Continuing Education for Technical Professionals

   THE LEARNING PROFESSIONAL^TM

           Project Performance and Career Advancement Tips

                                                                                                      Volume 5, Issue 2

In This Issue:

AuxTips^TM

Delivering Unwelcome News

Practical advice for managers and leaders.

Featured Consultant

Kenneth Crow

You Can't Manage Time!

First of a three-part series.

Now available at amazon.com:

by Steve Trautman

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AuxTips^TM

Quick tips you can start implementing immediately.

Time Boxing

If you find it hard to start work on something because it seems huge or difficult, try this: Set aside 30 minutes that you will devote to working on the daunting assignment.  Dedicate 30 minutes exclusively to focus on this work.  Pick any part of it to work on, just for 30 minutes, and you'll gain some momentum.

If you get to minute 29 and you're glad your 30 minutes are almost up, stop, and feel good about your progress.  Then make another 30 minute appointment with yourself to continue work on it later.

But many people find, after 30 minutes, that they want to keep going, that it wasn't so bad after all!

Delivering Unwelcome News

Susan de la Vergne

Experienced managers know there’s no limit to the number of opportunities they have to be the bearers of bad news.

• When the executives announce a new financial target for the fiscal year that will bring with it cost cuts beyond what anyone still living can remember, the managers get to announce that to their staffs.

• When key employees resign or unpopular employees are promoted, managers get to announce these events.

• When new security procedures are implemented, or when new government regulations are handed down requiring even more work – these, too, are the kinds of occasions that put managers on the spot.

The news may not actually be bad, of course, just ill-timed or unexpected.
Delivering the news means answering “What does it mean to us?” Many managers convey the facts and stop short of the most important consideration in organizational communications of any kind: Audience.

Understanding your audience means knowing whom you’re talking to and how to address them. Most communications and presentation skills training reminds us to do some fairly basic things: Determine how formal or informal to be; remember to make eye contact; keep the energy level up.
 

But delivering unwelcome news means going well beyond those fundamentals, probing deeper considerations. It means assessing what your audience is probably thinking about what you have to say and planning how to handle it. The bearer of news must think through questions like these:
 

“What do the people I’m talking to already know about this topic? Has the rumor mill preceded me, or am I ahead of it?”
 

“Will the people I’m talking to be surprised?”
 

“What will they ask me and, more importantly, what won’t they ask? Will they not ask because they’re afraid to ask?”
 

“What’s going unspoken in this room right now? Should I leave it that way, or bring it up?”
 

Managers have another, very important objective they must keep in mind:
 

“How can I make the people I’m talking to accept and feel better about the news? How can I help them roll with change, feel more secure?”
 

Leaving employees with insecurity and unanswered questions kick starts negative chatter which is destructive to morale and productivity. Anticipating concerns and addressing them openly helps to foster commitment among team members. It’s as simple as that.
 

Of course it’s not always possible to answer every question on the mind of every individual in the room. Some aspects of the news may be confidential, particularly where personnel actions are involved. But if the employees listening believe that their manager has communicated openly, then saying things like “I can’t share that with you right now” will be generally accepted without resentment or suspicion. At a later time, when the information can be shared, the manager should be sure to do so.
 

For lack of information, people will often go to the darkest picture. The most successful communications are those that are delivered on time, before rumors start and speculation begins. It’s almost impossible to insert the truth of a message into an organization once the rumor mill has begun production and distorted the facts. By then, the damage is done.

For more about handling difficult situations is, check out the course description for Fostering Commitment in the Workplace.

You Can't Manage Time!