Saturday 30 July 2011
Reporting Bad News
One of the hardest parts of reporting to someone, is telling them bad news, especially if it is your supervisor. According to the Harvard Business Review blog, lying and or withholding the truth is one of the 7 communication mistakes of managers. (http://blogs.hbr.org/2009/03/seven-communications-mistakes-m.html) It is probably the best to report the problem as soon as possible and if possible, propose a solution. The second thing you should do, is to tell the whole truth, with all the gruesome details. The person with whom you are communicating with may become agitated but they will appreciate the honesty, which could improve future interactions. People try to soften the blow, but when you soften the blow, you soften the implementation of a solution.
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I like this post, it is a good idea to be honest, no matter what the circumstances are. in Spanish we have a phrase that goes "las mentiras tienen garrapatas", which basically means that no matter what you do with a lie, it will always come back to bit you twice as hard. It is better to get in trouble for something that you still have clear consciousness after the breaking of the news rather than getting in trouble when somebody finds out about the lies. But my question is, is it still considered lying if you make a big mistake at work, but you end up fixing it before anyone finds out? or do you think that you should still tell the truth?
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