I am currently a director in the establishment where I work; one of the hardest things is help develop your managers to be able to relay bad news. I find that managers are reluctant to deliver bad news. I feel that a strong manager can tactfully and effectively deliver bad news through effective communication in my opinion.
To deliver bad news can be easy if you have great communication skills. Bad news can be minimized if more people had better communication skills and had better listening skills. I believe that bad news can be delivered if people took the time to find out what a person is thinking and why. My communication skills have many different facets. I would say that my five most dominant traits would be outgoing, well spoken, articulate, humorous, and intelligent and all five of these traits are extremely important when delivering bad news to someone. It also really helps to have these traits when it comes to dealing with conflict or disagreements. I feel that I can demonstrate any one of these traits with anyone at anytime to eliminate conflict or strong feelings, sad feelings or any trait that follows when delivering bad news. I feel that when you have to deliver bad news a conversation can go into a million different topics and it can go in any direction.
So in this situation I’m the department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services. I have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service. One of my employees, who have been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers. In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment. You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal. To me this is an easy fix. First off you want to set a specific time to speak with the employee, sending them a calendar invite for a one on one session. Obviously make sure that the employee can show up for the time designated for the discussion. When the employee arrives I would begin to ask them how they feel the job is going and they think they’re progressing in the position. Let them explain to you how they feel things are going so you can help understand what maybe going on in the work place. I am a very direct person, so I usually cut right into what is going from what I see. I explain the employee what has occurred and what needs to be done to rectify the problem. Generally the employee agrees with the assessment if everything is black and white, if not I usually get into more detail. I explain the employee that the company has specific guidelines and policies and we all must adhere to them or termination may be required. I make sure that the employee understands the ramifications to any situation. But I always finish by addressing ways to fix the issue or help give them ideas on what we can do improve or change their outlook on the situation. If things don’t change I generally will find them a way out of the organization. My best practices approach is make sure that you take in everyone’s different opinions and really try to look at a situation through many different angles and aspects. I really try to take in as much information as I can and really try to be objective as I can when I come to conflict or the relating of bad news I can communicate it at a high level. But I really do feel that communicating in the right ways and the right formats can really eliminate or elevate problems anywhere at any time, especially in the work place.
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