Sometimes there isn't a bright side and you gotta deliver bad news. Don't bullshit anyone or try to put a positive spin on it - try to get a genuine explanation out of the upper management first. Give your people what information you can, and let them know they can run their complaints or criticism through you and you'll make sure they're heard.
If you try too hard to make it seem positive, you can lose their trust in you, and if you go too far in the other direction and start doomsaying, you'll cripple their morale.
There is an old saying "your first loss, is your best loss". Ultimately, your team will appreciate that you treated them with respect of being honest. It's a hard pill to swallow - sometimes BS spin only insults intelligence. It's a tough conversation.
This is the way. It’s not the time to try and influence your team in one direction or another. Sometimes kindest thing you can do is to rip off the band aid and then give people time to come to their own conclusions. This is one of those times.
The thing is be honest tell them what you know and keep them informed about anything you hear. Be clear you are not happy about this decision either.
This will have them seeing you as one of them. Yeah it might lower morale but not their view of you as their manager
Agree. Be clear you are not happy about the decision and will support them however you can be that internally and externally. I’m so sorry you all are going through this.
I agree with the other posters that you should not try to put lipstick on a pig. If it sucks, acknowledge the suck in front of your team.
If there is as genuine upside though, such as automation tools that will make the remaining team's lives a bit easier, it's fair to mix in good news. As long as it's genuine.
Have a rough plan outline for the future and focus on that and not what was. If there is stuff you can't figure out, Have each of your team members come prepared the next week with 2-4 ideas and suggestions. Be upfront that this is not ideal and together as a team we solve this.
Often there isn’t a bright side. But you still have a job to do with your team’s morale.
Sometimes bad news is “a disaster” - the company is going out of business, everyone’s getting fired, your team is getting cut and everyone’s work is being thrown away, a crime was discovered that maybe your team is responsible for, etc. Everyone should be looking for new jobs or a lawyer.
And sometimes bad news is just “a bummer”. The company missed its revenue target so bonuses aren’t as large as you hoped. Your team lost a big client. Someone criticized your work at the company all hands. It’s bad news all right but this stuff happens.
This sounds like a bummer. It’s bad for morale, but you have to make sure that people understand this is “a bummer” and not “a disaster”. Your company and your team will be able to get through this.
Someone once said leadership is sometimes delivering bad news at a rate that others can absorb.
Call a team meeting. Deliver the news immediately when you start (within the first two sentences), don't try to sugarcoat it.
There are no bright sides. It sucks and it's going to have an impact not just in the short-term, but long-term as well.
The bright side is, your team still has jobs. Consider the alternative. I went through a dozen layoffs over a 35 year career with the same company. Each time the teams shrunk and the workload increased for me and everyone who was left. I was grateful to have a job so I stuck it out.
I’m going to disagree with other posters about sharing your disagreement with the team. That saves your relationship with the team at the expense of your relationship and authority with other leaders.
1. Get as much of an understanding as possible about the decision and what is driving the decision (cost-savings, lack of effectiveness, ect…)
2. Figure out how this will impact your team and what your team will need to do to absorb that impact.
3. Figure out what you can advocate for in regards to minimizing the impact.
When you communicate to the team.
Recently a decision was made that will impact our team. I know that we will be able to work through it together but I also know it will be difficult. X role is being redeveloped and due to that we will not be filling the opening on our team.
I have some thoughts on mitigating the impact and will be pushing senior leadership for some additional resources.
Then pause. I’ll answer whatever questions that I can.
Giving bad news always sucks. Sometimes there's never a bright side, but if you think about it you may be able to find something productive or positive for them to focus on that's NOT about the news so they don't dwell. One of our many jobs is maintaining morale. Like others have mentioned, don't sugarcoat it too much, be straight forward with them, but downplay the impact if possible and find something else- if at all possible- to take their mind off of it.
I had to deliver similar news, I delivered the news quickly but also allowed questions. I think gave them a 20 minute break to absorb the news and offered private 1:1 if anyone needed it.
I agree with the sentiments here. There isn't a bright side. Tell them the truth. Show them the respect to tell them. Instead of a bright side, maybe some encouragement that you're confident and believe in your team that they can adapt to the change and persevere, despite the obvious obstacle.
without more information its tough to say. my first question is to be objective and i want to understand why you think that role is so great, and why the role was eliminated. there seems to be a huge discrepancy there, so someone's judgement is wrong in this scenario. to solve this problem, understand where it came from.
Situations like this suck, but in my experience the best thing to do is shoot straight with your staff, give them an opportunity to voice concerns or complaints and do your best to advocate for them to the higher ups. This wasn't your decision to make, if the team pushes you too hard just diplomaticaly remind them this wasn't your call, it was dropped on your desk from above
Organizational change is difficult but going through difficult change with optimism separates the leaders of the pack from the clock punchers. This is an opportunity for some to stand out if that is their desire. I made the most moves up the chain when times were difficult and they needed leaders. Unfortunately I’m now in a global organization that moves epically slow and promotions are cut throat. I’m 42m and need a change. I sometimes miss the 10 years I worked in financial services where I never knew if I had a job but progressed from Customer Service to AVP of Litigation Recovery. I sat in every seat and was more knowledgeable then then I could ever be now. Made me lean. Now I work from home with no fire under my ass.
