Something that will make me hate you
Ran across the WikiHow entry "How to Communicate Bad News Effectively" and I absolutely hate it. It offers "The Spin Technique," "Compare and Minimize," and "The Sandwich Method," which is delivering positive news, then the bad news, then more positive news.
I call out this bad article because I've run across this too many times, and I think it's one way I've seen associations hurt themselves. My position is, don't worry about delivering bad news. Just come out with the news, have a discussion about it, decide what action if any to take about it, and move on. Sugar coating things is a huge disservice. In the unlikely event that you successfully minimize the issue, your association is missing the opportunity to make appropriate changes, and the bad news will still be there. Far more likely, your audience will see through your spin and begin to pick it apart. The bad news conversation then takes twice as long, because you have to unravel the bad news first. Have more respect for the people you're talking to than that.
When I'm in a meeting where someone uses the spin technique, the compare and minimize technique, or the sandwich method, I end up daydreaming about the speaker having one of those invisible fence dog collars on, and I have control of the zapper.
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Comments
Scott, I couldn't agree with your take on this post more. I have been in situations where I have tried both approaches and, for me, the "spin" usually ends up with me talking in circles. In my opinion, it is much easier to deliver the bad news accurately and succinctly so as to begin coming up with solutions for the problem.
Posted by: Garen Distelhorst | March 10, 2008 8:58 AM
A great piece of advice I received early in my career was to never deliver bad news without also having some options for how to deal with it ready.
It will go over much more easily and effectively if you show that you have put some thought into how to deal with the situation rather than simply dropping the bad news in the middle of the table.
This is a great thing to keep in mind as a boss or supervisor as well. If staff come to you with bad news but no options, tell them to come back when they have some ideas about how to deal with it.
Posted by: David Gammel | March 10, 2008 11:23 AM
The ultimate association spin sheet: the narrative that goes with the quarterly (or monthly) financial report. We're coming up on tough economic times, and the temptation is so great to talk about how the numbers will turn around before the end of the year, though an objective look would tell you that a turnaround is a longshot. Better to tell it like it is (or like you really think it will be) than to create a rosy economic fantasy.
Thank you David & Garin for your comments, which add validation and depth to my post.
Posted by: Scott Briscoe | March 10, 2008 12:36 PM