The Design Process

HOW TO DELIVER BAD NEWS

Throughout our lives, we will all at some point be at the receiving end of getting bad news. Whether it is a boss, friend, or client, bad news can come unexpect-edly to anyone. But what happens when we are in the position to deliver bad news to someone else? How do we go about delivering bad news? Attempting to deliver bad news can be a difficult process, and learn-ing how to adequately do it can be difficult depend-ing upon how, when, and where it is done. Figuring out how exactly to give bad news can vary depending upon how big or small the bad news is and who it is for. In order to figure out a method that can suc-cessfully answer the question on How to Deliver Bad News, I conducted a series of observations, research and prototyping in order to figure out the best possi-ble method on doing so.

Delivering Bad News

Audience/Participants

-Male/Females-Ages 18-45-10 participants -5 female and 5 male

Observation/Research: Interviews

Interview QuestionsDescribe, in detail, a situation where you had to deliver bad news. Who was it? What was the relationship? Friend? Family? Boyfriend/Girlfriend? acquaintance? If possible, can you explain what led you into having to deliver bad news?Does the way you deliver bad news change depending on who you are giving it to? For example, a employee, parent, boyfriend/girlfriend, family, boss etc.How did you feel emotionally before delivering the bad news? How did you feel after?How did you approach the person before delivering the bad news? Did you plan how to say it? How did the person respond to your bad news?How did you respond to their response? Apologetic? Angry? Sad?Where did did you deliver this bad news?If possible, can you recall what time, day, or month you delivered the news?Do you still speak to the person you delivered the news to?How did you plan on alleviating the situation once you gave your bad news?What is was your expectation/goal for delivering the bad news?What motivated you to deliver the bad news?If there was a method that could potentially change the way you address bad news, would you be interested in knowing it?Describe a way that you would deliver bad news

Data Collection: FemalesDiamond Delva

Age: 22

Situation: After planning a weekend getaway for my friend’s birthday, I had to tell her that our reservation had to be cancelled.

Explanation: There was a miscommunication between the resort and I in regards to the minimum check-in age. When the resort called me to confirm our information before the trip, I was informed that we were too young to check-in, which led them to cancel our reservation.

Emotions: I am more relaxed when delivering bad news to family members and close friends in comparison to co-workers or customers. I know how my family members and close friends will react to after receiving bad news or being put in undesirable situations because I know them so well. Giving bad news to people that I don’t know too well is nerve-wracking, since I don’t know how they will take it. I get nervous delivering bad news to people that I don’t know. I don’t feel anxious communicating something bad to people that I really know and understand. Regardless of who I deliver bad news to, I automatically feel better once I do because at that point, I’m one step closer to finding a solution.

How: I always deliver bad news to people face-to-face and I don’t plan what I say because I don’t want the interaction to feel rehearsed. It should be a natural and raw conversation/delivery.

Other response: She wasn’t extremely angry or disappointed at all. She was so excited about all of us celebrating her birthday that she didn’t care where we slept that night. Losing a resort reservation wasn’t as important as spending time with us.

Her response: I felt relieved and excited. Since she was fine with it, I became the same way.

Location: I delivered this bad news right outside of my house.

Plan: Trying to find any last minute accommodations for our group. I Had already called multiple hotels prior to even telling her what happened.

Goal/Expectation: Being honest and telling one of my best friends the truth is very important to me, which made me tell her what happened as soon as I found out.

Best way to deliver bad news: Same way that I do now – very honest. Provide as much information as possible. Offer a possi-ble solution.

Brianna GordonAge: 18Situation: The one recent time I had to deliver bad news was to my mother because I had to go on a trip and couldn’t fulfill my babysitting duties. Before going up to her and facing her with what I had to say I planned out every little word that was going to roll off my tongue. It’s very easy to say something that can be taken the wrong way. I didn’t let her interrupt until I completed the reasoning for my leaving on vacation so soon and I threw a couple of apologies in there.

