Internal Announcement for Hard News

Announce a difficult change (reorg, policy change, price increase, goodbye) with the news up front, honest reasons, and zero corporate cushioning.

Write an internal announcement for difficult news.

The news, stated bluntly (I'll soften later if needed; you can't write clearly around a fact I've fogged): [WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING, e.g. "we're discontinuing product X and the 4-person team moves to Y", "office closes June 1", "prices rise 15% for existing customers"]
Why, honestly: [THE REAL REASON, including the uncomfortable part]
Who's affected and how: [GROUPS + CONCRETE IMPACT FOR EACH]
What's already decided vs. still open: [DECIDED: ... / OPEN: ...]
What happens next: [DATES, PROCESS, WHERE QUESTIONS GO]
Sender + audience: [WHO SIGNS THIS + WHO RECEIVES IT]

Rules for the draft:
- **News in the first two sentences.** People skim announcements for "what does this mean for me". Make them hunt and they'll assume the worst. No warm-up paragraph about the journey or the market.
- **Reasons, not justifications.** State why in plain language, including trade-offs ("this was a choice between X and Y; we chose X because Z"). Skip "after careful consideration": everyone knows what it pads.
- **Separate decided from open.** Present decided things as decided (asking for input on a done deal breeds cynicism); name what's genuinely still open and how input reaches it.
- **Impact by group, concretely.** Each affected group gets its own line: what changes for them, when, and what doesn't change (people fill silence with fear; say explicitly what stays the same).
- **No cushioning language:** banned, "exciting changes", "evolving our strategy", "doing more with less", "we're all in this together", passive voice that hides the actor ("a decision was made").
- **End with logistics:** dates, the Q&A channel or session, and who to contact; then stop. No inspirational closer after hard news.

Length: under 400 words. Tone: direct and human, the respect is in the clarity, not the cushioning.

After the draft, add: the 5 hardest questions this audience will ask, each with an honest suggested answer (or "[LEADERSHIP MUST DECIDE]" where I haven't given you the answer).

How to use

The hard-questions section at the end is the real deliverable. If leadership can't answer those five questions honestly, the announcement isn't ready to send. Send at the start of a day and week, never Friday afternoon; follow within 24 hours with the Q&A session the announcement promised. For layoffs specifically, get legal review first. This prompt handles the writing, not the compliance.

More writing prompts

Rewrite the text below in plain language for [AUDIENCE, e.g. "patients with no medical background" / "customers reading a policy update" / "new hires on day one"].

Target reading level: [e.g. "8th grade" / "as simple as the content allows"].

How to rewrite:
- Lead with what the reader must DO or what happens to them. Background comes af

Plain Language Rewrite

Rewrite dense policy, legal, medical, or technical text at a target reading level without losing a single obligation or number.

Writingbeginner

Write a comparison article for the query: [e.g. "Notion vs Obsidian" / "best Mailchimp alternatives"].

Options to compare: [LIST 2-8 OPTIONS]
Who is searching this: [READER + WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO DECIDE]
My relationship to these products: [e.g. "I make one of them" / "I use two of them daily" / "none, I am researching"]
Facts I can su

Comparison Article

Write an honest X vs Y or best alternatives article: real differentiators, a decision table, and a clear pick for each type of reader.

Writingintermediate

Build an FAQ page for [PRODUCT/SERVICE/TOPIC].

Real questions people ask me:
"""
[PASTE SUPPORT TICKETS, SALES CALL NOTES, SEARCH QUERIES, OR COMMENTS. RAW IS FINE.]
"""

Facts I can state as true: [PRICING, POLICIES, LIMITS, TIMELINES]

Do this:
1. **Cluster** the raw questions into distinct questions people actually ask. Merge duplicat

FAQ Page From Real Questions

Turn support tickets and sales objections into an FAQ page that answers in the first sentence and is structured for AI search engines.