Like ripping off a bandage

How to properly give employees bad news when you’re the boss,

CONWAY FRASER

I got off the phone this morning with a CEO who hadn’t slept in days. Like other executives right now, he has to tell people they’re losing their jobs. And, even if this pandemic ended tomorrow, he wouldn’t be able to bring them back for at least a year.

This executive is a smart man, normally great under pressure — but there’s nothing normal about these times we’re in, and he simply doesn’t know how to communicate this news. I reminded him that while COVID-19 may be a global crisis, it’s not his crisis to own. It is, however, his crisis to deal with.

You’re going to start hearing a lot of stories like this.

And the fact is, there is no guaranteed playbook for leaders to communicate through something like this — a fastmoving economic collapse wrapped in a faster-moving global health-care crisis. All a business can do is follow some key fundamentals of sound communications.

Empathy as a secret weapon With coronavirus, everyone is dealing with anxiety and stress. As a leader, you’re likely managing huge operational and funding challenges and working long days — and empathy done properly can be time-consuming (time you feel you don’t have).

However, empathy is paramount in managing through difficult times, and separates leaders from followers. Please be a human first and foremost. Everyone is going through something right now.

It’s not about you You are dealing with the same domestic challenges right now that your employees and other stakeholders are dealing with, but you need to put them first and foremost.

When it comes to your employees, resist the urge to try and relate by comparing your problems to theirs. You make a lot more money than they do. If the company shuts down or lays people off, someone with your credentials will be just fine.

They will have a more difficult time without your bank account. So don’t make it about you. It’s a huge unforced error when communicating.

Know your audience You have different target audiences — your clients, employees, stakeholders, investors, etc. They all have a different relationship with you. Therefore, how you prepare for communicating with these audiences should be treated with the customized respect required. Put yourself in their shoes. If you were them, what would your concerns be? Plan to proactively address those concerns or challenges. This isn’t the time to get lazy with your messaging.

Don’t ‘wing it’ I know you’re busy, but take a bit of time to prepare for key communications. Have a main message predicated on showing your action, providing some context and ensuring you show empathy for their situation regardless of the audience. Don’t make this up as you go, because there are no do-overs if you get it wrong. You can’t un-ring a bell.

Keep it simple When you are trying to figure out what to say in your communication, consider keeping it very basic by answering these four questions as they pertain to the specific audience you’re speaking to: a) What do we know for fact right now? b) What don’t we know or can’t answer right now? c) What are we doing as an organization? d) When and how can people get more information?

This is all common sense, but sometimes during challenging times it is important to remind people of the fundamentals that helped them become leaders in the first place.

Communicate proactively, honestly, transparently and empathetically. Months from now your key audiences (clients, employees, stakeholders) will forget most of what you’ve said in the tsunami of informational white noise — but they will never forget how you made them feel.

And, if done right, that feeling will be an extremely powerful tool in your corporate rebuild, whether that be recruitment, sales or retention.

is the co-author of “Leaders Under Fire: The CEO’s Survival Guide to Navigating Corporate Crisis,” and a Gemini Award-winning former CBC journalist.