Explanation: My cousin was getting married to his fiancé Danielle and I would have to drive a duration of twelve hours to get to Atlanta, Georgia where there wedding was being held. My father was driving so it was up to him when we were going to leave. Since my grandmother wanted to make it to church on Sunday so we had to leave early Satur-day morning. I had to break the bad news to her because it effected her.

Emotions: Before is the most nerve wracking part of the process, but there is always a feeling of relief after I get something off my chest regardless of the outcome.

How: The way you deliver bad news is different based on the relationship you hold with the person. When it comes to a professional apology it has to be straight to the point with no excuses. Bad news can highly effect the way that person perceives you as an employee. When bad news comes from you that means you are owning up and take a majority of the blame rather than dismissing the news and brushing it to the side.

Others response: My mother was livid, but she eventually got over it.

Her response: I don’t really care much when it comes to emotional well being of most people. If I took the time to go through every bodies problems with a fine tooth comb I wouldn’t have time to focus on the relevant issues and goals that I have set out for myself.

Location: I delivered the bad news in my moms room be-cause that’s where she’s most peaceful and relaxed.

Plan: Walking away and waiting for her to get over herself and brush it off.

Goal/Expectation: The goal is to be heard. Whether the person wants to listen is completely up to them I don’t have to power when it comes to controlling the thoughts of others.

Best way to deliver bad news: Be upfront and explain the news as best as possible.

Data Collection: Females

Data Collection: MalesRon Magazin

Age: 24

Situation: I was the case manger for a family that needed assistance due to unfortunate circumstances and I had to deliver the news that since there was a change in their diagnosis the family would no longer get the financial assistance they needed.

Explanation: Because there was a change in their Diag-nosis

Emotions: I was stressed and little bit nervous. I was stressed because I was nervous how they would react.

How: With this family I gave the bad news over the phone, for my own family I wouldn’t deliver bad news over the phone.

Others response: They were emotional and distraught, but they were still understanding.

His response: I responded with happiness based off how they responded and it allowed you wok together with them in order to figure out a better solution for their situation

Location: Over the phone. but then I also ended up seeing them in person in order to help them and discuss they situation and help them even further

Plan: I planned how I would say it. I ran it by my coworkers and supervisor. I had to make sure the bad news was said correctly. Protocol requires me to show empathy and making sure they feel understood.

Goals/Expectations: I had no goals for it. My expectation was to do what was best for the client. I could have sent the bad news in the mail but I wanted to speak to the person personal-ly.

Best way to Deliver Bad News: The first thing in delivering bad news is is to turn it around and think about it like “how would you want the bad news to be delivered to you”?

Data Collection: MalesAnthony Jordan

Age: 26

Situation: I am a leasing Agent and a tenant got declined for housing.

Explanation: I’m a leasing agent. Because she has bad credit, she thought she could get the apartment just because she had section 8. Nope.  She was wrong. She also interviewed like a crazy person. Very dirty, and smelly. After the interview, I told her unfortunately she was not accepted. She flipped out. We were in the office and I did it face to face.

Emotions: I don’t let emotions get involved for telling bad news at work. You must understand that people are going to have bad times. It is their problem, not yours.

How: I deliver bad news all the time. It absolutely does depend on who the person is.  I don’t lie. I will tell a sobbing tenant bad news differently than I would an irate person. I usually go with how they treat me. If they are rude, I will be heartless. If they are hopeless, I will be compassionate. If I can help without hurting myself, I will.

Others response: She responded by being very angry, and voicing her opinion, which would not change anything.

His response: I treated her like she treated me. I was blunt, and did not care about her situation

Location: In the office

Plan: I did not want to alleviate the bad news. For this situation, she chose this outcome.

Goals/Expectation: It was my job. Money motivated me. Or else would have not wasted my time.

