Having a process in place is vital to communicating with your stakeholders about returning back to work. However, what you communicate and how you communicate will be important as if they are listening.
01. Know your audience. Put yourself in your audience’s shoes, and consider their unique needs, experiences, values, and goals.
02. Know your vision and values and why your company exists. This experience is a prime time to reflect and refine your mission, vision, and values so they are a “true north” for business, operations, culture, and people's decisions. It also will give your team a renewed sense of purpose.
03. Words matter. Words generate emotions. Emotions drive actions. Help focus your audience’s attention on what is most important and the steps they need to take to move forward. Phrase it from their perspective and know where people may object to what you are asking them and work to diffuse them early on. Demonstrate caring, conviction, hope, and optimism. The tone of your communications also needs to reflect the gravity of the situation around us. Over the past few weeks, we have learned that is all human + We Are All Vulnerable + This is a global problem that the entire world is experiencing. Let others know how you are personally affected.
04. Know what your employees want to hear and communicate that to them. We want to know
· How are you going to keep us safe?
· What’s the impact on the company and my job?
So talk strategy! Employees need a line of sight to what’s important. It helps them feel confident, work on what’s most valuable, and know-how they contribute so that they come to work with a mission to accomplish.
05. Be upfront, transparent, and concise. People today want to know what you know and when you know it. They also want to know what you don’t know. While you don’t have to tell us everything, give us something. We know you will not have all the answers, we just want to know that you are on top of things. Also, try to organize information so it is easy to process. Infographics will be helpful, videos are also important.
06. Be mindful of litigious people. I hate to say it but the lawyer in me is cautious and I need you to stay on guard. There will be some people who may take advantage of the situation, so protect yourself. Perhaps you may have laid some people off or on furlough. Or some of your new policies may be too restrictive. Make sure you know the laws and an attorney help draft your workplace policies. Employers should be concerned about issues such as discrimination, privacy, and workplace safety.
07. Leverage data, experts + examples to support your actions. It is always helpful to follow best practices and see what works for your company based on what others are doing. So watch the news closely and use what works best for you.
08. Tell us where we can go for more information. It is important for your company to create a digital archive to refer people to and reference now or later. You should also assign someone to be the key point of contact at your company for questions about company policies and practices around the coronavirus?
09. Use the Most Effective Communication Channels You Have to Get Your Message Out. Once your messages are developed and your plan is in place, you will need to think about when, where, and how you get them out. It doesn’t have to be complicated and we encourage you to think about what channels allow you to reach people quickly and wherever they are. This could include:
Email – Text – Posters – Video – Slack – Zoom – Social Distant Work Huddles – Social Media
As I mentioned today you can never overcommunicate, it is just a matter of putting everything together.
Final Thoughts
I have a few final thoughts on a few additional things you can do to establish could do for your staff.
01 Motivate and Inspire Others through Gratitude. When things are stressful, it’s easy to overlook the contributions of individuals. Instead, encourage people and motivate their excellence. It’s nice to send a personal note to acknowledge the fantastic work that an employee or call them to show your gratitude. Do this for employees at every level.
02. Invest in your team’s mental health. Share a crisis line with a local provider, invest in group activities such as yoga, dance, or happy hours. Help your team find childcare or provide them flextime. If their kids are home from the summer, see if you can provide some with real job experience through internships. I also encourage you to consider reaching out to local social services and health organizations who are on the front-line of the COVID-19 relief effort. COVID-19 will return and it will be helpful to create the relationships now and support these organizations via monetary contributions, donating supplies, and volunteering opportunities so that they will be ready in the fall.
03. Update or develop contingency plans for the next crisis. It could be for the next outbreak of viral infections, storms, energy outages, and other high severity workplace risks. While resources are tight, there is no better time to asses our risks and vulnerabilities than now by developing a crisis management plan, reviewing your strategic plan, and conducting a new SWOT analysis to make adjustments to your business model.
In today’s environment, there is no such thing as too much information. It is how it is packaged and delivered that will make all the difference.
Stay safe, stay healthy, and Let’s Start The Conversation!
