Employee Communications Go Mobile

In her article, "Employee Communications Go Mobile", Caitlin Carpenter shares some interesting insights about the utility of enterprise mobile apps for employee communication.  She suggests that the use of these apps yield high returns in terms of employee responsiveness and engagement. 

There is certainly merit in the application of this technology to reach our internal stakeholders.

Still, don't you think that we need to exercise wisdom in terms of the content and frequency of communication via this channel to avoid swamping employees' personal hand held devices with messages that would be better delivered on the intranet?

 

Read the article at http://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/employee-communications-go-mobile-01057459#fyqWJ4iqGLbe2OJo.99

 

Now for the Bad News

(Getty image in Donelly, 2011)

It's now time for the bad news. 

The experts all seem to agree that at this point, the bad news is best delivered clearly and directly.

Guffey et al. suggest including an alternative or compromise if possible - emphasizing what you CAN do (Guffey, M E, Rhodes, K,  Rogin, P,  2010).

For example:

"While our rewards program does not offer free trips to the moon, you can choose from our wide range of terrestrial destinations."

The Reason

The reason is the background to the bad news (Guffey, M E, Rhodes, K,  Rogin, P,  2010). 

It essentially explains the news that is about to come.  The video below explains it in more detail and provides good examples of how to use “The Reason.”

(O'Connor, 2013)

The Buffer

The buffer is integral to making bad news sound good.

The idea is to keep the person’s attention without raising their expectations by leading them to believe that they are about to receive good news (University of Houston – Victoria, n.d., Para. 2).

The buffer establishes common ground between you and the recipient (ibid.).  It is something you can both agree on (Guffey, M E, Rhodes, K,  Rogin, P,  2010).

An example of a buffer:

"Thank you for sharing your concerns about our rewards program."

as opposed to

"What do you mean you have a problem with our rewards program?"

 

So how DO we make bad news sound good?

Making bad news sound good is really about using an indirect approach.

The news is delivered clearly but diplomatically and is prefaced with a buffer (Guffey, M E, Rhodes, K,  Rogin, P,  2010).

Don't ask someone else to deliver the bad news for you

Don't delay

(Chernoff, 2009)

Based on feedback from my first post, it seems that for many of us, our first instinct is to avoid delivering bad news for as long as possible. 

Sadly this tactic doesn't make the bad news go away.  Neither does it make it any easier to deliver the news.

The solution: Just do it!