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Sooner or later everyone is faced with bad news. Experience shows that it is wise to deal with it immediately with candor. There are three vital steps a manager can take to minimize the damage and make the best of a bad situation. Still, people in places of leadership, especially politicians, often try to bury it, hoping it will go away. This dodge rarely works in this age of instant 24/7 media coverage. There are examples in all walks of life. The Catholic Church. Big oil companies. Wall Street miscreants. President Clinton who "didn't have sex with that woman" and President Nixon who tried to hide Watergate. Career Tip: Act Quickly and Decisively One of the cardinal rules successful managers learn is that bad news should be handled immediately, completely and forthrightly if the reputation of an organization is to be protected in troubled times. This is especially true when the bad news involves the public's interest, which is likely to be reported in the media. Because bad news does occur in all organizations at one time or another, there has developed a specialty in public relations known as "crisis management." Some call it "damage control." A number of proven procedures have grown out of crisis, ranging from oil spills to product recalls to embezzlements. Three Vital Steps • First, assemble all of the facts as quickly as possible. • Second, take actions immediately to correct or mitigate the negative situation. Third, don't try to hide the situation. Communicate all of the facts in one announcement as soon as they are assembled: what happened, why and what is being done about it. It stands to reason when bad news is dribbled out a bit here and a bit there, the media continues to report the story. One big bad story, painful as it may be, is obviously better than a continuing string of negative reports that serve to keep the story on everyone's mind over a period of time. Career Tip: Bad news hurts. But don't let it throw you off your career path. Deal with it in a forthright manner.
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