No news is good news, and recently there’s been a lot of news. At the forefront of everyone’s minds and most newspapers lately has been the Autumn Budget, and its dim prospects for growth in Britain. The challenge facing Rachel Reeves and other members of government was how to present challenging figures and tax rises in a way that softened the blow, and emphasised the future positives.
This is easier said than done when it affects much of the country. But difficult decisions don’t get much easier even on a smaller scale. For business leaders who have to deliver bad news about redundancies, restructuring, or simple poor performance, there are strategies that can help to keep people onside, and start a new era off on the right foot.
The burden of delivering bad news
Nobody enjoys delivering bad news. Depending on the nature of that news, and the seniority of the leader, it can put you in a series of uncomfortable positions. This might be informing people that they’ve been laid off, reporting poor financial results to the board or shareholders, or navigating a sudden crisis or roadblock. In all cases, there will be pressure from different directions, and conversations you would rather not have.
Difficult decisions can be an inflection point for organisations. Handling them in the right way can set the tone for recovery and growth, giving people optimism for the future, and a sense that you’re making the right decisions to put the past behind you. Handling them in the wrong way can do the opposite, reducing confidence in your leadership, and lowering morale and performance at a time when it might be needed most.
Getting it right isn’t simply about crafting a good speech, or delivering it well. It requires a whole communication strategy, and a range of personal and leadership skills. The importance of getting it right is such that it requires not only planning, but ideally also training, instilling confidence and abilities that will help to build something constructive in a destructive process.
Making bad news worse
We’ve all seen examples where bad news has been delivered poorly. Take this example from a producer at Xbox Game Studios, who took to LinkedIn to advise fired employees that AI could help them make peace with their situation. Or look at P&O, who somewhat infamously dismissed 800 of their shipping staff by video call or text message—a decision which led to a public boycott and costly employment tribunal.
In these kinds of situations, there’s an obvious impact on morale for staff until they leave, but also on people who are seemingly unaffected. While their jobs are secure, they may suddenly feel vulnerable, see little prospect for advancement or raises, or feel the business may be headed in the wrong direction.
Bad news can also come in other guises. You may, for instance, end up making an announcement which you don’t want to paint as bad news, but know will be perceived as such. Decisions which may be necessary but could be negatively interpreted by your customers or audience require similar skills, and a strategy to deliver the news in a way that maximises the positive and minimises the negatives.
Strategies for delivering bad news
Fortunately, there are leadership solutions to help you deliver bad news more effectively. Perhaps the most fundamental aspect is empathy. Few things are as irritating as someone preaching about hard times from their ivory tower. Leaders need to have the self-awareness to recognise how the impacts of bad decisions will be felt, and use this to communicate in a more genuine way that engages with people’s concerns. A round of redundancies after a profitable period for example can be seen as heartless and draconian, cutting costs at the bottom of a business, rather than at the top.
If empathy is an innate skill, there are skills useful for delivering bad news that are easier to learn. Our Change Management course is highly relevant, as bad news often comes at a transitional point, where something significant needs to shift within an organisation. That might be job losses, but it might also be restructuring of teams, moving offices, increasing the workload on individuals, or scrutinising output and productivity. Whatever happens, it will be a shift that some people will likely be unhappy about, if only because it changes the demands on them, or the circumstances around their work.
Central to Change Management training is learning how to plan and prepare for a major change. These same principles apply to delivering bad news, whether or not that instigates a dramatic change in your organisation. The tools, models, and techniques we teach help leaders to build a strategy for delivering news and shifting direction while minimising friction and fallout. Part of this also comes down to polishing your communication skills, something we touch on in the course, but explore in greater depth in courses such as Assertive Communication Skills and High Impact Presentation Skills.
Communication and messaging
Leaders need to be very deliberate and careful about how they share bad news, and channels through which that news is delivered. Stories abound of employees only finding out they’ve been made redundant when it appears in the news, or being told in an insincere, company-wide Slack message. The circumstances around redundancies or other bad news can also anger remaining employees, as well as the ones you may have lost.
Part of this comes down to messaging. If you are letting people go, sympathy is likely to be in short supply. Where this does occur, understanding is important, but words are ultimately cheap. A more effective ‘chaser’ for this kind of bad news is to offer people support through their redundancy. Supporting them in finding new work (such as by providing positive references, or advertising their availability to potentially interested parties) or providing some form of severance will help to prevent ill feelings, and drive home the difficulty of the decision that has been made.
The means and order of communication is also important. The last thing you want is for bad news to get out before you have an opportunity to share it internally. When it is shared internally, it should be as comprehensive and transparent as possible, outlining what the difficulties are and the necessary consequences. If job losses are required, staff should be made to feel that this was a difficult decision, and to understand why other measures such as cutting investments, waste, or top-level salaries might not have been possible or sufficient to avoid job cuts.
And finally…
Handled well, delivering bad news can become a moment that strengthens your credibility, and reinforces trust in your leadership. People may not like the message, but they will remember how you delivered it. A leader who communicates openly, shows genuine empathy, and takes responsibility for decisions helps to create an environment where staff feel informed rather than blindsided, and respected even when facing unwelcome outcomes.
No business is immune to difficult moments, but how you respond is key. Organisations that prioritise clarity, compassion and fairness in how they communicate are far more likely to retain the confidence of both their teams and their stakeholders. With thorough and thoughtful preparation, you can turn a potentially damaging moment into an opportunity for future growth.
