Leadership and Communication During Crisis
The importance of strong leadership and communication during crisis.
The coronavirus pandemic undoubtedly surprised the world and has left most individuals and companies adapting each day as the reality of the viral threat progresses. Work as we knew it has changed and has forced most of us to adapt quickly to a remote working environment. This is stressful; both for leaders and for teams. Communication is perhaps no more important than in times like these. Good leadership in crisis can turn unsettling feelings of fear, discomfort, and skepticism into ones of comfort, camaraderie, trust, and loyalty.
Now, perhaps more than ever, people are looking to you. Anxiety around the disrupted economy, stress from sudden remote work, fear of illness, etc. leave your team seeking strong leadership and connection. While you maneuver through the operations and massive changes your company is facing, it is vitally important to create a communication strategy and connect with your physically distanced team.
You can think about it this way: Sometimes, a child who has fallen will look to the parent to gauge the reaction and then determine if crying is necessary. Some parents may panic at the fall and the kid will respond accordingly; others will take it in stride and say something like “You’re okay” and the kid will mimic that stimulus as well. Similarly, a leader can set the tone for the organization – that tone can be one of hope, optimism, fear, anger, frustration, kindness, honesty, candor, openness, anxiety, etc. So how can you create a communication strategy that is authentic and supportive and leads to a more effective team and work environment?
Communicate honestly, sincerely, openly. It’s important to recognize, acknowledge and respect the feelings that people are having within the organization - and these can vary and change over time. By acknowledging your own experience and sharing in those feelings, you build rapport and equity. Then you need a plan. People are anxious. The impact to our economy and employment is unprecedented. By showing that you have thought through a way to manage and even thrive during the crisis, people will gain comfort and confidence knowing that their leader is not lost.
Create a communication calendar that works for you. It’s important to touch base frequently, especially as things are changing every day. The cadence of communication can depend on your organization’s size, need, and capacity. Once a week is a good place to start.
Set up a two-way stream of communication. A two-way stream of communication should be established that allows staff to ask questions and convey their concerns. If a critical mass of people share the same concern, you can (and should!) address it to the entire company through one of your ongoing communications. It needs to be made clear that voicing concerns is appreciated, but also new ideas/solutions are equally welcomed. You never know who might have an innovative idea for this new situation.
Dedicate a specific person for inbound questions/concerns. This person could be anyone from the head of HR, CEO, COO, or another person who has the capacity to read and respond to inquiries. This is not to restrict the staff but rather to give them confidence that someone will read and respond to their concerns instead of perceiving that concerns go into the “never-read” suggestion box. Responding, either directly or through your weekly communications, is a vital part of communication success.
Humanize your communications. While it is important to have clear direction on business operations, expectations moving forward, etc. it’s also key to authentically connect with your team. You can do this by sharing insight into your world and sharing your experiences in a way that feels true to you. An example of this: We work with a CEO who has been sending out daily emails to all staff, talking not only about business, but about life working from home. He shares moments with his dog in the background, kids home from school, etc. He also ensures that in every communication, he shares individual staff successes and highlights people that demonstrate a new way of thinking or are doing their work in a way that can be modeled.
Create a plan for post COVID-19. Many blogs and articles are focused on what is happening now – how to work remotely, getting used to communication through Zoom, etc., but it will be equally important to create a communication plan and operational plan for POST-COVID! At some point, we will be well past the apex, companies will reopen, social distancing will be relaxed, and yet everyone will have just gotten used to working remotely, creating a home/work balance that will again be disrupted by moving BACK into the workplace. It will therefore be equally important to recognize the new disruption due to reintegration and communicate accordingly. Some people will want to continue working from home – how will your team handle that? Maybe it is more efficient? Maybe it will create greater productivity with less turnover? Or maybe this was all be a test that showed failure in the remote work dynamic for your company. It will be up to you as the leader to use this test to find opportunities that were never visible before.
COVID-19 is a common enemy and as such, it can unite people. It might seem counter-intuitive, but this provides an organic opportunity for you as a leader to create stronger interdepartmental relationships and even remove siloed behavior. People are listening. You can now connect with your staff in a highly visible way that was perhaps not available before. The response in the beginning was important, but it is perhaps even more critical to keep that communication flowing as the weeks pass. Keep writing, keep talking, keep sharing. What you do now, and your strategy after, can have dramatic benefits for your culture, productivity, and company as a whole.
We'd love to hear from you. What's working and what isn't? How are you communicating with your team? What strategies and outreach have you begun to help you connect remotely?