How to break news to employees, Training Journal

Whether the message is good, bad or indifferent; now is no time for silence, says Rob Ashton.

During the ancient wars, if you wanted to deliver a message you hired a messenger to hand over the scroll personally. But approaching enemy lines to pass on bad news was a high-risk job. The bearer of bad tidings is never popular and it wasn’t unusual for the messenger to be killed out of rage.

Delivering any news can be fraught with difficulties because you never know how the receivers will interpret it. But imparting news of recession-prompted change can place you right in the firing line.

With the credit crunch still in full swing, workers have got used to a daily, media-delivered diet of layoffs, profit freefalls and horror stories of homeless executives living out of their briefcases. A climate of fear has spread throughout the business world. And many people have adopted the mantra that change is, quite literally, the enemy.

But failing to update your team is a costly strategy. Employees are likely to become demotivated if they feel they’re out of the corporate loop. If a team can’t turn to management when times get tough, they quickly begin to wonder if anyone is at the helm. The uncertainty may cause the best employees to submit their CVs to rival firms while others ride out the storm, vowing to jump ship once the outlook improves.

The Association of Communicators in Business (CiB) have echoed this sentiment. They warned that organisations should redouble their internal communications efforts during uncertain economic times rather than putting them on the backburner.

Broaching sensitive topics is never easy. But understanding your colleagues is to key to communicating effectively with them. Never be afraid to address the real issues, but communicate them in a style and manner that they will positively respond to. Whether the news is good, bad or indifferent, it’s got to be shared.

Creating a culture of open communication, free of management speak, can make all the difference to company morale. Studies have shown that companies with high employee engagement levels have better financial performance. So, having an effective strategy for breaking news makes it more likely that you’ll emerge from the recession without nursing a lengthy corporate hangover.

Communicating change

Whatever industry you work in, the model for communicating change is the same. As soon as you know information, pass it on. Don’t wait until you have every detail or your silence may breed distrust. And never communicate any information externally before you’ve told staff.

Follow the six steps below to ensure that you are communicating strategically.

1) Explain the new direction

In changing economic times, business goals have to be revised. Explain the direct impact of the recession on your industry and organisation and say what the firm will need to do to weather the storm.

2) Be honest and open

Tell people about job or budget cuts as soon as possible, along with reasons and timescales. Having this open communication means that you need never worry about what you’re telling people.

3) Create a vision

Don’t sugar-coat your message but paint a positive picture of the changes you are proposing. Be crystal clear about your message and its implications.

4) Keep communicating

Keep up the information flow and make sure it’s two-way. Move quickly to correct any inaccurate information and make sure staff members fully understand the direction, vision and benefits of the news you are delivering.

5) Love the word ‘change’

Energise the management team to make the word ‘change’ the most positive word in the company. Explain to them the benefits of any changes and always associate positive emotional words with any changes. Constantly remind employees that change is not a one-off exercise.

6) Repeat the steps

Changes will keep happening so repeat the steps as soon as any new information becomes available. Once people expect change, it’s a lot easier for them to deal with.

The write way

With up to 70 per cent of workplace communication taking place through writing, honing your writing skills can help you to break news with far more ease. By choosing your words wisely, you can help to calm your readers and energise them to embrace change.

The first rule is to put people first. Remember that people act and react according to their own self-interest. So communicate news in terms of what employees want or what would benefit them, rather than focusing on the benefits to the organisation.

Win over your readers by giving them information in the way they like to read it. For instance, you can still use your internal newsletter to explain the ins and outs of your corporate restructure, but make sure its format and style is appropriate to its readership. For example, if you know that the favourite magazines that your staff read are glossy celebrity weeklies such as Heat and Hello, you might want to create a question and answer type article or one that presents the information in bite size chunks. Information is much easier to swallow when it’s broken up. Just make sure that it still provides staff with the whole picture.

Think of creative, interactive ways to communicate your news. The BBC internal communications team, for instance, uses Wikis. These two-way websites mean that as well as reading the content, employees can edit it and attach their own files. In addition, blogs and internet forums are a great way to share information. But if you feel a good old-fashioned report will say it best, make sure you include all of your recommendations or most important information at the beginning. No-one wants to wade through the corporate equivalent of War and Peace to get to the important stuff.

Make sure that you translate information so that it is free from corporate speak. Leave phrases such as ‘blue sky thinking’ and ‘picking the low-hanging fruit’ well alone. Create rapport with your readers by using no-nonsense words and phrases that do exactly what they say on the tin. Simple is best. And don’t be afraid to show your personality or inject life into your written communication. Your readers will thank you for it.

Three steps to effective writing

Before you put pen to paper, use the checklist below:

Keep it short

You may think that open, flowing communication needs to be wordy, but the opposite is true. Avoid flowery phrases and practise writing your sentences in the shortest, snappiest way. Aim for an average length of 15-20 words and stick to the rule of one sentence, one idea.

Use active language

Write ‘We invested £130,000 in staff development last year,’ rather than ‘last year an investment of £130,000 was made in staff development.’ The second version is livelier and easier to read because it says ‘who’ before ‘what’. It also makes sure the company gets credit for the good things.

Use verbs instead of nouns

Make sentences shorter and easier to understand by choosing verbs over nouns ‘We will consider proposals submitted by the end of July’ has more punch to it than ‘proposals submitted by the end of July will be given consideration to.’

Email etiquette

Email is best reserved for following up on face-to-face communication. If what you say affects people’s lives and jobs, allow a two-way dialogue to take place. It’s also all too easy to send an email to the wrong person or dash off an abrupt angry message. If you wouldn’t write it on a postcard, don’t send it via email. Your email could end up being circulated far and wide with negative consequences.

If you’re just expanding on an already open dialogue, by all means send emails. But think carefully about what you put in the email subject box. Take inspiration from newspaper and magazine headlines and choose your words carefully. For instance, ‘Now is no time for silence’ is much more effective than ‘This month’s communication update’. You can monitor who opens the emails, but it’s more difficult to measure how engaged people are with the contents. By honing your writing skills, you stand a better chance of connecting with your staff.

© 2009 Emphasis Training Limited, first British serial rights offered

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