If you are a leader then one of the toughest parts of the job is giving bad news. Often this is to do with something happening within the company, downsizing, redundancy, a sale, a take-over. It is one of those things that every leader dreads doing.

 But there is a strange thing about bad news. People generally cope with it surprisingly well. Why? Because it delivers certainty and dealing with certainty is something humans are fairly good at. If you can deliver the bad news and help people to start to plan a way out of it then the atmosphere will be surprisingly positive.

 What we are very bad at is dealing with uncertainty. It provokes a threat state and in a threat state people stop working and start speculating. The rumour mill starts to grind, work is shelved while people watch for the signs in the economy or the company that things are going wrong. 

 Not knowing what or when or if the blow will fall is far harder than dealing with reality. So if you are a leader work very hard to diminish uncertainty. Do not announce “we will be having to downsize but we are not sure when. At that point most people will start to look for new jobs.

 Stay quiet until you have a plan, if you can’t do that then be clear when you will have a plan and stick to the date. Facts are the best antidote to the fantasies of the rumour mill. This is when you discover your real leadership qualities.