How can leaders inspire their employees when they don’t have good news to share?

There are five keys to inspiring leaders :

1.

Great leaders are brave enough to face up to challenging situations and deal with them honestly. Whether it's steering through a business downturn or getting struggling employees back on track, effective leaders meet these challenges openly. Regular communications with your staff, informing them of both good news and how the company is reacting to challenges will go a long way toward making employees feel like you trust them and that they're unlikely to be hit with unpleasant surprises.

2. Win trust

Employees are more loyal and enthusiastic when they work in an environment run by people they trust. Building that trust can be done in many ways. The first is to show employees that you care about them, Handel says. Take an interest in your employees beyond the workplace. Don't pry, he advises, but ask about an employee's child's baseball game or college graduation. Let your employees know that you're interested in their success and discuss their career paths with them regularly.

3.Be authentic.

If you're not a suit, don't try to be one. Employees and others dealing with your company will be able to tell if you're just pretending to be someone you're not, Handal says. That could make them question what else about you might be inauthentic. Have a passion for funky shoes? Wear them. Are you an enthusiastic and hilarious presenter? Get them laughing. Use your strengths and personality traits to develop your personal leadership style, Handal says.

4. Earn respect

When you conduct yourself in an ethical way and model the traits you want to see in others, you earn the respect of those around you. Leaders who are perceived as not "walking their talk" typically don't get very far, Handal says. This contributes to employees and other stakeholders having pride in the company, which is an essential part of engagement, Handal says. Also, customers are less likely to do business with a company if they don't respect its values or leadership.

5. stay curious

Good leaders remain intellectually curious and committed to learning. They're inquisitive and always looking for new ideas, insights and information. Handal says the best leaders understand that innovation and new approaches can come from many places and are always on the lookout for knowledge or people who might inform them and give them an advantage.

"The most successful leaders I know are truly very curious people. They're interested in the things around them and that contributes to their vision," Handal says.

The question:

How can leaders inspire their employees when they don't have good news to share?

My answer:

When the news is not good, the leader inspires his employees as follows:

• First, the leader digests the situation (its not clear from the question whether there is bad news or simply a lack of good news), placing in context and assessing it in terms of influence upon the required business outcomes and potential impact to the current plans, performance agreements, behavioral expectations and team motivation. 
• Next, the leader determines the necessary actions (note: since he is a good leader, the appropriate actions have already been established and recorded/endorsed in the approved risk management plan).  
• Bad news travels quickly, so this leader proactively presents to his team an easy-to-grasp overview of the situation. The leader outlines the path forward in a way that inspires his team to apply their efforts to achieving that outcome (and in turn, this will inspire others in the organization). 
• Following this initial communication, the leader and his team will expand the path forward into detailed plans and the associated inputs to the team's management systems.  The resulting schedules, reports and performance targets will provide tangible feedback to the team that things are under control and provide a basis further improvement/adjustment based on any further changes in business climate. 

The leaders' vision, experience and conviction differentiates him from the 'bosses', 'followers' and 'fence sitters’.  In times of trouble, people are drawn to the leader's ability to find the light at the end of the tunnel, show them what it looks like and safely guide them on the journey to reach it.  

Still they are there to protect their employees is the good news to share, if their employees believe in their leadership.