Negative Letters to Superiors

You-attitude: readers/superiors are primarily concerned with the bottom line: solutions to the bad news.

Focus on your reasonable ability to remedy the problem.

Turn negative news into a problem solving opportunity.

Organize the Letter in This Order:

1) Describe the problem, briefly. Use positive emphasis: minimize the damage and degree.

2) Tell how the problem happened.

3) Describe the options for fixing the problem (often in a bulleted list).

4) Recommend a solution.

5) Request action.

- Request permission to act.

- Request that the superior act.

- Include specific deadlines if necessary.

Do NOT do the following:

1) Grovel.

- Do not place the reader in the position of having to forgive you.

- Do not over-emphasize your own incompetence; this makes the person’s job harder, not easier.

2) Assign blame for the problem to another person.

- If the superior needs or wants to know who is to blame, he or she can ask.

- Pointing out another person’s incompetence makes the writer seem petty and irresponsible.

- The fault of those you are responsible for is still your responsibility.

- You might care who’s fault the problem is, but the superior largely cares about how quickly the problem will be solved.

3) Make excuses.

- Good excuses are still excuses.

- Being “excused” from responsibility for a problem logically means you were not capable of adequately handling the problem.

- Therefore you are incapable.

- Therefore you should be fired.

- You do not want to be fired.