Member Thought Leadership
In 2023, Google, for years ranked as one of the top United States companies to work for, laid off 12,000 workers via email. The fallout was swift and brutal as employees took to social media in protest. Years of carefully cultivating a reputation as an employee-centric company, complete with climbing walls and free massage, were wiped out with one click of a send button.
And yet, the actual blog post issued by CEO Sundar Pichai later that day informing employees of the decision was in many respects a model of how to communicate bad news: it provided context, acknowledged that it was a difficult decision, accepted responsibility and expressed sincere regret while being simultaneously clear and direct. For those left behind, Pichai painted a positive picture of a tighter, leaner business ready to face the future.
In this article, AltoPartners provides their top tips on how to show leadership, build trust, and create a foundation for future resilience when delivering bad news:
- Get your communitcations team involved early
- Frame bad news as part of a larger story
- Engage in dialogue, not monologue
- Be transparent but strategically hopeful
- Demonstrate fairness and respects
- Acknowledge emotions openly and honestly
- Invest in leader training
- Equip your line managers with practical guidance
- Use clear language
- Bad news is an integral part of “business unusual”. Stepwise protocols help to manage it
