Bad News Early, Bad News Often
Somewhere along the line, you’re going to have the privilege of breaking some bad news to your superiors. The big sale you forecasted isn’t happening this quarter. You’re probably going to lose the big case you’ve been working on. The grant you applied for…the one everyone’s been counting on, is going to be denied.
The guy you’ve been recruiting is taking a job with one of your strongest competitors. The quarter is going to come in below forecast. The employees in the I.T. department are being picked off one by one because your pay scales are out of whack.
All this stuff is bad news. And no one likes to deliver bad news up the line. No one.
But you have to.
Look at the alternative. When you hold back the truth, you shorten the amount of time leadership has to respond. You weaken the organization by limiting its options. And you end up looking bad when your boss gets ‘surprised’ by something bad. Everyone hears bad news a first time. The questions are 1) when will they hear it 2) in what context will they hear it and 3) who will they hear it from?
People never like negative surprises. And people tend to ‘tune out’ the foreshadowing of bad stuff. That’s why it’s not just bad news early, it’s bad news often. They have to hear it until they hear it, if you know what I mean. Sometimes, leaders are so committed to their vision, they filter out facts that disagree with what they want so desperately to be true. These leaders need people and systems to put the facts in front of them repeatedly…so there’s no way they can lie to themselves. No way to avoid tough decisions.
Early in my career, my boss fell while jogging and suffered a head injury. He started talking like he was off his rocker…erratic instructions and weird responses when we’d ask him stuff. After a little while, I took what could have been a career-limiting risk. I called his boss (who was in another city) and said “You better get up here. I think Mr. Simpson needs your help.” His boss came quickly, talked with him long enough to see something wasn’t right, and then drove him to the hospital, where he stayed for a week. My boss was scared to death of his boss, and he would have fired me before he’d have let me report his temporary insanity. But I delivered the ‘bad news’ for the good of Mr. Simpson and for the company and it all worked out.
When you go to your superiors with the truth of a situation…when you present the facts clearly….without prejudice and without placing blame, you actually gain credibility and respect (Notice I said ‘facts’, not opinions!). Sure, there are stories of the messenger being shot for the message. But those are overstated. Usually when the messenger gets shot, his fingerprints are on a few things connected to the bad news. And even if they weren’t, getting fired for telling the truth is way better than getting whacked for lying.
Proverbs 28:23 “Whoever rebukes a person will in the end gain favor rather than one who has a flattering tongue.”
Question: Have you been sitting on top of some bad news your bosses really need to know? Will you ‘man up’, trust God, and tell them? Share here.
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Responses (2)
I don’t have any comment on this particular post, but I just started following your blog and I’m really enjoying your posts. Thank you!
I have served with this organization for more than a decade and lately I been feeling that my time is up and I need to move on. I contemplated just doing a resignation leeter and dropping the bobmshell on my boss but after praying about it, I dicided to do this the right way and prayed to God for courage to share this with my boss.
I was amazed at how she appreciated the fact that I had taken the trouble to seek her out and share my thoughts. This conversation ended up in us agreeing to work out the transition in a smooth way so that the organization does not suffer and I got more time to plan my transition. So I agree that even though we need to man up and share the bad news, we should do that with wisdom and courage.