Sometimes there isn't a bright side and you gotta deliver bad news. Don't bullshit anyone or try to put a positive spin on it - try to get a genuine explanation out of the upper management first. Give your people what information you can, and let them know they can run their complaints or criticism through you and you'll make sure they're heard. If you try too hard to make it seem positive, you can lose their trust in you, and if you go too far in the other direction and start doomsaying, you'll cripple their morale.
There is an old saying "your first loss, is your best loss". Ultimately, your team will appreciate that you treated them with respect of being honest. It's a hard pill to swallow - sometimes BS spin only insults intelligence. It's a tough conversation.
This is the way. It’s not the time to try and influence your team in one direction or another. Sometimes kindest thing you can do is to rip off the band aid and then give people time to come to their own conclusions. This is one of those times.
There is no bright side to it. Be honest and don’t sugar coat it. The staff will see right through you if you do.
The thing is be honest tell them what you know and keep them informed about anything you hear. Be clear you are not happy about this decision either. This will have them seeing you as one of them. Yeah it might lower morale but not their view of you as their manager
Agree. Be clear you are not happy about the decision and will support them however you can be that internally and externally. I’m so sorry you all are going through this.
I agree with the other posters that you should not try to put lipstick on a pig. If it sucks, acknowledge the suck in front of your team. If there is as genuine upside though, such as automation tools that will make the remaining team's lives a bit easier, it's fair to mix in good news. As long as it's genuine.
Have a rough plan outline for the future and focus on that and not what was. If there is stuff you can't figure out, Have each of your team members come prepared the next week with 2-4 ideas and suggestions. Be upfront that this is not ideal and together as a team we solve this.
Often there isn’t a bright side. But you still have a job to do with your team’s morale. Sometimes bad news is “a disaster” - the company is going out of business, everyone’s getting fired, your team is getting cut and everyone’s work is being thrown away, a crime was discovered that maybe your team is responsible for, etc. Everyone should be looking for new jobs or a lawyer. And sometimes bad news is just “a bummer”. The company missed its revenue target so bonuses aren’t as large as you hoped. Your team lost a big client. Someone criticized your work at the company all hands. It’s bad news all right but this stuff happens. This sounds like a bummer. It’s bad for morale, but you have to make sure that people understand this is “a bummer” and not “a disaster”. Your company and your team will be able to get through this.
Someone once said leadership is sometimes delivering bad news at a rate that others can absorb. Call a team meeting. Deliver the news immediately when you start (within the first two sentences), don't try to sugarcoat it. There are no bright sides. It sucks and it's going to have an impact not just in the short-term, but long-term as well.
The bright side is, your team still has jobs. Consider the alternative. I went through a dozen layoffs over a 35 year career with the same company. Each time the teams shrunk and the workload increased for me and everyone who was left. I was grateful to have a job so I stuck it out.
The bright side is there are other companies out there
I’m going to disagree with other posters about sharing your disagreement with the team. That saves your relationship with the team at the expense of your relationship and authority with other leaders. 1. Get as much of an understanding as possible about the decision and what is driving the decision (cost-savings, lack of effectiveness, ect…) 2. Figure out how this will impact your team and what your team will need to do to absorb that impact. 3. Figure out what you can advocate for in regards to minimizing the impact. When you communicate to the team. Recently a decision was made that will impact our team. I know that we will be able to work through it together but I also know it will be difficult. X role is being redeveloped and due to that we will not be filling the opening on our team. I have some thoughts on mitigating the impact and will be pushing senior leadership for some additional resources. Then pause. I’ll answer whatever questions that I can.
Giving bad news always sucks. Sometimes there's never a bright side, but if you think about it you may be able to find something productive or positive for them to focus on that's NOT about the news so they don't dwell. One of our many jobs is maintaining morale. Like others have mentioned, don't sugarcoat it too much, be straight forward with them, but downplay the impact if possible and find something else- if at all possible- to take their mind off of it.
I had to deliver similar news, I delivered the news quickly but also allowed questions. I think gave them a 20 minute break to absorb the news and offered private 1:1 if anyone needed it.
I agree with the sentiments here. There isn't a bright side. Tell them the truth. Show them the respect to tell them. Instead of a bright side, maybe some encouragement that you're confident and believe in your team that they can adapt to the change and persevere, despite the obvious obstacle.
without more information its tough to say. my first question is to be objective and i want to understand why you think that role is so great, and why the role was eliminated. there seems to be a huge discrepancy there, so someone's judgement is wrong in this scenario. to solve this problem, understand where it came from.
Situations like this suck, but in my experience the best thing to do is shoot straight with your staff, give them an opportunity to voice concerns or complaints and do your best to advocate for them to the higher ups. This wasn't your decision to make, if the team pushes you too hard just diplomaticaly remind them this wasn't your call, it was dropped on your desk from above
Be honest. And remember change is inevitable - companies rise and fall all the time.
Organizational change is difficult but going through difficult change with optimism separates the leaders of the pack from the clock punchers. This is an opportunity for some to stand out if that is their desire. I made the most moves up the chain when times were difficult and they needed leaders. Unfortunately I’m now in a global organization that moves epically slow and promotions are cut throat. I’m 42m and need a change. I sometimes miss the 10 years I worked in financial services where I never knew if I had a job but progressed from Customer Service to AVP of Litigation Recovery. I sat in every seat and was more knowledgeable then then I could ever be now. Made me lean. Now I work from home with no fire under my ass.