Epiphanize

1. Be real. If you feel sorry for the people receiving bad news, tell them that. If authentic tears flow, so be it. If you don’t know the answer, say so. If the answer isn’t what they want to hear, say it anyway.

2. Don’t delegate the delivery of bad news. The best way to communicate that you understand that you’re giving bad news is to do it yourself. If you’re not there, something else is more important. Similarly, don’t minimize the impact bad news has on people. You may have worked through all the business justifications in your head and on your spreadsheet but that doesn’t make the bad news suck any less for the people receiving it.

3. Ask people to sacrifice. It’s inspiring to see people rally around a common cause. When everybody is sharing the burden (i.e. pay cuts across the board) the coming-togetherness will happen (that is, unless, your employees don’t like you or their jobs – see #5).

4. Get back to work. If you’re a good leader most people will follow your example. Our mothers were right; an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Get busy and get your teams busy – you and they will feel better.

5. Be a good leader before you need to be a good leader. Treating people with respect, being transparent, being the example, being consistent…all the hallmarks of good leadership will pay you back in spades when it’s crunch time and you need the team on your side. You REALLY need your team with you when times are tough. Anybody could make money when the economy was on steroids – even bosses who had employees who loathed them. Try hitting a homerun because the economy sucks and you have to when your employees don’t like working for you. Just like you should save money for a rainy day, good leaders are good in the up times so that they can be good in bad times too.