Communicate Bad News Professionally

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Tips

Whenever possible, use the Sandwich Method. It shows maturity and character. The other methods are highly specialized and require very distinct circumstances and very experienced presenters.

Rehearse! Don’t try to do any of these without practice. If you have the opportunity to work with friends or associates first, that’s a very good way to learn of potential objections or to judge audience reactions.

In the Spin Method, you need to be slick and talk fast. If you’re asked a follow-up question, nod a lot during the question as though you already know the answer. Always remember you can avoid answering follow-up questions by referring to future release of information to “appropriately qualified reviewers.”

See How to Spin Bad News for a more detailed presentation.

In the Compare and Minimize Method, it is sometimes helpful to talk about the comparison bad news in a sympathetic way. Inducing sympathy in the audience toward other bad news will often carry across to yours.

There is one method not mentioned here that is obvious by its absence. This is the “factual presentation.” It’s omitted because in the environment where it’s used, there really isn’t any such thing as bad news.

In that scenario (lab experiments, for example) there is only supporting data and non-supporting data. Reporting that a wheel failed during a test is not bad news – it’s simply data.

The Sandwich Method is a very good way to offer constructive criticism (coaching) to modify behavior (with employees, friends, children, spouses).

See How to Give a Feedback Sandwich for additional uses and a different presentation of this technique.

Warnings

Never give the bad news first! Your audience will lose interest in everything else you’re going to say. They won’t even hear the good news.

Once you start down a path, it is very difficult to reverse course.

If you choose the Spin Method, for example, you will find it difficult to switch to one of the others.
The worst possible way to present bad news is to lie about it. Lying is out of the scope of this document, but there are articles you can reference if you truly believe that is your only option.

Always show respect for those who are affected by bad news.