Everyone who visits the Ombuds Office to discuss a concern is unique, with responsibilities, experiences, and aspirations that they share with no one else. Yet certain patterns emerge. In 2022, 38 percent of visitors to the office had issues surrounding communication with a supervisor. That’s why I have dedicated myself to leading workshops touching on a range of topics from thoughtful listening to difficult conversations. Between my research into communication and my conversations with hundreds of faculty, staff, and students who feel barriers when speaking with their supervisor (or employee), I have come to a conclusion: no news is, in fact, bad news.
English author James Howell in 1640 provided the earliest extant written expression of the idiom “no news is good news” when he referenced an Italian expression, “nulla nuova, buona nuova.” While it sounds a bit better to my ears in the original Italian, I still think that, for many reasons, the opposite is often true. No news can be bad news. Let me explain why.
Last week, I led a breakout session for Administrative Faculty Development Day called “Clearer Communication with Your Supervisor,” the gist of which, as you might have guessed, was how to untangle the knots that commonly disrupt supervisor/employee discourse. One of the themes we discussed centered on the important role that supervisors play in providing feedback on employees’ performance. Sometimes, all that’s needed is simple validation, a recognition of work well done. Others, feedback on areas of improvement is required.
The key, though, is keep the hailing frequencies, as Lieutenant Uhura might say. In the absence of communication, we often tend to assume the worst, replaying past conversations, dissecting emails for hidden meanings that aren’t there, and conjuring up nightmare scenarios that, lacking any new countervailing evidence, seem more real by the hour. Fear and anxiety drive out objective evidence of supervisorial satisfaction (past positive evaluations, lack of disciplinary proceedings) and replace them with spiraling conjectures, first about what can go wrong, then about what is going wrong. This can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as trepidation begins to impair performance, erode confidence, and amplify dissatisfaction.
It seems that lack of communication can turn all of us into conspiracy theorists, advancing our own interpretation of events and finding ulterior meanings when there are none. And that’s not a healthy place to be.
More than once, I have spoken with someone whose supervisor is painted as an almost cinematically malign menace, whose every waking moment—and some of the dreaming ones—is pledged to the misery of this particular employee. Then, when I meet the supervisor, the prevailing attitude towards the employee seems to be one of qualified but sincere support. Often, it isn’t what they have said that gave the employee such a negative impression—it is what they didn’t.
That’s not to say that supervisors need to send updates at the beginning and end of each workday. It’s just that if they recognize the potentially malignant power of silence, they might find a communicative cadence that doesn’t exhaust them but provides those they work with sufficient context to maintain their morale. What’s more, it helps to give the impression that if there was bad news, it would be communicated immediately.
Of course, sometimes silence (or deliberate under-communication) can be cruelly intentional. For a comedic twist, take a look at The Office’s Charles Minor (Idris Elba), whose seemingly spontaneous dislike of Jim Halpert (John Kransinski) manifests in a maddeningly vague task, with absolutely no support: the rundown. Elba’s character knows exactly what he’s doing here, but it’s not so funny to imagine that we might unintentionally be having the same effect on those around us.
Another place where no news is bad news is when the words, where they are given, don’t match their accompanying actions. Praise that is empty, validations that are formulaic, given with a grimace undercut the foundations of communication by suggesting that nothing the supervisor says is authentic. This is why it is best to be honest about lapses in performance or expectations that haven’t been met. Honest feedback, even when it is critical, is almost always preferable to radio silence when it is specific and actionable. For example, something like, “You should be so much better at your job,” followed by an eyeroll isn’t that helpful, while something with greater specificity, like, “The timeliness of your email responses can be improved” can be the start of a helpful conversation.
Humans, at least the ones that I know, seem to excel at expanding criticisms directed at them, which is why tightly focused feedback grounded by assurances of general competency can be more effective. Otherwise, one negative remark can expand to apocalyptic proportions. So while you may have to be careful about how you say it, communicating something is usually better than nothing.
Not sure how to couch those criticisms, so you’re thinking that it’s better to say nothing? One idea: borrowing a page from Administrative Faculty Development Day keynoter Jenna Heath, regular expressions of gratitude can do much to promote healthier communication on both sides. When critical feedback is grounded in the context of overall appreciation, it can be received in a more constructive spirit.
But in the end, the important thing is to remember that, whether you’re on a Federation starship or in a Maryland Parkway office, maintaining communication is a key to good morale and better performance.
And, when you don’t hear what you want, or you don’t know what to say, it helps to have somewhere to go. Whether you are a student, faculty member, or other UNLV employee, the Ombuds Office has many resources available to help you through any conflict or communication issue you might be facing. If you are having an issue and are uncertain where to go, it is an excellent zero-barrier first stop.
If you would like to talk privately and confidentially about any work- or campus-related concern, please make an appointment with the Ombuds. Our hailing frequencies are always open.
David G. Schwartz
UNLV Ombuds