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| Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively |
I
believe at some point in all of our lives we will have to deliver some type of
bad news tactfully and effectively on the job, even if we are not a big boss. In
June of 2005 to October of 2009, I was actually a Manager for a local Best Buy
store and had to deliver bad news to people a few times.
One
of my employees, who was with the company for two years, is not performing as
well or at a substandard level that I expect. I am receiving numerous
complaints from customers on her attitude. Coworkers are not happy with her
because she is very confrontational when spoken to by other employees and even at
times with customers. After numerous complaints, I knew I had to do something
about it. We will say that her name is Noel. Noel is 25 years old.
I
am going to anticipate Noel to be very defensive and have somewhat of an attitude
with me when I tell her of the complaints. I am first going to set up a private
meeting with her in my office and I am also going to have one of my assistants
in the room as a witness and backup if needed. It is always good to have a
second person there for conversations like this so that you have someone to
back up how things went down and what was said otherwise, it could be your word
against hers.
There
are many conflict resolution techniques I would use with Noel. Since we note
that she is usually under distress when confronted because she is someone that
completely loses control over any given situation and with no real reason why
(Cahn & Abigail, 2014) and anger can generate as a result, we are going to
keep this in mind as we speak to her. Since conflict and communication go hand in
hand in this situation receiving this message can be more difficult for Noel. The
key here is trying to use theories and communication to break her behaviors as
they can fall into the pragmatic theory because her gestures and moves along
with her behavior have become patterned over time (Trenholm, 2011). Our goal is
to give her a chance to change that. I
will first ask her how things are going for her at the store and see if there
are any problems going on that she would like to talk about. I will then
encourage her to maintain an open mind towards the other employee’s point of
views as I tell Noel what has been said and what I have witnessed. I will watch
my tone of voice, keep eye contact, and maintain being calm. I will talk to her about promoting fair
workmanship and doing her part. I will listen when she has something to say
even if I do not agree with her. I want to give Noel time to get out what she
has to say while giving her my utmost attention. I will talk to Noel about the S-TLC method
that I use to help her deal with conflict when she feels certain behaviors and
attitudes when she is confronted by employees or customers. This technique helps us to stop, think,
listen, and communicate. This is a four step model created by Cahn &
Abigail that is essential when engaging in a conflict or when a conflict is
about to occur. It is really simple by first, just stopping and taking a time out. You could leave for a few minutes or however long it takes to get control of your emotions and yourself. Noel could then go for a walk, get a cup of coffee, get a water bottle, or even smoke if that is what she likes to do. Next, think about what you might say so that you have no regrets later on. Think about what you and the other person wants at that moment. What is the best Noel could hope for as a total or even partial resolution or compromise to her problem at that moment. Think about your behaviors and make sure you are not being hotheaded or a loose cannon. You wan to really listen and after you have spoken your needs and wants, hear the person completely by making eye contact and not getting distracted by other people or what is going on around you. Do not interrupt or show lack of interest when Noel or any other person is talking. Try to see their perspective and views on things. Lastly, you want to communicate and not dominate the conversation. This is a process that involves steps so that you can come to a mutual understanding or even a compromise over the situation. You can do this by hearing each other out and trying to cooperate while working together. Discuss the problem and not what you think of each other at this particular moment. Try and get into the other persons shoes and see it from their perspective and keep an open mind without judging or jumping to conclusions. Make sure you welcome the feedback even if it is not something you really want to hear or agree with. (Cahn & Abigail, 2014). If you forget how this sequence goes, you can always carry an index card around in your wallet or pocket with these steps on it as a reminder of what to do. This way you can practice and learn it each time you are in a situation like this. 
To end this meeting, Noel will be put on a work performance plan over the course of eight weeks. After the eight weeks we will meet again and see how things are improving. If they have not improved she will be let go from her position. We will start doing role playing in our morning meeting to show her and others how to interact with each other during situations as well as interactions with customers. We will spend thirty minutes of each morning meeting doing this with different situations and scenario’s to help employees communicate better. Noel opens each day so this will be an easy task for her to participate in. She might just need to be taught different techniques on how to handle her feelings with employees and customers and this will help a great deal.
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| Example of a Work Performance Plan |
References
Cahn, D. D., &
Abigail, R. A. (2014). Managing conflict
through communication (5th ed).
Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Trenholm, S.
(2011). Thinking through communication:
An introduction to the study of human
communication (6th
ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.
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