Dear friends,

As I write this, I am halfway through a cross-country flight, way too early in the morning. My youngest child is asleep next to me, and I am in complete disbelief that I will be making the flight back to San Francisco alone. This is the biggest transition in my life since becoming a parent, and the sheer magnitude and mix of feelings is difficult to describe. Anyway, how are you?

This month, I have been thinking a lot about delivering bad news. When we deliver bad news to our patients, in our clinician roles, we are allied with them against the illness that is affecting them. In other workplace contexts, our decisions as leaders can lead to bad news for our teams. Even when bad news comes from external mandates or constraints, delivering it to our teams requires intention.

Many of you know already that our lab experienced the “non-renewal” of an AHRQ grant. It is an infuriating, unexpected loss of funds, and it has led to layoffs. We sought advice from our administrator colleagues, peers, and trusted friends to plan our approach, and then we went to HR to ensure our plan was acceptable. In this situation, I am not the best judge of how things landed, but my team did share what they found helpful.

We were as transparent as possible. We made an announcement at our lab-wide meeting that included how much projected funding we were not going to get. After that, we acted as quickly as possible to let affected employees know.

Appreciation matters. We held in-person, individual layoff meetings. I gave specific positive feedback on performance and offered to be a reference. More importantly, I shared that employee’s resume with others that same day. At our next team meeting, I reiterated my appreciation to the group.

Be clear about your constraints. At UCSF, there are standard policies that govern many layoff processes and terms. I was honest about where I have and did not have flexibility. That said, a trusted colleague told me not to exclusively blame others for the bad news. They said that if we present it as totally out of our hands, it makes us seem ineffectual as leaders. Even with the loss of funding, the PIs in the lab were deciding how to allocate resources, and it feels more respectful to acknowledge that.

A friend said it straight- “don’t make it about you.” I had to restrain myself from venting about how frustrated I am that the funding we were granted is now being taken away midway through the work. It’s very unfair, and it’s a huge disservice to all Americans, but I didn’t say any of that. I focused on listening and answering their questions.

In the final analysis, bad news is bad! It’s never going to feel great to you to deliver or receive it. Honesty, clarity, transparency, and respect make it better than it would be otherwise.

So, friends, it’s been a time. Please send me something that makes me smile. I accept good news, big or small, pet photos, and funny anecdotes! Please share widely, as usual, and let others know they can sign up here.

Warmly,

Urmimala