Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/the-bad-ne/5009936/
"Ms. Jones, when you have a minute, will you stop by my office . . . we have something to talk about."Oh, oh. I wonder what this is about? Has someone complained? Maybe the board has decided to cut staff. I hate this!
"Sally, do you have any idea why I called this meeting?"
???? What kind of question is that? Just get on with it!
Does this sound familiar? Do you feel the acid in the pit of your stomach when you hear one of these ominous phrases? Would you expect to hear about a raise or promotion in a meeting that followed such an introduction? The hints of bad news to come are often worse than the bad news itself.
Nobody likes to deliver bad news - we don't like to do it and we're not very good at it. Unfortunately, it is an inevitable part of the job, so we need to do it as best we can. There are many kinds of bad news messages. Sometimes it's talking to a parent about a difficult child, or the need to get permission for further evaluations. Sometimes we need to ...