Leading with Empathy: A Manager's Guide to Announcing Difficult News

The Owl and The Beetle: Thursday Memo

Despite the team's five years of hard work and dedication, the upper management has lost confidence in the project, compounded by the current economic downturn. As a result, the project will be shut down, and you are the one who has the responsibility of letting the team know.

Over the past six weeks, rumors of the project's future circulated increasingly, leading to uncomfortable silences in one-on-one conversations. This has caused a lack of sleep for you over the last two weeks.

As the weekend approaches, the fate of the project and the team remains uncertain. On Monday, the team will be told of the project's cancellation, but whether the team will be disbanded is still up in the air. Whatever the outcome, it will be a problematic announcement, and you must now prepare for any eventuality.

This essay will cover the following:

💣 Defusing the bomb: the what-if exercise.
🔪 Dulling the triggers: how to keep calm when bearing bad news.
✅ Core principles for difficult conversations.
❌ Antipatterns to avoid.
🔑 Key takeaways.
📄 Further resources.

Let’s get going!

💣 Defusing the bomb: the what-if exercise

We suffer more often in imagination than in reality. - Seneca

While it may be natural to feel fear in the face of uncertainty, the truth is that we can make it through the announcement. Despite our apprehension, we can take comfort in remaining level-headed and making it out of this challenge better than before. With a clear mind and a positive attitude, we can tackle this obstacle and come out on the other side stronger.

To defuse the metaphorical 'bomb' you are hosting in your head, you should take out a paper pad and pen. Divide the page into two columns.

In the left column, you list everything you are afraid of.