"Bad news isn't wine. It doesn't improve with age." Colin Powell had the right idea when he made this comment. There are many ways to deliver bad news, and if you do it well, people will respect the control you have of the situation. However, if you delay, you will make things so much. So if you don't follow any of the advice below, please don't sit on bad news.

1. Understand what went wrong

When things first go wrong, it is easy to panic and stop thinking rationally. You are inclined to rush in and tell you boss the instant problem. This means you have not thought out the issue, and when your boss asks you some questions about the bad news, you will freeze like a rabbit in headlights and either give incorrect information, or be forced to admit you don't know. This makes you and the issue look worse than it is.

Instead, identify all the factors that have led to the situation and think of a few questions you are likely to be asked, prepare what you might say and you will find you are in control of the situation, and command respect.

2. Understand the consequences

Part of understanding what has gone wrong is to understand the consequences. This is important is there financial risk, poor media publicity, staffing issues or any criminal acts? Don't just look at the immediate problem, think about the ripple effect, as once again, you will demonstrate that although there has been a problem, you are in control.

3. Know who you need to tell

Sometimes, in a panic, you can tell the wrong person and this makes managing the deliverance of bad news more difficult, due to leaks. If you have bad news, who really needs to know? This will always be case specific to each individual set of circumstances. On the whole, you will need to tell your immediate line manager, the senior executive involved in the project or event etc to which the bad news relates and possible, if your firm is big enough, your communications team the latter is to ensure that if there are any media enquiries, they are briefed. Also, don't forget confidentiality and don't get caught by revealing details of people of commercial secrets that you should not.

4. Have the solution to fix it

This is so important. Most things can be forgiven if you have the solution. Even if you can't completely remedy the chaos, some ideas as to how to mitigate the effects will be appreciated, and once again, show you are in control.

5. Have an action plan to implement solution
Having got the fix, how are you going to put that into practice? Believe me, you will be asked. Have a plan and explain how this will work, and, apologies for being repetitive, but you will prove that you are in control and can be trusted to resolve the matter.

6. Ensure a lessons learnt exercise takes place

All too often, when something goes wrong, people want to start navel gazing and seek to find someone to blame as if this actually helps in the immediacy of the situation. Instead, in your action plan, the last item for action should be a lessons learnt exercise to highlight what went wrong and what can be done to prevent the same thing from happening again in future.

Mistakes will always happen but the secret is to use them to your advantage as a means of continuous improvement. The failure comes when the mistake is repeated several times.

I work with a public sector environment and not a week goes by where something has gone wrong that could have major consequences. A colleague once complained to me that because I retained good relationships with key politicians, I obviously never had to deliver bad news. I told him I delivered bad news most days, but I had a plan that could fix it, and that was what counted.

Learn more about this author, Isabel Sacks.
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