Difficult decisions and conversations

The impact of coronavirus on the market and economy has forced a lot of people into making some difficult decisions. There’s no shortage of examples here.

Airbnb had to make a decision to allow refunds for all bookings due to coronavirus. Hosts are upset as they’ve had to take the blunt end of the cost. Flywheel, one of my favorite workout classes, has decided to lay off 95% of it’s workforce as it fights to survive.

There are thousands of other businesses as well making difficult decisions to lay off workers, cut pay, and/or close shop. My father’s small business that he has run for nearly 30 years is likely going to be closed as a result of this.

Even if not discussing layoffs or paycuts, every company will need to make business decisions that will have a real impact on others. I have a friend who “put 5 companies out of business” last week as she had to cut purchase orders from small companies who won’t survive.

At Secfi, we’ve had a lot of difficult conversations internally and with our clients these past couple weeks. This is the part of business that really sucks. No one wants to have to make these decisions or have these conversations, but someone needs to. There’s no magic easy button here. Very likely, the person on the other end of the decision or conversation will be upset, or even worse, angry.

This past week, I’ve relied on a couple tools to help me through these conversations: honesty and overcorrection.

I try to stay as honest as possible and calmly explain the situation and why we need to make this decision. Fabricating things does no good and most people will see right through this. I cut straight to the point and give my honest assessment of the whole ordeal.

After honestly explaining the situation, I then do my best to overcorrect the situation. There’s only so much you can do to control the situation at hand, but there are many other things you can do to try to help or make the situation right. Going above and beyond shows that you truly care and have empathy for the situation. It’s the least you can do after breaking bad news to the individual.

These decisions and conversations are not easy, but I know I’ll be a better leader on the other end once I am done with them.