Sunday, May 17, 2009
Week 7, Negative messages
Describe a business situation in which you either received or had to give bad news. This may be, for example, getting turned down for a job or a loan, having to give a staff member a poor performance review, or having to tell a customer you could not comply with their request. Tell us the channel it was delivered (in person, over the phone, via email or by letter). Explain if you feel the message was delivered sensitively and why or why not.
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I have given many performance evaluations and occasionally there is a need to talk about poor performance. This is negative news, but can be delivered positively. All information is delivered in person with reference to written documents. The documents list the problem areas, a time frame for correcting the problem and what management can do to help. We start with the positive things the person is doing and move to the poor area and explain why we think so. It seems most people can deal with negative news if it is part of a ‘big picture’ presentation. Even in fact-to-face conversations like this, it is important to have written documents to refer to and allow the person to have copies for future reference.
I had to give a performace review not too long ago, which was a negative one. I was approached by the manager of my department to write a review on the lead person in my office. It was done by answering some questions and writing comments, then turning it into the department manager via email. I feel that this might have been the best way to channel my observations of the lead workers' performace in the workplace. In my review, I was very straightforward, but also suggested ways for this person to improve thier skills.
A few months ago I had an interview for a job that I was really excited about. I felt that the interview went very well and I was told what date they planned on making their final decision. I waited a couple of days after that date and then made a call to the woman that had called me to set up the interview. She returned my call and advised that an email had been sent out to all candidates. I did a little research and found that the email had been sent to my junk mail. I feel that this should not have been the only channel used in this case. I believe that they should have also called or sent a letter.
I told a customer that the price she requested for Kmart merchandise was incorrect. First I listened to her explanation about the price on the shelf being different than what my register showed. I told her I would have to do a price check first. Then I called the associate in that section. The associate said that the sign wasn't wrong. In person I told the customer politely that I
was sorry, but she had to pay the price that it showed on the register.
The channel was in person and I was sensitive about it, but the customer then threw the merchandise at me. After that I had to call management.
I had to tell one of my customers I could not get parts for their machine. The machine was obsolete and no more parts were being made. I delivered the news to them in person. I delivered the message sensitively at first and gave them the reasons why I could not get the part. At the end of my message I turned the negative into a positive. Their machine was old and costing them more money than what it was worth. We discussed money saving options of a new machine. The customer was not disappointed after that.
I had made an order online at Best Buy a couple of months ago, and the confirmation page stated that it would take a week or two for the package to arrive. However, I waited more than two weeks and did not see the package come. Therefore, I had e-mailed the customer service at Best Buy only to find out that my package was not shipped out on time. I waited an extra couple of weeks for the order to arrive when I could have gone to the store to buy it. Since it was a quick response, Best Buy should have notified me when the package was going to be late, therefore I would have not had to wait another couple of weeks for it to arrive.
A few years ago, I applied for a job that I wanted to get for a long time. I knew that this company was recently hiring because a friend told me about it. I had a job interview and, after a few days, I got a letter in the mail. I got a letter saying that I was turned down for the job. I was disappointed, but I thought that the letter was too brief. The letter didn't go into too much detail about why I was turned down. I thought that more emphasis should have been placed on the reason for the rejection and could have been more directly written.
There were a few times when I was a manager at a dry cleaning business when I had to let some people know that certain items would have to cost much more than what was the original agreement with the customer. I would have to call them up and explain the situation to them, because my boss didn’t like to do that type of work. He always left that dirty job up to me to do for him and his business. It was my responsibility to make sure that I always did it in a professional way so that we didn’t lose them as a customer. This was very difficult for me to do sometimes. I learned how to do it just because of the fact that I had to, not because I really enjoy giving people bad news. I especially am not very good at doing that on the telephone. Maybe someday I will get much better at it, I don’t really know though if that will be possible for me or not.
A few weeks ago, I had to call a long time standing client of mind with some bad news. The tuxedo that he wanted was not available in his size. I knew he really wanted this particular suit because it was for his daughter's wedding.
Having to tell my client that this suit was not made in his size was very hard for me to do. I felt bad for him and he was devastated. I tried to be as sensitive as I could, however trying to tell someone that what they want to wear and what is available to them are two diffent things. This client was not very happy to hear this over the phone, but I think he knew that it was out of my control. I wanted to do whatever I could to help this person, so I called a good friend of mind who is also my competitor and asked if there was anything that he could do. My friend told me to send my client over.
Calling my client back with this news was the best thing that I could have done for him. I lost a sale, but I retained a client.
Sometimes, delivering bad or negative news can be turned into a positive, it just depends on the reactions that come behind it.
Our family once owned a gas station; which I ran as the manager. I had to fire my younger brother so I delivered the message to him in person. I know I didn’t deliver the message sensitively. I felt that because he is my younger brother, I had to “lay the smack down.” I know how my brother is and if I were to deliver the message sensitively, he wouldn’t take me seriously.
I have often been on the receiving end of getting negativ messages. This messages mainly being work reviews. Most of these messages have been well crafted. None of them stand out as being particularly poorly worded. They all made it sound just like there were improvements to be made. This softens the blow and makes the employee want to improve their quality of work more.
I have recently had to fire someone at work. I did it in person. I was able to bring the person into an office and talk to her privately. I made sure to be kind but firm. I also stuck to the facts. I did not get into any personal problems she was having with the manager of the department she worked in. I simply told her about the complaints we had from customers, and that her performance was not up to our standards. I also had to make sure I got her to sign a voluntary separation form. That was not as hard as I thought it would be. I just said “I need you to sign this.” And she did. That is what I thought would be the hard part. It was not easy to let her go, but I found as long as I keep it simple it did not take very long.
I have recently had to fire someone at work. I did it in person. I was able to bring the person into an office and talk to her privately. I made sure to be kind but firm. I also stuck to the facts. I did not get into any personal problems she was having with the manager of the department she worked in. I simply told her about the complaints we had from customers, and that her performance was not up to our standards. I also had to make sure I got her to sign a voluntary separation form. That was not as hard as I thought it would be. I just said “I need you to sign this.” And she did. That is what I thought would be the hard part. It was not easy to let her go, but I found as long as I keep it simple it did not take very long.
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