How to Break Bad News When No-One is Listening

Breaking The Bad News….When
People Don’t Want to Listen
Charles Meaden

30 Seconds About Me…
 Founded Digital Nation 17 years ago
 Analysing websites for 19 years
 5th time at Measurecamp, 5th talk
 We do a lot of troubleshooting

Can You See What The Problem Is?

“Not Convinced That We Have A Problem”
 Our data and analysis clearly indicated a problem
 We presented our finding
 But no action was taken

What Do I Mean By Bad News?
 Any analysis or reporting that shows a decline in performance
compared to a baseline or a running average
 What effect will this bad news have?
 Official definition
 results in a cognitive, behavioral, or emotional deficit in the person
receiving the news that persists for some time after the news is
received
 My definition
 That the person isn’t going to be a ‘happy bunny’ and really isn’t going
to like you for a while

We’re all rational
 Surely educated, intelligent adults should be able to take bad news
 Here’s a couple of reasons why…

Fear
 None of us like bad news
 What’s the impact going to be on
person receiving it
 Personal reputation
 Economic impact
 What else is this going effect

Distrust
 “70 to 80% of all analytics
setups I examine are seriously
flawed”
Craig Sullivan @optimiseordie
 If previous setups have been
flawed, why should they trust
your data and analysis

Ignorance and Confusion
 Our ‘clients’ don’t understand
what we are talking about
 Analysts have a tendency to
talk in our their language
 Sometimes our clients don’t
have the time to learn
 Sometimes they don’t want to
learn or can’t be bothered

So What Can We Do
 Here is a list of ways that we can get people to listen to us
 Then it’s your turn

Don’t Hide The Facts
 Be brutally honest
 If you try and hide the facts, someone else will find them

Document Everything
 Before presenting verbally, document the whole issue
 It’ll help you present the case
 It can be emailed around as soon as the news has been delivered

Don’t Delay
 Bad news gets worse the longer you leave it

Justify Your Actions
 Be prepared to stand up for yourself
 Sometime things are outside of your control

Spend Time Getting to Know The Client
 Time spent getting to know what makes the client ‘tick’ will help you
frame the way that bad news is delivered
 Try and understand what fears the client has and what worries
them the most

Speak Their Language
 Describe the problem in language that they understand
 Use the metrics and KPI’s that they understand
 The very first question we always ask new clients is
 “What do you want to know about visitors to your site”

Talk to Everyone Affected
 If you’re delivering news to multiple teams (especially in the
enterprise),
 Try and take informal soundings from each team about the effects it
will have
 Find out what is the best way to present the news

Back It Up With Data
 Carefully explain using data the exact nature of the problem
 Explain where the data was sourced from and it’s context
 Keep your working in reserve

Show Them The Money
 If there is any economic
impact, don’t try and hide
this away
 Make it as clear as possible
the actual costs
 Outline the costs if the
situation is allowed to
continue

Be Positive – Provide Solutions and Actions
 Look for a silver lining to soften the blow – are there any upsides to
the issue or insights that can be gleaned
 Deliver the bad news with a set of possible actions and scenarios to
remedy the issue

Take It On The Chin
 If you or your team caused the
problem, take the blame as
soon as possible
 Make sure you’re also part of
the solution
 Regain people’s trust

Be Careful with the Blame Thrower
 If a third party has caused the
problem, name them
 Be fair to them
 Provide and document your
reasons

One Problem, Many Audiences
 The news will leave the room
 Depending on how bad it is, it will spread far and wide and possibly
to the very top
 When presenting the bad news, consider all the audiences

Understand the Fear
 Take the time to understand what is making them fearful
 Sometimes the first reason they give you is actually hiding
something else

Educate Your Audience
 What steps can you take to make your clients more
knowledgeable?
 Take their real world issues and show them how to resolve them
 We use
 Snag It for screenshots
 Camtasia for screen movies
 JoinMe for desktop sharing

Follow Up and Follow Through
 Once the bad news has been delivered
 Get going on the recovery plan
 Keep everyone in the loop as to what is happening

Thank You
 Follow me @charlesmeaden
 Email: charles@digitalnation.co.uk
 Big hat tip to the following and many others from the talk from
their thoughts and contributions
 Yves-Marie Lemaître @yh1
 Hugh Gage @hughgage
 Craig Sullivan @optimiseordie
 Elisabeth Rizzi @ElisabethRizzi
 Penelope Bellegarde - @Penanalytics
 James Wawne

How to Break Bad News When No-One is Listening

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