It is very common in the real and business world to be faced with different kinds of situations. A bad news is not only hard to listen but it is also very hard to give. And unfortunately, delivering of bad news is handled very poorly. Either it is firing people to having serious performance conversation, explaining a bad performance of a company in front of a press, etc. There are the times when most of the people just want to go and pull the covers up to their heads. It is natural because any bad news seems like a treat to human survival and triggers you fight-or-flight reflux. This is the reason people react very badly on hearing any bad news.

In order to reduce the stronger negative impacts of a bad news, following are the ways that can help you a lot:

• Stay positive:

Even for delivering a bad news, you need to give it in a positive manner. According to researches, when negative information is presented in a positive tone, people do not react defensively towards it. The popular animation studio Pixar has mastered the art of delivering bad news without hampering the creativity of the individuals. Teams as part of the filmmaking process are put through several rounds of in-depth critique sessions where they are given feedback on the potential areas that need improvement. In this way, it becomes easier for the team member to accept negative feedback as they do not view it as a personal attack on their creativity.

• Focus on the facts:

According to researchers, the most effective negative feedback has many reasons behind it. If facts are used for delivering negative information, it makes the news less emotional. This helps to keep the conversation action-oriented and does not portray the bad news as loss or betrayal for the listener.

• Show that you care:

Once the bad news is delivered, do ask sincere questions from the recipient about their thoughts and feelings towards it. For listeners, it will help them to take it as an exchange of ideas instead of frontal attacks and will also give a better understanding of their reaction. This will help to devise a solution to the problem for the person who has been delivered the bad news.

• Help them to get better:

For making it easy for the recipient to accept the bad news, analyze their reaction to determining whether they have an ability to improve on their own. Someone who will have the ability will react with a motivated behavior whereas someone who doesn’t have, will act defeated. If the person feels crushed by the news, offer them ideas that how they can bounce back from the difficult situation. They make take some time to recover from the initial shock but if they get encouragement and support, they will be back on their tracks soon.

Via: Entrepreneur