Bad News Handling 10 Top Tips

Eurostar Tunnel Problems

Alison Sturgeon, from Ascot, left Disneyland Paris shortly after 7.30pm on Friday and arrived in London at 11am yesterday (Saturday). She said train staff had done a "dreadful job". "They were useless at giving us information. There was no communication at all," She said. (Source The Independent, 20 Dec 2009).

What are the top 10 requirements in handling bad news?

1. Respond quickly. Bad news doesn't keep well.
2. Leadership needs to be visible
3. Show concern for the plight of your customers and their families
4. Be Honest. Even if you can't give clear solutions make it clear that you are working on getting the facts, what is being done and when you will update the customers next.
5. Show Empathy. Read and respond to the emotions of the customers, empathy is not the same admiting responsibility.
6. Stay solution focused. (What we are going to do, not what we are not going to do)
7. Remember the pyramid of human needs; physiological needs come first; water, food, fresh air, then safety and security needs, then the feeling of belonging, then feelings of esteem.
8. Keep communications accurate, brief and clear and restate each time so that people can cope with the information they are hearing.
9. As the situation develops maintain communications if only to say there is a no further news and set out what is being done.
10. Human nature tends to fill in gaps with worst case scenarios and worst fear type explanations which is why you need to keep communications running.


DO NOT LEAVE FRONT LINE STAFF TO CARRY THE CAN. LEADERSHIP NEEDS TO BE VISIBLE TO THE TEAM AS WELL AS THE CUSTOMERS. IF YOU CAN'T BE THERE TO SUPPORT THE TEAM IN PERSON MAKE SURE YOU ARE AVAILABLE BY PHONE.