Fortunately, there are good ways to deliver bad news

  • Soft Skills
  • 40 languages
  • 25m

Learning outcomes

  • Understand why delivering bad news skilfully is so important
  • Understand how to "frame" a conversation to communicate kindly and effectively
  • Have the skills to deliver bad news effectively and respectfully

Covered in this course

Course contents

This training course is broken down into 2 sections

  1. 1
    Delivering Bad News
  2. 2
    How to Deliver Bad News

About this course

Life, unfortunately, doesn’t always deliver good news. ​​But there are ​good​ ways to deliver bad news. Sometimes we need to share information that ​​​will upset, anger, worry or disappoint someone.

If it’s delivered carelessly or unkindly it ​can​ add ​to the pain the recipient already feels, which makes a bad situation worse. Do it thoughtfully​ and skilfully​, however, and you can share the bad news while helping the recipient accept it and move forward with clarity, certainty, and, perhaps, even optimism.

During this online training course, we’ll consider what it means to “frame” a conversation and how​​ misframing can make a positive outcome less likely. We also cover a few different things that can be done to make delivering negative news a more positive​​​​ experience.

Presented by

The importance of Delivering Bad News Training

It's important that you comply with the law and understand the positive impact this training course can have on your organisation and employees.

Find out more

Available in 40 languages

All inclusive

Machine translated* content is included for free with all our popular courses

It covers LMS navigation, course transcripts and test questions. If you don’t see a course listed in the language you require, just let us know.

*Content which is not English may be machine translated and is for assistive purposes only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of translations.

Our most popular languages

Italian
German
Romanian
French
Polish
Lithuanian

Delivering Bad News Training certificate

Download and print

At the end of this Delivering Bad News Training course, users will be given a printable certificate.

In addition, brief in-course questions guide the user through the sections of the training and are designed to reinforce learning and ensure maximum user engagement throughout.

As well as printable user certificates, training progress is all stored centrally in Atlas (our Learning Management System) and can be accessed any time to reprint certificates and act as proof of a commitment to ongoing legal compliance.

What does my certificate include?

Your Delivering Bad News Training Certificate includes your name, company name (if applicable), name of course taken, pass percentage, date of completion, expiry date and stamps of approval or accreditations by recognised authorities.

Please note if you are using our course content via SCORM in a third party LMS then we are unable to provide certificates and you will need to generate these in your host LMS yourself.

13 real user reviews

4

out of 5

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Very informative

A very helpful course especially for anyone who may be new, to applying communication skills.

Some good, clear advice.

This user gave this course a rating of 4/5 stars

Helpful

A concise summary that is clear to follow & understand

Pretty good

The training was informative and gave appropriate guidance. Perhaps it could be extended to include delivering bad news to customers/clients eg you are not eligible for that service because ….

Well paced, excellent clear delivery, helpful additional resources.

This user gave this course a rating of 5/5 stars

good explanation of delivering unpleasant news

some good pointers helpful information

Not relevant to my role

I found this course to be irrelevant to my job role as I do not manage staff. Everything that was mentioned was common sense.

Informative

The course was adequate for all. It was informative and explained how to prepare even when delivering bad news and it does not have to be negative, it can be a win win situation. I will use the learnings the next time i need to deliver bad and positive news as it applies.

Why is this training important?

Business benefits

Sometimes we need to share information that ​​​will upset, anger, worry or disappoint someone. ​Perhaps a member of the team hasn’t been performing as well as expected; you need to terminate someone’s employment; you need to tell your manager that you’re not going to meet your deadline; or perhaps you need to cancel important plans with a friend. Whatever the news might be, how we *choose* to share it makes a critical difference. If it’s delivered carelessly or unkindly it ​can​ add ​to the pain the recipient already feels, which makes a bad situation worse.

For example, back in 2021, a US-based mortgage provider hit the headlines after firing over 900 members of staff, via a group video call. During the awkward, one-way conversation, the CEO announced “If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. Your employment here is terminated, effective immediately”. The CEO used the call to express how *he* was personally affected by the decision that *he* had made and how difficult it was for *him* to make, but gave none of the 900 people who were now jobless a chance to express *their* feelings or to ask any questions. When a recording of the call was made public, the CEO was widely criticised, and three senior members of staff resigned.

With that being said, it’s essential that bad news is delivered thoughtfully​ and skilfully​. This is a skill that should be practiced, and by providing your staff with effective training, you’re helping to protect your business.

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