Whether you are announcing that your truck hasn’t met its sales numbers or that there will need to be staffing cuts delivering bad news is never easy for business owners. Today we’ll discuss some tips for delivering bad news in a way that minimizes stress and negative impact on the productivity in your food truck.

Delivering Bad News To Your Food Truck Team

  • Make it as soon as possible. Bad news travels fast. Don’t sit on information. Get it out there and share it as soon as it’s feasible. Delays are costly, as conditions can get worse. Bad news delayed is bad news compounded.
  • Don’t hide the facts. Sometimes vendors withhold information to save face. When the hidden facts become public (and they always do) employees will look worse than if all the facts had initially been disclosed.
  • Give context. Don’t try to soften the information but do contextualize the news in the bigger picture. Explain the response to the situation and ask for the staff’s help if applicable. Your employees want and expect why the bad news is being delivered. Whether it be a negative performance review, a budget cutback, or layoffs.
  • Prepare for questions. Any engaged group of food truck employees will want to know more. Try to anticipate the most burning questions and prepare answers that are candid and respectful of your peoples’ anxieties.
  • Have a solution. When delivering bad news, present solutions to solve the problems that led to the bad news. This will keep attention on future improvement and underscore that the situation, however bad, is being addressed.

Let Them Grieve

It may seem hard to believe that staying positive, or encouraging others to do so, would be a bad idea. After all, in business, people have been taught to look for the silver linings that come with every challenge. But when we’re delivering bad news, someone is losing something. And when people experience a loss. Whether it’s the loss of a job or the denial of a time off request; they need to grieve,

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The Bottom Line

Tell your employees about mistakes in their performance and provide them an opportunity to make corrections and improve. If employees are surprised by bad news, vendors are not fulfilling their responsibilities. If you follow these suggestions, the task of delivering bad news will become easier. These suggestions may be difficult for some, but they will provide leadership for your food truck staff members.

Do you have any additional tips for delivering bad news to your employees? Share your thoughts in the comment section or social media. Facebook | Twitter