How to Share Bad News

Business brain, episode 487 for Wednesday, September 27, 2023. Greetings, folks, and welcome to Business Brain, the show where we take a topic or three, we run it through our machine here that lets us analyze and crunch and process so that we can train our brains a little bit better together each time so that we can keep on living those charmed lives here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton.

And out here in Lafayette, California, I'm Shannon Jean. How you doing, man?

I'm doing all right. Yeah. Cranking through. Yeah, yeah. It's always Wednesday. There's always stuff happening. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Yeah. One of the things, you know, I use Slack a lot. You and I use it for Business Brain. We use it for Backbeat. I think I have, I don't know, six or eight different Slack groups, maybe more, probably more, that I'm part of. I have one for every band that I'm in. It's just a great tool to kind of pull all the conversation together and compartmentalize it in meaningful ways and all that good stuff. So I have one for every business, one for every band, and then one for, I don't know, other little hobby things, too, that I'm interested. How many? Let's.

Let's get to count. One. Let me count.

Well, on this computer, I've got seven, but I know that there are at least four that I don't have on this computer.

So, yeah, I have nine workspaces in Slack. It's awesome product. We've done shows about Slack, so if you search slack up@businessbrain.show you can hear we talk about that tool. But what happened with Slack recently?

Well, they changed their user interface, which. Yeah, I know change is terrible. Some change is terrible. All change is. Is going to trigger change resistance in us. So anytime one of these things that I. These tools that I use every day changes, I try to just adapt to it, Right. I give myself a couple of weeks because I know that I'm human and so I'm going to resist this change. Well, the change that they made to Slack was when you're in multiple workspaces, you used to have along the left side of the window on the desktop, you would see all of your workspaces along the left side. And then whichever one you were selected, you know, you would see that sort of the, you know, the vision into that in the rest of the window, but you would still always see all of your workspaces over there on the left. So it made it easy. Yeah, a Sidebar. Yeah, exactly. And you could go and click to get to one. But for me, more importantly, I could see if there were notifications for me, because it would be badged. You know, each of the workspaces in the sidebar would have a badge. If there was a notification, they did away with the sidebar. They stacked it instead of. Of leaving it there all the time. And so you would only see the icon for the workspace that you were in. And I know that there's some of you listening who are nodding your heads right now, like, you know, you're experiencing this. You're living this. You and several other people are like, hey, man, did you see the note that I put for you in Slack? And it's like, nope, sure didn't.

Yeah, yeah, right, right. I figured there's something going on.

Yeah. And. And this kept happening and I'm. And sometimes, you know, things just get buried. You miss an email, you miss a text message, whatever. You miss a Slack notification. It happens. But when this was happening more often than it usually does for me, I was like, okay, what's going on? And this morning I dug into it and of course I. I realized, oh, it's because this sidebar is not there anymore. I'm missing that. That's why I'm not seeing these notifications. Yes, they're coming through, but when a notification comes in, if I can deal with it in that moment, great, I'll click on it and I'll go to wherever it is and I'll deal with it. But otherwise it's like, well, I know that I'll see it because I have a workflow that allows me vision into the things I need to see. And it has worked and I've tweaked it, but the tool changed. And so suddenly I wasn't getting this automatic vision into this that I was used to seeing. And so this morning I was like, I gotta figure this out, man. And I dug into it and I realized something. Slack, a day or two ago, changed it again. And now you can get what they call the workspace switcher, which is that sidebar. You can get it back and you do it. And we'll put a link in the show notes at BusinessBrain show to do this. But the way you do it is you. You have to refresh your Slack or just quit and relaunch. It's because they changed this. And so it's not in the interface if you haven't refreshed or relaunched, but you probably have if you're. If you're only hearing about this now on the 27th because they did this about a week ago. But you go and you refresh the interface or relaunch Slack and then you click on your workspace dropdown, the thing that shows all the workspaces. And at the very bottom of that you'll see show workspace switcher. And if you click that, the sidebar reappears and it gives me everything that I wanted. It probably gives you folks everything you wanted to. So it's interesting, it's a little tip, but it also reminds me of something that I learned sort of alongside of the two week rule Shannon, that, that business partner of mine that taught me, listen, anytime I have something I want to try out or even if I, well, any, I have some, any time I have something I want to change, I tell people that it's a two week experiment, even though I know it's going to be permanent. Right. We've talked about this on the show before. But what he also told me at the same time was, and if there's something that's like a real showstopper, people are going to tell me about it anyway. But if I tell them it's an experiment, I won't hear about the little minor complaints. I'll only hear about the big ones. And this kind of reminded me of that, you know, that because you can backtrack on permanent change and people will let you know when there's a problem. Now Slack pushed this out as permanent change. I don't know if that's such a good idea.

They backtracked, which is. They listened. Yeah, yeah, that was great. I love that experiment concept that you've talked about. This two week thing. It's just like my scream when you mentioned change. You know, many, many people, most people, you know, they're, they're, they get itchy and concerned when you talk about change. So this experimental thing allows us, you, you know, to ease them into it. Even if you've already decided it's permanent, way it's going to be.

