Feature
For internal communications professionals, being the bearer of bad news comes with the territory. But there’s a lot of bad news right now: widespread industry layoffs, cost-cutting measures, strategic changes and controversial return-to-office mandates. Internal comms functions have their work cut out for them as they try to share difficult decisions with employee bases that are already burnt out on change.
In some cases, these decisions might even directly affect the professionals communicating the news — or they just might disagree with the choices their superiors are making. But as trust in other major institutions falters, many individuals are looking for their employers and the businesses they interact with to be trusted authorities. Internal comms will have to take the steps to make sure they remain that way.
Honest Communication in a Low-Trust Environment
If challenging workforce conditions weren’t already giving internal comms a headache, they also must contend with record-low trust of leadership. A survey from Gallup found that in 2023, just 21% of employees said they strongly trusted leadership at their workplace. Gallup goes on to correlate open communication with an increase in trust.
So how can internal comms strike a balance between keeping employees’ trust and delivering unsettling news? Lottie Bazley, internal communications strategic adviser at Staffbase, doesn’t believe the two have to be at odds with each other.
“[You need to] understand that people don’t necessarily fear change, they fear uncertainty,” she said.”Try to remove as much uncertainty for them as soon as possible.” This means being able to acknowledge any impacts — both positive and negative — openly, but with sensitivity.
“In the instance of layoffs, you don’t want to be telling everyone you’re ‘extremely excited for the journey ahead’ if there are a number of employees that won’t be on that journey with you,” Bazley said.
According to Bazley, IC professionals need to keep in mind that they’re dealing with adults in the workplace who can “see through any corporate B.S.” and that trying to minimize or gloss over any negative impacts of a critical decision will just lower trust further.
Ron Carucci, owner and managing partner of consulting firm Navelent, said that when messages sound sanitized or spun, “that just makes manager’s jobs much harder when trying to contextualize the message for people.”
Related Article: Trust Is the Antidote to Organizational Disorder. Here's How to Build It
Leave Your Feelings at the Door?
Companies don’t always make the right decision, and sometimes it’s obvious even to the people communicating the news. However, Bazley said, it’s important to remain professional.
“Think about your sphere of influence,” she said. “If you can’t control the outcome of the decision, what you can control is how you communicate about it, and how others will receive the news in the best way.”
Carucci also noted that while you can acknowledge your own feelings, it’s important not to get too emotional or take sides.
“You can empathize with detractors and those disappointed, but you can’t collude with them — you’ll only make enacting the decision that much harder,” he said.
However, there is room for internal comms to be more than just a messenger, and IC pros should feel comfortable asking for clarifications or explanations about controversial decisions.
“The role of an internal communicator is to give advice to leadership about how to communicate something — that is literally why leadership hired us,” Bazley said.
According to Carucci, timing is everything: “The time to be honest about drawbacks is before the decision is ratified .… Make sure concerns are rooted in data, not isolated anecdotes. Decision makers want fact-based input, especially if accompanied by strong emotions.”
Related Article: Why Soft Skills Matter and How to Develop Them
Confronting Pushback and Other Tips
Both Carucci and Bazley agreed that providing space and time for feedback is important, but it needs to be done thoughtfully.
“Don’t just open up these places for people to give their feedback,” Bazley said, “make sure you’re doing something with it.”
Creating FAQs is helpful, but Carucci warned that they should be informed by both feedback and direct managers.
“Make sure you hear the questions from the managers, don’t just make up the questions you think or hope people will ask," he said. "Managers can also sense-make for comms people what real life is like on the ground and what they expect people to do, say and feel upon hearing the decision.”
Carucci also suggested to:
- Listen for any unexpressed needs or feelings behind the questions employees might ask or opinions they might express.
- Avoid getting defensive or dismissive, even when dealing with unanswerable questions.
- Help people be more resilient by helping them see they have likely navigated tougher situations before.
- Tailor messaging for different audiences, stakeholders and contexts instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach.
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While open communication is important, over-communicating is not necessarily helpful. When news is unpopular, people prefer to get to the point quickly, Bazley said.
“Sometimes big decisions are best communicated in a short memo, or in a few sentences during an All Hands call,” Bazley said. “Any additional or supporting information can be published elsewhere, so if people want to learn more, they have access to that information.”
