The difficult thing still has to be said.

An actor can spend a great deal of effort demonstrating sadness without making an audience feel anything. The emotion is visible. The intention is clear. But somehow it doesn't reach us. I've seen this happen in rehearsal. And I've seen the difference when an actor stops showing us what they think we should see and begins to experience the moment more truthfully.

The same distinction matters in leadership. A CEO delivering difficult news may have been advised to demonstrate empathy. They may adopt a softer tone, slow their delivery or use language intended to convey concern. Sometimes those choices are entirely appropriate. But if they feel imposed, the audience may recognise the effort.

The speaker can begin to appear as though they're performing compassion rather than responding to the people in front of them. You cannot manufacture sincerity through technique. But you can identify the habits, tensions and unnecessary efforts that prevent somebody's genuine humanity from reaching the audience.

Sometimes the direction is to stop trying quite so hard. Sometimes it is to allow a difficult sentence to sit without immediately offering reassurance. And sometimes it is simply to look at the people who are listening. The work depends on the person and the circumstances.

The prepared statement may be the easiest part. The questions that follow are often less predictable. An employee asks why their role is being eliminated. A colleague challenges the reasoning behind a decision. Somebody becomes angry. Another person asks a question for which the company cannot yet provide an answer.

The leader may know the organisation and understand the decision, but still find the exchange difficult. The temptation may be to defend, reassure, explain too much or retreat into language that has already been approved. I watch what happens in those moments. How the question is received. Whether the speaker is really listening.

What changes in their voice or physical behaviour. Whether they can acknowledge what has been said without offering reassurance they cannot substantiate. We rehearse difficult questions, interruptions and unexpected reactions. Not to engineer agreement. Not to conceal information. But to help the person remain capable of listening, responding and exercising judgement when the conversation becomes uncomfortable.

Sometimes the most important thing a leader can do is allow somebody else to finish speaking.

An important announcement is not the place to discover that a carefully prepared sentence sounds cold when spoken aloud. Or that a reassuring passage feels dismissive. Or that the speaker becomes defensive when challenged. Those things are better discovered beforehand. We begin with the actual material and the circumstances in which it will be delivered.

You perform it. I watch. We try different approaches. Perhaps a passage needs less emphasis. Perhaps the speaker needs to slow down. Perhaps something that sounds convincing on the page feels false when spoken. We make an adjustment and try again. Some changes work immediately. Others take time. And some fail completely.

That is useful. Failure in rehearsal gives us information that would be considerably more costly to discover in the actual event. I generally prefer to work over several sessions, allowing time between rehearsals for the individual to practise and absorb what we've discovered. When we meet again, I can see what has changed, what has become more natural and where further attention is needed.

The intention is not to create a perfectly controlled performance. It is to prepare someone well enough that they can remain present when the situation is no longer within their control.

For senior leaders delivering a restructuring, redundancy announcement or other difficult organisational news. Rehearsal addresses the statement, the questions that may follow and the leader’s ability to listen and respond to the people affected. Begin with the current statement, the audience and the circumstances in which it will be delivered. Identify what can be said, what remains unresolved and the questions you expect. Agree participation and information-sharing before sending sensitive material. Your organisation and advisers remain responsible for decisions, legal obligations and the accuracy of the information.

But they can be approached with greater care. The person delivering difficult news has a responsibility to the people receiving it. That responsibility extends beyond choosing the right words. It includes how those words are spoken, how questions are received and how the leader responds when the room becomes uncomfortable.

Private Direction works on that performance. If you have a difficult announcement approaching, I would welcome a private conversation about how I might contribute to its preparation.

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