But if there's something you've missed.

Yes.

Someone will tell you, like, I mean, I guess we could do that for two weeks, but you understand that it's, we're going to lose, you know, half our revenue if we do that. And if you didn't know that, then you're like, oh, I'm glad they said something, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's one of these fascinating things. I, I'm glad that they, they backed off of this or evolved this Change. Yeah. Yeah. And they owned it. They were like, even in their tweet, they said, consider this pain point addressed. I like it. It's good stuff. All right. Hey, look, while we're here, I have a great podcast recommendation for you. When it comes to Apple, the folks over at TWIT know what they're talking about. Leo Laporte, the founder of Twit TV, bought his first Mac almost 40 years ago in 1984, and has been an Apple lover ever since. That's probably why they have three, not one, not two, but three Apple podcasts on the Twit podcast network. The oldest, of course, is Mac Break Weekly, started almost 20 years ago. Alex Lindsay, Andy Inotko, Jason Snell, and Leo talk about the latest Apple news. Sometimes they even have me on with them. They're Apple fans, but they're not Apple fanboys. They call it as they see it, and sometimes they're even a little hard on Apple. They also do a show called iOS Today with Micah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard. If you're into iPads, iPhones, Apple Watches, or Apple TV, you'll love iOS today. And then, of course, the there's Hands on Mac inside tips from Micah Sargent on getting the most out of your Apple devices every single week. Expert analysis, helpful advice, and entertaining discussions. Go to Twit TV Apple to find your next favorite Apple podcast. And our thanks to the folks at TWIT for doing this swap with us. Hey, Shannon, you ever, have, you ever have bad news you need to share? Do you like sharing bad news?

Well, depends on who I'm sharing it with. But yeah, I, I, you know, there is often bad news. Lots of companies, you know, as the economy's kind of tightened up and we've, in this, I don't know if you call, I guess officially not a recession, but there's some weirdness going on.

Yeah, Lack of confidence in the, in the economy, for sure.

Yeah, yeah. Lots of tech places laying off, you know, tens of thousands of workers. And, and it got me thinking, you know, as, as business owners, you, you, you have to share bad news. I mean, it's going to come at you and, and, you know, you think of it mainly like in those examples, okay, how do I share bad news with my employees? But I think there's more to it. You know, how do you share bad news with your customers? And even that Slack example we just talked about, you know, they, they made them as kind of a little mistake and tweak and they came back and owned it. I thought that was great. And also, how do you share bad news to, like, your investors, you know, a bank? I definitely think it's worth discussing and sharing some tips and then getting some feedback from our listeners.

Well, you know, the. Yes and Please feedback at BusinessBrain Show. We love to hear from you and we've got some feedback to share, I think on Friday's episode too. But when I need to deliver bad news, the first thing I do is I start thinking about my audience, right? What do I know? And if it's someone, if it's my employees, I probably know them well enough so I know how to couch it. If it's my business partners, you know, I have some business partners who are absolute, like, doom and gloom skeptics about everything. I have other business partners who are, you know, overly optimistic. I find both to be a very good thing. Like in, in, in, in the right doses. Yeah, but, sure, but bad news, I will, like, I'll overplay the bad news to the optimist so that it makes an impression on them, you know, and, and maybe they'll be like, oh, wait, like, we can't just ignore this. The, the pessimists. I will down. Not, not necessarily downplay the bad news, but couch it in a way of like, okay, hey, look, here's a, like, if we're talking about. Okay, revenues are down, right? Well, yeah, look, yes, revenues are down. Here we are. We've. I've seen this before. You know, I've been, I've been running businesses like this for 30 years. I've seen cycles happen. We are in a, you know, we have, I mean, from 2019 through the beginning of 2022, maybe even 2018 through the beginning of 2022, the economy was rocking. Right. And Covid added to that. For a lot of businesses, for, for some businesses, of course, it, it was, it was terrible. But for a lot of businesses, you know, the government was fueling money into the economy. I run online businesses, and so that's where the money went. And it was great. But starting in 2022 and through this year, things have been a lot softer. And so going to, you know, the partners of mine that maybe haven't seen like the 2008 downturn or the 2001 downturn for the Internet stuff, it's like, okay, let me tell you about this and let me put this in perspective. What we're seeing now isn't nearly as bad as either of those two. And I have businesses that are still alive today that survived those two things. Yeah, I, you know, I know what it's like to, to, to deal with these. But. So it's couching the bad news in a way that allows it to land, hopefully the way you, as the deliverer of such news wants it to land.

Yeah.

So.

So step one, know your audience. Right.

There you go. Yes.

And, and do that for me. I think there's a couple, Couple of important points. Don't hesitate. The longer you wait.

Oh, yeah.

The worse it gets. Tougher. And oftentimes the bad news you want to share and you think you're the only person that knows. Everybody already knows anyway.