Best way to deliver bad news: Depending on the person, the time, the day, the situation,etc, I would base it on all these characteristics. Otherwise, screw Em

Research and Data AnalysisAfter doing research on delivering bad news, there were a few websites in particular that explained the best ways to do so. Forbes.com listed the 10 commandments for delivering bad news. There were 5 of those commandements in particular that were the either lacked or were present when the particpants deliveried bad news.

-Thou shalt always treat people with respect and dignity

-Thou shalt never surprise.

-Thou shalt never delay.

-Thou shalt never hide the facts.

-Thou shalt always justify.

-Thou shalt always put it in writing.

-Thou shalt always look for the silver lining.

-Thou shalt always bring solutions.

-Thou shalt always remember your multiple audiences.

-Thou shalt always follow up and follow through.

When delivering the bad news to her friend that they would not be able to stay at the resort they had previously book because they were unaware of the age limit for that hotel. Diamond described feeling relaxed and calm when delivering bad new to people she knows, like family or friends. But when she has to deliver bad news to people she does not know well or at all, she all of a sudden gets nervous since she can not expect how their reaction would be like. She also approached her friend in person, with a solution already planned, to attempt to justify why things did not go as planned. Diamond’s lack of nervousness, honesty, and plan to fix the situation helped because her friend was far from angry or disappointed. Instead she was excited to have the the opportunity to have fun and celebrate with her friends for her birthday. Diamond was able to avoid any conflicts with herself and friend by handling the situation properly.

When comparing the way Diamond addressed the bad news as compared to Brianna Gordon, they both used slightly different approaches.

In Brianna’s situation, she had to tell her mom that she would not be able to babysit her younger sister because she unexpectedly found out that her cousin was going to get married in Atlanta, Georgia. Since her mom was expecting her to be able to babysit, Brianna was very nervous to tell her mom, but she knew once she did that it would feel like a weight was lifted off her chest. Brianna feels that the way a person delivers bad news varies depending upon who it is. A professional apology should be straight to the point, no excuses. She believes that personally delivering the bad news is better then not doing it face to face. Because her mom feels the most relaxed and at peace in her room she gave her the news there. Her mother was extremely mad when she first heard the news. Her mothers negative response could have been the result of how she handled telling her mom the news. Instead of attempting to come up with a solution, she walked away from her mom in hopes she would get over herself. Brianna explained how she does not really car for the emotional well being of most people because she does not have the time for it. In the beginning, Brianna wanted to resolve the issue by telling her mom the problem immediately in order to develop a solution. The possible reason why the outcome of this situation turned negative was because of the way it was handled. Brianna probably did not feel as though she was being heard nor understood which ultimately led her to not wanting to resolve the problem.

Research and Data AnalysisIn the situation with Ron, before he had to deliver his bad news he was extremely stressed and nervous. When he went to tell the family the news they were initially very emotional and upset, but Ron was so determined to figure out a solution to this situation and was so willing to help them as best as he could, the family ended up being thankful, especially for understanding why they are so upset.

In Anthony’s situation, he was completely agitated from the beginning. When he had to tell the woman, who he already described as crazy and dirty, that she was not approved for housing through their company, the lady’s response was extremely angry. Instead of trying to resolve the problem and figure out a better solution for the both of them, Anthony completely lost all the desire to help her and treated her how she was treating him, which only caused further problems. If Anthony had put in control his anger and annoyance from the lady’s reaction, the situation would have been carried out differently.

Idea/SketchesThe way we deliver bad news depends on what emotional state we are currently in before doing it. Becoming stressed, angry, and upset, are only a few of the emotions that could lead to a negative response from the per-son rececing the bad news. I wanted to create a prototype where someone could have the opportunity to address these emotions before hand. Learn-ing how to overcome feeling nervous, angry, or stressed before giving bad news can completely change the outcome of the situation.

Final SketchIdea

I wanted to make the idea for the final protype simple, and esay to use and carry. The Cards of Emotions is made for indviduals who plan

Final Prototype: The Cards of Emotion