A Framework for Communicating Hard News (That Actually Works) 7 | 31

Radical Candor: Communication at Work

Radical Candor

Business, Management, Careers

4.7 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Candor Coach and executive coach Farrah Mitra joins Amy Sandler to share her 4-step Communicating Change Framework—a practical guide for leaders navigating layoffs, performance conversations, or org changes. Learn how to deliver tough news with kindness, clarity, and confidence, without causing unnecessary harm. A must-listen for anyone leading through change with Radical Candor. Get all of the show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠RadicalCandor.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Episode Links: Transcript Communicating Change with Clarity and Care—A Framework for Leaders The Biggest Reason We Run from Challenging Conversations What's Your Radical Candor Story? Candor Coaches Share The Feedback They're Most Grateful For Farrah Mitra | LinkedIn Lead Change Better: A New Way to Communicate What’s Coming Connect: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Chapters: (00:00:00) Introduction Amy introduces Farrah Mitra, Radical Candor coach and creator of the Communicating Change framework. (00:01:49) Why This Matters Two stories that highlight the power of how change is communicated. (00:04:47) Framing Makes the Difference How message delivery impacts emotional response. (00:06:28) Goals of the Framework The overarching goal of the Communicating Change framework. (00:07:36) Why We Avoid Empathy Why leaders struggle with human-centered communication during change. (00:09:54) Structure Creates Confidence Creating a process that facilitates courage and clarity in conversations. (00:11:30) Communicating Change Framework A framework that gives leaders direction during tough conversations. (00:13:00) Coaching for Mindset Shifts Coaching to focus on reframing how leaders feel before they speak. (00:14:20) Reframing from Guilt to Partnership A real coaching story shows how shifting mindset changes everything. (00:17:51) Grief, Identity & Communication Why emotional processing is key before delivering hard news. (00:21:00) Clarifying the Message Choosing a narrative that doesn't mix performance and role decisions. (00:25:13) Focus on the Receiver Questions to help reverse engineer empathetic communication. (00:29:02) Helpful Phrasing Tips Phrasing examples to tailor language to ensure authenticity and clarity. (00:31:15) Empathy vs. Niceness Thoughtfully using structure to communicate with clarity and compassion. (00:35:24) Company-Wide Implementation How one org made the framework part of their leadership culture. (00:38:19) Why Empathy Still Wins Human-centered communication prevents harm—even in tough moments. (00:39:52) Connect with Farrah Where to connect with Farrah and find her framework. (00:41:11) Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I am Amy Sandler. I am so excited to welcome you all to today's live conversation with Fara Mitra.
0:13.4	Fara is an executive coach, a radical candor coach, and creator of the communicating change framework, which we're going to be
0:22.0	diving into today, how to communicate hard news in a way that's honest, that's human, and
0:30.4	actually helpful. Whether it's layoffs and restructuring, whether it's performance
0:36.1	conversations, big strategic shifts, FARA's work is all
0:40.6	about making sure that we don't cause additional harm when change is inevitable.
0:48.0	Specializing in leadership, communications, and people strategy.
0:52.0	Farr brings over 15 years of experience as a Bain Strategy consultant,
0:56.6	also a People and Culture Executive at hypergrowth tech companies, and has clients that span
1:03.2	the C-suite at Fortune 50 companies to small startups and nonprofits across a variety of
1:08.5	industries. And I think most important, Fara totally gets it.
1:12.9	She's been a leader, an HR leader in hypergrowth change environments.
1:17.4	And I think one of the things that I love most is that she is laser focused on balancing
1:21.9	results with pragmatism.
1:24.6	But I say this is someone who's gotten to know Farah well these past few years
1:28.4	because Farah is one of our radical canter coaches. She's a communication expert. She's led over 200
1:34.5	radical canter workshops. Most of all, she's someone I consider a friend and a friend with a lot
1:40.4	of wisdom that I know that you're going to really enjoy this conversation.
1:45.8	Welcome, Farah.
1:47.3	Thank you so much, Amy.
1:48.2	Thank you so much.
1:49.3	Yes.
	...

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