Strategies for Delivering Negative News in Business

• Effective crisis management can save or kill a business. Image Source White/Valueline/Getty Images

  Dealing effectively with bad news can determine the life or death of a business enterprise. In the 1980s, when cyanide-laced Tylenol killed seven people, experts almost unanimously wrote the brand off. But aggressive and effective crisis public relations saved Tylenol. Today, the tactics Tylenol manufacturer Johnson & Johnson used are taught in business schools. In 2010, however, during the Gulf oil spill, BP demonstrated how not to behave --- and suffered accordingly.

Tell the Truth

• Be honest. No matter how bad the news, tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Anything less is guaranteed to come back and haunt you in today's aggressive media climate because the facts will eventually emerge. Make sure you're on the right side of them.

Respond Quickly

• Post all relevant facts and background prominently on the company website. If the problem is a serious one, include a blog post from your CEO or another top executive. Make sure that all information on the website is current and accurate. Update it as often as necessary. Use it as a primary resource for initial response to inquiries from the media, investors, suppliers, customers or employees.

Inform Stakeholders

• Send an explanatory email to all stakeholders, from investors to employees. Address the issue directly and pull no punches. If stakeholders don't get the essential facts from you, they will try to get them from someone else. That can lead to miscommunication and confusion.

Cooperate With the Media

• Work quickly and proactively with the media, advises Ithaca College. Because journalists tend to report the first information they get, Ithaca notes, journalists will speculate on what happened if your response is slow in coming. That often leads to misreporting.

Disclose Everything

• Give the media as much information as possible, advises Ithaca. "When information is withheld," the school says, "[you] run the risk of inaccurate reporting, negative editorials and damaging future media relations."

Maintain Control

• Be completely open and transparent, counsels corporate social responsibility consultant Mallen Baker. Stay ahead of the story and maintain control of it. After you lose control, you are at the mercy of the media. That reality can do nothing but heap more harm on your interests and reputation.

Exploit Strengths

• Exploit your strengths. During the Tylenol crisis, Johnson & Johnson cashed in on its strong reputation, high visibility, commitment to corporate social responsibility and well-established ethical standards to ward off disaster, observes Buffalo State University.

Prevent Surprises

• Keep employees informed. Nothing can demoralize a company as quickly as a wave of negative publicity. BP learned that lesson painfully during the Gulf oil spill. Report regularly on what is happening and why --- and what the expected outcome is. Leave as little room as possible for surprises or incorrect, pessimistic conclusions.

Bring in an Expert

• Hire expert consultants. Crisis communication is a specialized skill. Few companies possess it internally. If the future of your company is at stake, recruit an expert who has navigated stormy seas before. Otherwise, the problem can spiral out of control quickly.