Yep.

If your business has slowed down, everybody knows it. And if you have to talk to your staff about cutbacks or layoffs, sooner is better. So that's, you know, so know your audience. Do it in a timely fashion. And here's number three, which I think might be the most important. I know it sounds. Maybe it sounds weird, but don't say you're sorry.

Oh, never apologize.

It's implied that you're sorry. Of course you're sorry. You have to lay people off. Of course you're sorry that business is down. But if you say these words in a meeting or you send it in an email, it brings person. It makes it personal. And people attach that personal thing so it becomes more of your fault. And, and it really, more times than not, it's. Maybe it's your fault, but more times than not, it's not your fault. It's just the situation that you find yourself in.

Yeah. So. Yeah. I mean, if you really screwed something up.

Yeah.

Well, then own that. Yeah. But. But like what's happening with the economy right now? Right. I, I didn't cause this. Like, I can't take blame for this. Yeah. Yeah.

And I, I even think if you screwed up, there's ways to do it where you can apologize. And like, I really screwed up. I own this. Yep. Here's what I'm going to do to make it right. That word I'm sorry. It. It also, people bristle at it and they think like, you know, he's just playing.

Like you're.

You. You're asking for empathy and you're not.

No.

It's like, no, no, no. I'm, I'm, I'm on this. And.

Right.

You know, this is what's going to happen. So no sorrys. But what about if.

Is it.

How is it different if you have to give bad news to a customer?

Right.

You've done something, you lost all their data. If you're in the tech business, maybe.

In the I've been there.

You do have to say you're sorry.

It depends. If it's your fault, then you do. But I'm sorry often comes in those scenarios. I'm sorry is a costly phrase. And so in that you gotta.

I'm laughing because I've been here too.

You wind up owning the problem at that point.

Yeah.

Right. Now, if it is. If, like, if you broke it, then maybe it is correct for you to own the problem. And so saying I'm sorry is the right thing to do. Like, I'm sorry we lost.

Have a quick follow up.

Right. I'm sorry. I need, I need to tell you this work is going to be free, you know, something like that. But that's usually going to be implied by the receiving party when you start apologizing and truly owning a problem. I remember I had one client who. And this was with a Mac, I think it was an SE30. So this was the old, old, old style of Mac where it was like, all in one. Looks like the original Macintosh, you know. And she needed me to put RAM in her computer to replace the RAM that was in there. And I said to her, I said, listen, I know. I've done this before. I know what to do. However, I also know that the RAM is on a motherboard that is underneath the screen. And. And there needs to be a pressure applied to remove the RAM that's in there and then to put the new chips in. It is possible. I've seen it happen. I've caused it to happen where you wind up breaking the seal on the monitor and the display is now shot. So this might be a point of no return here if we try to do this. And she said, well, this computer's no good to me as it is. I need to try and put this RAM in. And if I can't put the RAM in it, then I need to get a different computer. And I said, okay, here we go. Because it was an older machine, you know, I'm like, I. I know how these seals are. And sure enough, I'm in there, you know, trying to wiggle one of the chips out. And I hear, yeah, yeah.

And I'm like.

And she's like, that was the sound, wasn't it? I was like, yep. And it was all I could do to not utter the words I'm sorry. But I knew that, like, she was prepared for this. I was prepared for this. I caused it to happen. In a sense, it was my fault.

You prepared her for that.

Exactly. And so it was like, yeah, I'M not going to buy your computer from you.

And I think if you have to break bad news to the customer, you really need to learn about the 2Tokens customer service technique. And if you go to businessbrain show and just search for token you'll find an episode. We'll put one in the show notes, a link to it. But we've talked about this method a number of times. It's super powerful and it's definitely worth learning about because you want to. It's all about knowing your who you're talking to.

Right.

Knowing your audience is like number one. How do you present it in such a way that you get them on your side? That should be your number one focus.

Yes.

How do you we're going to solve this problem together. I'm not just going to say I'm sorry and drop it on you and run. I'm in this for the long run. We're going to do, you know this, this problem is going to be solvable and we're going to work together. So the two tokens things really important.

But yep, I agree. And if you don't know about the two tokens, I'll put a link in the show notes at businessbrain show where you can listen and learn about the two tokens.

Incredibly powerful.

Super powerful.

Yeah yeah.

What do you folks do in these scenarios? Feedback. Businessbrain show. Let us know. We want to know. You know, we, we love hearing from you and, and we like sharing everything and we like that like we do this show together. I, I say it at the beginning that we're, we're all learn tuning our business brains together. I, I mean that we're all on the same level here. We're, we're just trying to, trying to perfect this and we know, know that perfection is simply a point way down the line. We're just working towards it every day. Fun stuff. Make sure, make sure you subscribe to the show either you know, in your whatever podcast app, the Apple podcast app, Spotify, whatever it is, make sure you stay subscribed. That way you get all the episodes and keep on living that charmed life with us. Huh? See you next. We'll see you on Friday.