Writing Negative Messages- Adapting to Your Audience

By: Jorge Luis Gamboa

Communicating negative messages can be a very challenging task in the workplace. It is not easy to communicate to an employee that he doesn’t have a job anymore or that he is under-performing. Thus, it is very important to be as professional as possible, but perhaps the most important aspect of writing negative messages is adapting to your audience.  When writing a negative message, you should always take your audience into consideration; this will influence the way you write your message. While making sure you maintain your audience’s attention, you must also adapt your message to overcome any cultural differences and distinguish between external and internal audiences.

            Cultural differences and differences between external and internal audiences are very important factors to consider when writing negative messages. Failure to take these factors in consideration may result in a misinterpretation of your message, which may cause negative consequences for both parties.

Cultural Differences

            When writing a negative message, it is important to take into context the cultural differences that may exist between you and your audience. Different cultures have different ways of communicating negative messages and even though a method communicating a negative message in one culture may be acceptable, it may not be appropriate in another culture.

For example, according to Markel, “In the United States we use low-context communication. We emphasize directness, explicitness, and verbal expressiveness. In Asian culture, high-context is the norm.  It involves indirectness, implicitness and nonverbal expressions.” If you were working for an American company that is conducting business with an Asian counterpart, and you had to communicate a negative message to the Asian company, you would have to take into consideration the cultural differences that exist. If you were to send a written message using the direct, American method, the Asians may feel unappreciated or even insulted. Thus, you would have to adapt to your audience and write a message that is compatible with the Asian culture’s more indirect method.

In the worst of cases, failure to deal with cultural differences may result in your audience feeling insulted and this may damage business relationships.

External and Internal Audiences

            When writing a negative message, it is important to take into consideration if your message is being directed towards an external or internal audience. Given the nature of the message, these different audiences may react to the negative message in different way.

            For example, when notifying employees about a reduction in their salary due to rising costs, employees of the company will most likely react negatively towards this message. On the contrary, if owner’s of the company are notified about this reduction in salaries, they may react in approval because costs need to be cut. Thus, it is always important to analyze how your external or internal audience may react to the news.

            Also, when writing negative messages it is important to consider the nature of the audience in order to protect the confidentiality. If a negative message is sent inappropriately to an external audience, the information of the message may be disclosed by this audience and compromise your interests.

            When writing negative messages, perhaps the most important aspect is to adapt your message to your audience. In today’s global environment, factors such as cultural differences and differences between external and internal audiences need to be considered in order to communicate your message effectively.

 

Have a great day at work and remember B.N.G. Consultants is always here to help.

         

Sources:

“Cultural Differences Impact Workplace Communication” by Paulette Markel
http://www.alliancetac.com/?PAGE_ID=2560