Managing is hard. Managing during a downturn is much harder.
During hard times, leaders often need to deliver bad news to the team while still being able to rally people around a vision. You may fail to deliver on previous promises, have to cancel ongoing projects, and sometimes even let people go.
The year 2018 was an extremely hard year for me; a product redesign hurt our product’s core user base, and the stock price fell by more than 75%. We went through a large layoff process and a series of reorgs. Fortunately, we made an unbelievable comeback in 2019, with strong, continuous user growth and a 300% increase in stock price. During 2018, one of the things I got to practice extensively is sharing bad news with people. While recognizing how hard this job is, especially when you still need to keep the team focused and performing, I did learn a lot to do a better job at it.
First, you need a plan. It is frustrating for everyone to receive bad news. You first need time to process the information. It’s important for you to quickly recover from personal emotions and focus on the potential impact on your team. For people getting affected, you need to evaluate the situation, figure out their current expectations, anticipate their potential reactions, and calculate the risk to ongoing projects. You will often feel the urge to share the news ASAP. However, it’s your job to help the team go through the process. It may become more frustrating if you are not prepared for basic questions, which can make people even more frustrated.
Talking to people is an art; not everyone is a master of communication. It’s important to focus on the message and be specific. Don’t go too far to articulate long-term implications, talk about gossips, or discuss any other plans. Be a great listener, clarify any confusion, be accurate and specific, acknowledge any emotional responses, and express supportiveness.
One big lesson is to not lean on your personal relationship. Any personal feelings at that moment may distract you from the real message you intend to deliver. Don’t try to solve every problem at once. Set a time limit (half an hour or one hour) for the talk. Cut it on time, and promise to follow up.
It takes time for anyone to process bad news. There are five commonly known stages of grief: 1. denial and isolation, 2. anger, 3. bargaining, 4. depression, and 5. acceptance. There is not much you can do for the first three stages, except listen and answer questions. The most important job is to identify the signs of the fourth stage and help your team get over it quicker. As a leader, it’s important for you to sell the new vision at that time (after the initial three stages) and point out a new path toward the vision.
Always follow up. It’s normally a good idea to set up the initial meeting in the middle of the week. Try to avoid Fridays, so you can quickly follow up the next morning if there is any question. Don’t let people sleep on questions too long; the human brain tends to be negative and reinforce itself. After first checkin, keep following up regularly, even if the initial conversation was very smooth.
Recently, I heard a story from a start-up founder: he had successfully negotiated an exit deal with a cofounder, but they suddenly changed their mind after a few months and refused to talk any more. The start-up founder is not even able to figure out what changed their mind. People change their minds often, especially when they are in grief. Give them space, listen to them, and keep engaging. As a leader, your job is to support your team members to accept the news, help them find a new path, and rally them around the new mission.
It’s painful to go through all the process, but they facilitate great fulfillment after you make a comeback from a bad time.