to do next.
And it is only fair if they look up to you for solutions at times like these.
So even if you know that it is a problem that needs serious attention steel your nerves and narrows it down one by one till you get to the root of it and have made it easier for your employees to take it from there.
How to Deliver Good News to your Employees:
1. Essential announcement:
While announcing good news, do it in a room full of your employees so that everyone can participate in the enjoyment. Appreciate someone specifically if you think they deserve special mention.
Moreover doing it in front of others can breed healthy competition among your employees but make sure you are not exceeding your point as it can foster jealousy among workers.
Rest assured, making your employees feel good about their work and effort is a way to ensure their promising involvement in every upcoming project demanding overt concentration.
2. Necessary celebration:
You must cut your employees a slack by punctuating every aggrandizement with a much-needed celebration.
This will not only ensure enthusiasm on their part but will also establish you as a boss who knows how to mix with his/her employees and tackle difficult situations.
So once in a while throw your employees a party and warmly raise a toast to all the deserving workers who you think can use a little boost after having accomplished so much for the company.
Your aim besides keeping in mind the best interests of the company should be to portray a loving image of yourself to your employees.
3. Promotions:
You must talk about promotions as up for grabs when you have to declare good news so that your employees do not become complacent having given so much to your company and continues working with the same effort without lagging.
All the same, you have to make it a point to incorporate a sense of competition among your employees without severing their ties.
Splitting them up owing to jealousy is not a good idea when you are trying to run a company.
Also, do not be reluctant to promote some of your best employees if you think that they would do better where they already are.
4. Do not forget to praise:
While trying to win favor from the higher-ups for yourself try to refrain from hogging all the limelight as it is as much yours as it is theirs.
Being the right kind of manager has much to do with how you treat your employees. No one is asking you to treat them as equals but does not selfishly step back from praising a group of your employees if they deserve it.
Virtue at work does not only pay rich dividends but also wins you the favor of your employees. Fair play can do wonders to bring you to the high esteem in their eyes.
5. Overestimation:
Do not by any means, by way of praise or any uplifting speech give your employees the idea that they are contributing a lot to the degree that they start thinking that you cannot make a move without their help.
This can be very dangerous to keep in control once your employees start behaving in a way unfitting for the workplace.
So give them importance but not so much so that they start thinking that the company cannot run without them.
6. Room for improvement:
Always plant the seeds of improvement among your colleagues even if you have taken to liking their pace of work and the progress they have brought to your company.
Do not exceed the demarcations of your praise by overdoing it otherwise they might take things for granted and might not pay as much attention to their work as they used to.
It so happens that often heads make the mistake of elevating their employees to such a level that they stop listening to him/her and start doing whatever they feel it ought to be done regardless of how it might affect the company.
Better still, try to incorporate a sense of a constant need for improvement amongst your workers.
7. Creating the right environment:
Having the right environment for work is also very essential to accommodate the best work routine for your employees.
Alongside declaring good news to them makes sure that they are not in any way taking advantage of their service.
Some employees tend to start thinking that since they are doing so much and working so hard to keep the name of the company high, they must have earned the right to mend a few rules of the office according to their will.
You will have to check this kind of behavior immediately to protect the discipline of the office.
8. Employment and business growth:
Good news will always have a positive effect on your employees because that comes as feedback to their hard work and dedication.
This not only encourages them to work hard but also compels them to speak reverently of you and your company. This will inevitably lead to more number of applicants to your company since everyone wants to work somewhere they will be appreciated and be made to feel wanted.
Rest assured handling the matter tactfully while delivering good news to your employees requires the attitude of a leader and a presence of mind to check any unlikely behavior from the workers.
Final Words:
In the daily run of life, good and bad outcomes play a very significant role in shaping the work culture and more importantly, knowing how to do so effectively is not something one can accomplish in a day.
So if you are having doubts about how to manage this to a considerable effect then you are most likely to benefit from the step by step analytical points given above.
