Writing requests and bad news to colleagues and managers

Customer replies get most of the attention in writing screenings, but the second most common scenario is internal: ask a colleague for a file, tell your manager a task will be late, or decline a request from another team. They are judged on whether the reader knows what to do within ten seconds. This lesson gives one structure for requests and one for bad news, with examples you can copy.

The request structure

A request has four parts in this order: what you need, why, by when, and what happens next. The "why" is one line, not a story. The deadline is a date and a time, not "soon" or "ASAP".

Weak: "Hi Arun, hope you are well. I was wondering if you might have a chance to look at the stock report at some point, as we are a bit behind. Thanks so much."

Strong: "Hi Arun, could you send me the October stock report by 4 pm Thursday? I need it to finish the month-end summary due Friday morning. If Thursday is not possible, let me know by tomorrow and I will ask Meera for last month's version instead."

The strong version names the file, gives a deadline and offers a fallback.

The bad-news structure

Bad news goes in the first sentence. Readers skim, and a delay hidden in paragraph three will be missed, which then becomes a second problem. After the news, give the cause in one line, the new plan, and what you need from the reader.

Example: "The supplier onboarding will finish on 12 November, not 5 November as planned. The bank verification came back with a mismatch on the account name, and the supplier needs five working days to send corrected documents. I have booked the follow-up for 10 November and will confirm the same day. Please let me know if the 12th causes a problem for the purchase order."

No apology spiral, no blame: the reader gets the new date, the reason, the plan and a one-line question.

Declining a request

Say no clearly, give one reason, and offer what you can do. "I cannot take on the audit prep this week because the payroll run closes Thursday. I can start on Monday, or I can share the checklist from last quarter now if someone else needs to begin sooner."

Common mistakes

• Opening with small talk so the request lands at the bottom.
• Writing "at your earliest convenience" instead of a date.
• Apologising three times, which makes a small delay sound like a disaster.

Practice habit: Rewrite one real message a day from your inbox in under 80 words using the request or bad-news structure. Read it aloud. If the first sentence does not say what the message is for, start again.