Imagine walking down your street naked, that’s what delivering a hard message to a group of people feels like. You may be thinking “That’s weird”, but let me explain.
As a leader, one role you have is communicating hard messages and facilitating discussion about hard topics. Often times that includes bad news, for instance, reporting poor performance or failures. How will you deliver this message?
Will you hide behind comfy phrases like “It’s not THAT bad”?
Will you hide behind data “The data says you failed….”
Will you minimize it?
Will you be an ass about it? “You guys suck!!!”
My recommendation would be to be to follow the S.S.S. method
Serious – Take the matter seriously. Joking about the problem minimizes it and makes it light. Joking strips the problem of seriousness. Some problems need to be taken seriously.
Straight – Be straight up with your team about the problem.
“You are not performing as well as you can”
“We are not succeeding”
“We can be better”.
These are examples of straight talk that get attention and change of hearts and minds.
Sight – Look people in the eye when delivering a tough message.
Delivering a hard message is walking naked down your street. You open yourself up to debate, confrontation, and discomfort. It’s vulnerable. It’s courageous.
Dakota Beerman 
Leave a comment