Jonesing for TED Talks

I only wish I had the time to listen or watch all of the podcasts that pile up when my iTunes subscriptions refresh. So it was reassuring to read today's New York Times Magazine's confession of a TED Talks addict.



Writer Virginia Heffernan comes clean on her own TED "problem", while also highlighting one dimension of what makes the offering so compelling. Sure, there are the obscure and varied multidisciplinary subjects that are covered, but the delivery is also key.

TED supplies its speakers with strict guidelines. “Start strong” is the most obvious one, and there is virtually no throat clearing or contrived thanking. Instead, speakers blaze onto the stage like stand-up comics, hellbent on room domination. Some consult notes and stay close by their audiovisual equipment — PowerPoint is used for emphasis, but it never directs the talks — while others pace, spread their arms wide and take up space. No one apologizes for himself. No one fails to make jokes. The appreciative room roars at humor, when they’re not literally oohing and aahing at insight.

How to do a good job delivering bad news

There's no shortage of bad news coming out of the business world, so it's worth a few minutes to explore some ideas on how to do a good job delivering bad news.


Organizations show their real values and skills when they communicate bad news. The goodwill earned from telling stakeholders how important they are and how much the business cares about them goes down the drain if that same organization screws up the delivery of bad news.

There is no alternative called “Let’s not communicate.” If there’s bad news, it’s certain to find communication channel. Organizations can either step forward at the outset and orchestrate how the news is delivered or step back and react as the information comes out.

If open and honest communication is not part of the organization’s culture, personality, and history, communicating bad news is bad news. Without a well-established framework that supports a dialogue of full disclosure, there’s very little that can be done at the last minute to make the communication of bad news anything other than a disastrous disappointment.

Supervisors and managers must be included early, kept fully informed, and remain supportive. supervisors and managers are the organization’s most important employee communication vehicle. They provide an opportunity for two-way communication that will help lay the issue to rest as soon as possible. If they’re not on management’s team, the game’s over.

Proper planning prevents poor performance. This may sound like a "duh" statement —but it is essential in communicating bad news. In fact, organizations that are good at communicating bad news have contingency plans in case they’re needed. Good planning can’t occur at the last minute.

The worst alternative that management considers is likely to be communicated through the grapevine. In most cases, employees are aware somethingbad is about to happen. This is the main reason the “Let’s not communicate” alternative doesn’t really exist. On the positive side, when the bad news is not as bad as the worst alternative, employees sometimes are relieved to
hear it.

Here's a checklist for getting ready to communicate bad news:

• Describe the news in a clear and compelling manner.
• Explain why the action is being taken.
• Explain how the decision is fair to as many groups as possible.
• Involve a high-status messenger in delivering the message.
• Deliver the message in a timely manner.
• Identify who made the decision and what process was used.
• Describe the effort that went into the decision.
• Outline some of the alternatives that were considered.
• Show that the organization cares about employees.
• Describe what action is required and what, if anything, can be done to change the decision or help avoid the problem in the future.

(Disclaimer: this blog entry is a distillation of papers I have in a file labeled "Communicating Bad News". I claim no ownership and ask forgiveness for not citing proper credit.)

Dealing with Low Energy (when it's not Gazprom's fault...)

It's cold. Staff are just returning from holiday. The economy sucks. The coffee maker is broken. And you've just gathered 10 people into a meeting room to brainstorm on changes to the 2009 plan. The smell of low energy is in the air.

Here are some ways, as a facilitator, you can raise the energy level of participants:

• Project energy to the group, by increasing or varying voice volume, moving around the room, using bigger gestures and more expansive body language.
• Use the mood meter to engage the group in a moment of self-awareness around the need for energy to make the session work. Use one of your arms as the "needle" on a meter, down at the side as zero energy and up high as the peak. Ask the group how its feeling, and ask everyone to “beep” at the appropriate place as the needle passes from zero toward the maximum. Tell people that they have to project more energy if it’s low, and try again. Ask for suggestions if they have trouble getting themselves out of the slump.
• Ask what’s going on (Everyone seems a bit low on energy after that delicious lunch – is that how you’re feeling?) as a prelude to having everyone swap seats, open windows, get a drink, stand up and stretch.
• Break the larger group up into pairs or trios to answer or prepare for the next session. Anything to get them talking and thinking.
• Physically rearrange the room during break.

A caffeine fix usually wears off after about 20 minutes. These interventions are longer lasting.

HBR Podcasts: Perceptive Insights on Coaching

If you aren't familiar with The Harvard Business Review's IdeaCast podcast series, you're missing some of the most insightful commentary available today. (Even if you aren't an iTunes user, you can listen right from the website.)

Several recent podcasts cover the evolution and current state of management and executive coaching. In "What Coaches Can Do for You", HBR editor Diane Coutu discusses her article from the current magazine which highlights a survey of 140 leading coaches and offers comments from five experts on the findings. Commentators and coaches agreed that the reasons for engaging coaches have evolved over the past decade. A decade ago, most companies hired a coach to help fix bad behavior at the top. Today, most coaching is about developing the capabilities of high-potential performers or acting as a sounding board.

In an earlier podcast, Marshall Goldman, author of "Ask the Coach" blog at HarvardBusiness.org, gets right to the heart of the matter, answering the question of when executive coaching works.