When there’s bad news, give it straight and give it early. Teams can handle hard truths. They can’t handle finding out late.

People can absorb almost any hard fact; what corrodes trust is learning it late and realising someone decided how much they could handle. Delay also removes the only useful thing about bad news, which is the time to respond to it. By the time it leaks, the subject has quietly become you rather than the problem.

When something has gone wrong, say it plainly and say it now, including the part that makes you look bad. Lead with the fact, then what you are doing about it. Skip the softening paragraph at the top.