Which of the following would be a good buffer statement for an indirect bad-news message?

by Leigh Geraghty

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

Delivering a Bad News Message
Direct approach
Indirect approach
Which of the following is the best strategy to set up negative news in an indirect order message?
Which of the following is true about the indirect approach to negative messages?
Which of the following is a good strategy to use when delivering bad news messages?
What does the indirect approach to bad news messages require?

Whether you need to refuse a customer’s insurance claim or decline an employee’s request for vacation, delivering bad news is one of our toughest writing challenges. How do you deliver a clear message, without damaging your business relationship?

If you’re faced with delivering a bad news message, an indirect approach can help to ease your reader into the bad news.

Follow these 5 simple steps to write a difficult message using the indirect approach:

State the topic and urgency in the subject line. However, don’t state the bad news directly. Here are some sample subject lines for bad news messages:
- Insurance policy renewal decision
- Public seminar schedule update
- Your request for funding
Open your message with a buffer to ease the reader into the bad news. The buffer is a brief, true statement, usually neutral or positive, that both you and your reader agree on. For example:
- We have completed our review of the medical information we received from your physician.
- Thank you for your interest in our public seminar, Creating your Family Tree.
- Every year in January, our donations committee meets to discuss appeals for funding such as yours.
State the bad news in a clear, specific statement that begins with the reason. Embed the bad news in the middle of the sentence, as shown in these examples:
- Based on your medical report, we are unable to renew your policy within preferred rates. The rate we have offered you is competitive and is guaranteed for the next 12 months.
- Because of insufficient registration, we are canceling the November 16 public seminar. Would you like to attend our next seminar on January 30?
- Because we have already allocated our funds, we are unable to give you any free laptops this year.
Keep the body of the message short and positive. Consider your reader when crafting the body—what do they need or want to know? As writers, we often avoid telling our readers the bad news until we’ve explained all the reasons we would never intentionally upset them. As readers, we want to know the bottom line—the bad news—up front, and then hear a brief explanation.
Close on a positive note, if possible. Keep your closing statement appropriate to the situation, and be genuine. If you know of another step they might take to fix a problem, tell them what they can do. Remember to thank your reader, state their value to you, or tell them what will happen next. For example:
- Thank you for reaching out to us. To ensure we consider you next year, please send us your request for funding by January 15. Good luck with your fundraising this year.

Other tips for bad news messages:

Write the message using a positive tone.
Avoid using negative trigger words such as but, never, or problem.
Use plain language and a conversational tone. Avoid technical terminology, acronyms and jargon.

When written well, a bad news message can turn a difficult situation into a positive customer experience. What are your strategies for giving bad news effectively?

On October 4, 2017 / Email Writing, Meeting Skills, Presentation Skills, Writing Skills

Delivering a Bad News Message

There are two approaches you can use to deliver a negative news message–the direct approach and the indirect approach. We’ll go through each of these in turn.

Direct approach

The direct approach is often used when the audience values brevity, the message needs to be concise, the message is very complex and might not be understood easily, the message is related to a known issue or problem (and bad news won’t be a surprise), or you’re terminating a business relationship.

As shown in Figure 4.11.1, the bad news is announced in the opening or introduction of the message.

Your request for vacation time from August 1-30 was not approved because it is over your vacation days entitlement of 10 days.

Please re-submit your request for vacation days (up to a maximum of 10) to HR as soon as possible.

Figure 4.11.1 An example of a bad news message delivered using the direct approach

Indirect approach

When the bad news may have a significant impact on the recipient or you don’t know them very well, you may prefer to use the indirect approach. Figure 4.11.2 shows an example of a bad news message delivered using this approach.

Thank you for submitting your request for 10 days of vacation (your maximum entitlement) in August.

Summer is traditionally a time when many employees are out of the office and demands on the servers are reduced. In order to minimize the disruption to staff throughout the company, the IT department will be rolling out a server replacement project during July and August. Because this project will need to be completed in a more compressed timeframe, no vacation requests in July and August are possible for staff in the IT department. As a result, your request for vacation during August has not been approved. However, you are welcome to take vacation before and/or after the project rolls out. In compensation, HR is providing IT staff with three extra days of paid vacation.

We look forward to receiving your revised vacation request soon.

Figure 4.11.2 An example of a bad news message delivered using the indirect approach

The indirect approach for delivering bad news has five main parts:

Open with a buffer statement
Explain the situation
Break the bad news
Redirect or provide alternatives
End politely and forward-looking

We’ll go through each of these parts in detail.

Buffer statement

The first part of a negative news message, verbal or written, is a buffer statement. It provides neutral or positive information. It sets the tone and often serves as a cushion for the information to come. It is important that the buffer not be overly positive because this can be misleading or set up the reader to expect a positive news message instead.

Explanation

Next, an explanation discusses why there is an issue. This may be relatively simple, quite complex, or uncomfortable. While an explanation is important, never admit or imply responsibility without written authorization from your company cleared by legal counsel. Try to avoid labeling the bad news, such as calling it inconvenient or disappointing, because this can assume the feelings of your reader and create a negative impression. The person receiving the message may not have felt badly about receiving the news until you pointed out that it was indeed inconvenient or disappointing.

Break the bad news

The third part of the negative news message involves the bad news itself, and the emphasis here is on clarity and accuracy. While you want to break the bad news clearly, try not to spotlight it.

Redirect or provide alternatives

The fourth part of a bad news message is the redirect, where you refocus attention on a solution strategy, possible alternatives, or the subsequent actions that will take place.

End politely and forward-looking

Last, you want to end your message politely and looking to the future. Don’t mention the bad news again!

Which of the following is the best strategy to set up negative news in an indirect order message?

Which of the following is the best strategy to set-up negative news in an indirect-order message? You should explain the fairness of a certain action.

Which of the following is true about the indirect approach to negative messages?

Which of the following is true of the indirect approach used to communicate negative messages? The writer should subordinate the bad news within a complex or compound sentence to avoid overemphasis on the negative news. This would make sure that the negative news is being conveyed as clearly and kindly as possible.

Which of the following is a good strategy to use when delivering bad news messages?

Which of the following is a good strategy to use when delivering bad-news messages? Show that your reasons for the negative decision will benefit the reader in the long run.