How to talk about a tricky decision when you can’t share all the details

As a manager, you often have to talk about tricky decisions but what should you do in instances where you’re not at liberty to tell all the details?

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Harvard Business Review

Picture this scenario: You’re planning to make some organisational changes that will result in layoffs. Perhaps market conditions are difficult, or you’re integrating a company you acquired. You haven’t figured out all the details about numbers, timing, and terms, so it’s too early to share the full picture — but rumours are circulating.

What are your options? Saying nothing can undermine people’s trust in your motives and compassion. It also puts you at a disadvantage when you face a flurry of questions because people pick up signals earlier than many leadership teams realise. On the flip side, saying too much can leave people feeling overwhelmed and vulnerable as they struggle to process the information and implications.

Striking the right balance between these two extremes is a tricky exercise for leaders. It requires giving people a sense of the considerations involved in making the decision, confidence in the process, and a feeling that you’re caring for them the best you can. Every situation will have unique characteristics, but these five strategies should help you figure out what to say and do when you can’t be fully transparent.

Consider Full Transparency

First, start by assuming that you’ll share all of the available information with everyone. This so-called ‘radical transparency’ may feel unrealistic, but it’s a good way to test whether withholding information will serve you and the organisation well.

With colleagues in your executive leadership team, describe the decision you’re making in as much detail as possible. For example, you might say: “We need to lay off [X] people in this division by [date] because customer demand is not strong enough to support this capacity and we’ve exhausted all other options to redeploy these people.” Doing this often reveals gaps in your logic and information you need to collect to make the statement as clear as possible.

Next, identify what you would retract from your statement before sharing it with employees and set out the reasons why. Consider these questions:

• What would be the immediate effect of sharing this information? What do you know, believe, or assume about these effects?
• What might the downstream consequences be?
• What is the worst that could happen?

For example, you may want to omit the exact number of people and the dates involved because you haven’t made final decisions, or you’re awaiting more up-to-date information about the future pipeline of customer orders.

One executive group I worked with used different “thinking hats” to test whether they should hold back some information. Each person in the group adopted a different perspective — such as caution (the black hat), emotion (the red hat), or process (the blue hat) — to challenge whether the group’s reasoning held up. They shared their reactions with each other and agreed that they should explain the process more clearly and share more information earlier than they had originally envisioned.

Establish Your Principles

Identify the principles you want to uphold during this process that reflect your organisational values — such as humanity, honesty, and fairness — and use them to guide what you say and do. For example, Ron Carucci, author of To Be Honest, defines honesty as telling the truth (saying the right thing), justice (doing the right thing), and purpose (saying and doing the right thing for the right reasons). And fairness might mean that you want everyone involved to understand the situation, choices, and impacts — not just those who are ‘in the know’ or members of overrepresented groups.

One CEO I worked with decided that adhering to the principle of humanity meant that the employees who would lose their jobs should be informed by a person they knew rather than somebody in HR. This made the process take longer than it would have otherwise, but she felt it was the right thing to do.

Principles provide a strong foundation to rely on, especially when the situation is complex and uncertain. This served Jonathan Thompson, CEO of Everyone TV, well when he had to communicate difficult decisions. He told me they helped him avoid chasing perfection, “instead trying to apply some consistent principles, feeling able to adapt and respond to feedback.”

Describe the Situation Candidly — But Not Too Candidly

When communicating with employees, frame the situation’s context clearly. Describe the developments that have led to considering big changes, such as changing customer behaviour and competitor activity. Describe their impact on the organisation’s financial and strategic position and size, shape, and structure. Avoid general market commentary and focus on the specific impacts and implications that apply to your situation.

People appreciate honesty, even if the message is incomplete or not what they want to hear. Explain that you’ll be as transparent as possible, use plain language (not corporate-speak), and respond to questions. Be precise about what you can say now and when you’ll say more, providing an overall timeline for the process. But avoid giving people running commentary as developments unfold; it can lead to unhelpful distractions and take up considerable management time.

Letting employees in on the options you’re considering shows the logic behind your coming actions, helping build trust. It also helps mitigate the anxiety they may be feeling as they consider every combination of eventualities (including catastrophic ones) and prevents them from feeling caught by surprise when you announce the final set of changes.

Hold Your Nerve

It’s tempting to share snippets of information with selected people — for example, colleagues you’ve worked with for a long time or are close with — before having important conversations or making announcements. This may be out of a sense of loyalty or friendship. However, this can undermine others’ trust in the process and create confusion. Instead, explain to them that you’ve made a commitment to your leadership team that you will all communicate in a structured way as a sign of respect to all the employees involved and to preserve the integrity of the process.

You may also be tempted to delay or avoid the decision when you face opposition to the changes. Remind yourself about why the changes are so important, the purpose they serve, and the negative consequences of not making this difficult decision.

Coordinate Other Activities

As you work toward your final decision, your employees will be sensitised to anything that conflicts with the changes in question, especially when they don’t know the full picture. Expect any other organisational events, initiatives, and decisions that happen in parallel to be scrutinised. For example, announcing big investments, showing clients lavish hospitality, or holding executive retreats prior to job cuts will be difficult to explain — even if they’re necessary in the long run. Similarly, telling investors about the organisation’s sunny prospects may be off-putting to the people waiting to hear whether they’ll still have a job.

Look ahead to a future state where you’ve made the decision and changes and map out the timeline of activities that are most likely to help them land well and stick. For example, involve informal leaders — the people everyone looks to for guidance and reassurance — early in the process. Identify potential derailers and sensitive topics by asking yourself: What would make it harder to communicate these changes? Consider events, decisions, launches, and PR efforts through this lens and decide whether they should be delayed or at least framed carefully so that they’re positioned as part of a coherent set of priorities and actions.

Making important strategic and organisational decisions comes with responsibility to the people they affect. There may be moments when you can’t share every detail — but you can be transparent about the situation you face, the options you’re considering, and your commitment to humanity, honesty, and integrity.