The most powerful way to deliver unwelcome news to your team or community

If you need to convey difficult news to your team or deliver unwelcome information to a public audience, it’s natural to feel anxious about the questions you might be asked.

There’s a good chance some questions will touch on issues that are outside your area of responsibility, or there might be concerns that you don’t yet know how to address.

If that’s the case, you probably feel uncomfortable, even fearful, about how to respond.

One of the most powerful ways to approach a difficult conversation, meeting or announcement is to decide up front that nothing is off the table. Consciously choose to address any question that comes up.

Right away, this removes some of the anxiety attached to going into a situation where the range of questions is unknown.

I’ve worked with leaders to prepare them for delivering very difficult news and we’ve taken this approach. The results have been compelling.

Of course, there will still be issues that you can’t address or that should be answered by someone else.

I encourage you to think about your content and decide what’s “in your lane”. This is the material that’s completely within your responsibility. If you’re asked questions about it, you can answer them fully and with certainty.

Then there’ll be questions that are on the outskirts of your lane. These are the ones you answer as fully as you can, before explaining why the remaining material needs to be addressed to the appropriate person, or why it needs to remain unaddressed for now.

And finally, there are questions and concerns that will be totally outside your lane. These might relate to legal issues or sensitive political matters, areas that you just can’t venture into.

When those questions come, you can clearly and confidently explain why they sit outside the scope of your topic today and how they are best addressed.

Knowing what’s in your lane, and what isn’t, enables you to mentally triage questions as they arise without being defensive or visibly anxious.

If it helps, visualise the lane and everything that sits inside it. This helps you categorise the issues that come up; not to be evasive and avoid people’s concerns, but so you’re better prepared and know what general direction each answer should take.

You’ve probably got from the start of this piece that preparation is key. Delivering difficult news on the run is never going to get you the best result.

Think first about your audience and what they need, then prepare yourself and your state of mind. Then, consider your content through the lens of your “lane”.