The one with delivering bad news

Act 1

Rohit got promoted from software engineer to engineering manager. He’s excited to start a new journey in his career.

Rohit took a deep breath while heading to the bathroom. There was one bathroom near his desk but he chose to walk to the one farther from him so that he can get some walk and clear his head. In about 10 minutes, he’s having his first group meetings with the engineers, and he feels pressure already coming into his chest.

Rohit is a newly promoted engineering manager at WeShop, an online e-commerce platform that sells personalized fashion brands. He joined the company as an early engineer and the company has experienced some great growth for the past year - the engineering team has doubled in size, and as an early engineer on the team, Rohit saw the opportunity to step as an engineering manager.

“It will be a different skill set and it will lead to more opportunities”, Rohit thought. He talked to his manager Emily during their 1-on-1, who is the engineering manager of Rohit.

“I’m pleasantly surprised that you want to step up as engineering manager!” Emily responded with delight when Rohit told her about his desire to become an engineering manager.

“Really?” Rohit was also pleasantly shocked, before the 1-on-1 he played out different scenarios in his head, but he didn’t anticipate such an immediate, happy reaction. Emily has been a great manager to Rohit, she has always been supportive of Rohit’s career, but when they talk, it’s about him being an engineer, being a manager is a different story.

“As you know, WeShop is growing fast and I just came out of a meeting with a leadership. They have no intention of slowing down”, Emily chuckled a little, “you are one of my star engineers, and you have shown leadership as an engineer on the team, I think you are ready to lead your own team, and I’m actually very excited to work with you!”

“Oh wow, thanks! I am excited for the opportunity too!” Rohit knew that with hard work he can move upward in his career, and WeShop is a place with steady growth and positive energy. After the meeting with Emily, he felt relief and excitement - relieved because the conversation about manager went smooth, excited because it’s going to be a new chapter in his career.

Little did he know his first test as the engineer manager came the first week after his promotion.

Act 2

First week on the job, Rohit had to deliver bad news to his team: the salary increase for everyone got delayed by 6 months.

The first week Rohit was added to the manager’s mailing list, and this email got delivered to his mailbox:

Title: [DO NOT DISTRIBUTE] Action Required: Change in Rewards Cycle This is a company wide change for employees in terms Rewards Cycle. As WeShop looks to expand our e-commerce platform, we want to align company’s long-term interest with employee’s performance and rewards.

Effective this year and going forward, the annual employee’s salary increase and bonus will take effect in June rather than January. All managers are required to communicate this change to their reports before the all-hands meeting this Friday afternoon.

If you have any questions, please reach out to people team. Gary Gonzalo Head of People, WeShop

Rohit skimmed through the message and quickly logged on to the company chat. A big news like won’t be in private for long. Sure enough, there are multiple chat messages waiting for him to respond. A few messages stood out though - one is from Emily, his manager. The other is from Tom, an engineer on this team. Rohit clicked into Emily’s message first.

“Did you get the manager’s email about rewards cycle? Let’s chat when you get into the office today... It’s SUCKS for the team :(”. Emily tends to speak her mind as a manager and point out what everyone is thinking, yet she delivers them in a relatable way that everyone feels better after she speaks out. That’s one thing Rohit admired about her as a manager. Rohit went on to click Tom’s message.

“I heard that the company is delaying raises and bonus this year, do you know why?” Yup, message like this will for sure leak out. Someone has already leaked the manager’s email out to the company chat and it will be the hot topic in the office today. Rohit can sense the frustration and confusion behind Tom’s message. Everyone thought WeShop is doing well, including Rohit. But this email made everyone think that WeShop might not be doing as well as everyone think, and naturally everyone wants to find out what happened, and what it means to them.

Rohit clicked on Emily’s chat and replied, “Yes let’s chat we get into the office today.”, and went on to get ready. For a moment, he has a little tickling sense in his body, he’s not too concerned about what this change means to him, but more concerned about how his team will talk to him.

“What a way to start as a manager”, he thought.

Emily was looking her laptop when Rohit walked near the meeting room, her eyes fixated on a screen with a sense of concentration a seriousness. Rohit quietly knocked on the half-opened door.

“Coming in, Rohit, good morning!” Emily looked up with a slight smile on her face.

“Yes, good morning!”

“So, about that email..” Emily went straight to the topic, and then paused, “.. what do you think”.

“Eh, yeah, it’s not good news.”

“It sucks! And they couldn’t have handled it any worse!”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not so much about the message but how it was communicated. They send a private email to managers and then it got leaked out, people think that they have something to hide!” “Yeah, that’s what I thought first when I read the email.”

“And it’s up to us to do the damage control, as frustrated as it is, we need to talk to our team. It’s a morale hit and it’s our job to respond.”

“I was thinking on the way here how we can hold team meeting today, honestly I’m nervous about talking it through with the team.”

“Welcome to the world of management, Rohit”, Emily chuckled, “delivering bad news is part of the game. I’ve been in management for a while and I’m still not used to delivering bad news. I mean, nobody likes bad news!” She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Emily looked at her computer for a bit, and then looked at Rohit, “I think the best way right now is to talk to the team about what we know, and acknowledge the negative behind this news. People are smart and they know what it means, and transparency works best in this situation”.

Rohit nodded, “Yup I agree. Like you said, it’s important how the message is communicated.”

Act 3

Rohit had the conversation with engineers on the team with authenticity, and his fear cleared up after the transparent talk with the team - and it’s more about how the message is communicated, rather than the message itself.

Rohit took a quite scan of the room, the four engineers on his team all have benevolent look on their face. They gather together for a meeting “chat about rewards change”, and at this point through grape vine or leaked messages, they all know what the meeting is about.

“So, I’m sure you all have heard about the rewards change..” Rohit paused a bit, and he felt his throat became a bit dry, “The company just announced that this year’s salary increase and bonuses are delayed.” Tom, the engineer on the team, frowned a little after the sentence, as if his fear is officially confirmed.

“I don’t understand,” Tom said a bit quickly, “I thought WeShop is growing and hiring, why would the rewards get delayed if the company is doing well?”

“To be honest Tom, that’s something that I don’t have clarity on.” Rohit replied, and he knew that it wasn’t the answer they are looking for. The challenge of being a manager when it comes to delivering the bad news: the manager is the messenger, often with no insight on how the decision is made, and bear the burden of handling the receiver.

The 4 engineers went silent for like five seconds, but for Rohit it felt like five minutes.

“I know this must be frustrating, I mean, this sucks.” Rohit’s voice saddened as he finished his sentence, the reward cycle affects him too as a WeShop employee. “What I want to do today is to share what I know and get questions I can have further clarity on, and most importantly, I want to ask how you all feel.”

Rachel, the junior iOS engineer on the team, spoke up.

“To be honest, I am not so frustrated about the news itself. I get it, it’s a company, and the rewards cut is about the money. What I’m frustrated about is how they delivered the message. The leadership sent a private email to all managers first, and that got leaked. To us, it felt like the company didn’t care about employee’s feelings, and they have something to hide.. And it made me think, are there more challenges coming down the pipe?”

Everyone nodded, the sentiment is shared among all the engineers. Bad news itself is frustrating by nature, but how the bad news are delivered can have a dramatic impact on how people perceive it.

When delivering a difficult message to the team, root the delivering with empathy and transparency. Explain what the bad news is and share as much rationale and reasons behind it as possible (no super coating! People are smart and can detect any dishonesty). Empathize how people are feeling, and let people express their reactions and emotions.