It’s great when a project or business is doing well and being successful – everyone gets to bask in the glory. But at some point, it’s inevitable that some sort of problem or issue will come along. So how do you react to the bad news?
- Shoot the messenger?
- Look for clear blame?
- Find a way to make it look better?
- Ignore it – it’ll go away?
Shoot the Messenger
It’s a typical initial reaction. No one wants to hear bad news, and the messenger is the person who gets to witness that initial reaction. It’s human to have feelings of frustration or anger, but if that’s all the messenger ever sees or hears, what’s their take-away? That you’re angry with them? That they’re a trouble maker for telling you? It took great courage for the messenger to tell you something that you didn’t want to hear, and if you just react negatively, there’s a high probability that they’ll never tell you any bad news ever again. And word will get out to the rest of the organization as well – no one will want to take the risk to tell you bad news. But does that make the bad news go away? No, you just find out later, after it’s become an even bigger problem! So how about a little different approach: after the initial angry and upset phase (yeah, don’t kid yourself, that’ll still happen), you look at the messenger straight in the eyes and thank them for having the courage to tell you.
Look for Clear Blame
Of course, you want to make people feel accountable. But if the only reaction to bad news is a witch hunt for who to blame, you’re sending some clear messages to the whole organization: Don’t take any risk, cover your butt, and make sure there’s someone else to blame if things go wrong. That’s the opposite of teamwork! How can you expect to drive a program forward and be successful if everyone’s energy is focused on protecting themselves from anything that can go wrong? Who has any time left to focus on doing what’s right? This can be a death spiral for an organization.
Find a Way to Make It Look Better
Bad news can make you feel like a failure, and no one wants to be a failure. So, one natural reaction is to “spin” the bad news to make it look less impactful. To some extent, appropriate “positioning” of an issue or problem is a good thing – it gets people to look at the issue in the context of the overall picture, including all the positives. However, sway too far into making things look rosy, and you lose the sense of urgency to do something about the problem. In the end, the problem doesn’t go away on its own, you need to do something about it. But if it’s perceived as “low priority”, the team will focus on other things that they deem more important, and the issue doesn’t get appropriate attention.
Ignore It – It’ll Go Away
This is the extreme of “make it look better”, and pretty much guarantees that nothing will be done to solve the problem. Instead, the problem festers, the team gets frustrated and demoralized, and the project loses momentum. Keep ignoring it, and the project ultimately fails.
Reward Bad News
So next time someone gives you bad news:
- Get through the anger and upset phase as quickly as you can
- Accept it for what it is
- Thank the messenger for having the courage to tell you
- Work with the team to solve the problem
- Optimize a new go-forward plan – solve the problem, but minimize the impact
- Deliver a successful product!
Here’s to your success!
- Pete
Pete Rudak
President & CEO
Rudak Engineering