When I talk to managers like you about delivering a touchy message to employees, I often hear, "Mary, what I don't want to happen is ________."
Fill in the blank with, "for them to shut-down, get emotional, get mad," etc. You get the idea.
We get psyched out by what we think will happen. In doing this, we give the other person all the power.
Let me rephrase. We buy into the premise that "we are powerless" to their reaction
.
I know you don't want "whatever" to happen. What I want for you is to handle whatever happens. Because the real deal is,
"The first and most important person to empower is yourself."
You can take charge and handle these situations more effectively than you ever imagined. You can take yourself to a whole new level of empowerment, and as a side-benefit, model this to your employees. (Click here to see 9 more good reasons to be an empowered manager.) 
