In these uncertain times, how can you use communication most effectively to achieve your goals?

Who knows what the new normal will look like, but whether scaling up or down, we are all having to adapt in the face of uncertainty. Communication is one of the few things we can control in this uncertain time. It has a massive impact on employees, customers and partners and can make or break an organisation.

Our latest webinar focused on just that. Our guest panelists, who shared their experience on communication to support and drive effective change in uncertain times, were:

·       Dr Mark Bustard, Chief Executive, IBioIC

·       B.A. Nimmo, Director of Employee Communications, Thermo Fisher Scientific

·       Caroline Briggs, Chief Executive Officer, Amici Procurement Solutions

·       Emma Marriott, Consultant and former Managing Director of Contract Scotland.

Each panelist agreed on the need to be clear and decisive in approach to internal and external communications, and reflected upon their experience to share valuable learnings. Here are our top takeaways:

1.       Transparency and honesty

Covid-19 has challenged organisations to have difficult conversations with employees, customers and partners. Communicating difficult message is never an easy job, but it’s extremely important to keep everyone up to date regular business updates, no matter how bleak this may look - this helps to paint a realistic picture for employees rather than leaving them in the dark with fear of the unknown. Our panelist Emma Marriott noted that fear is often responsible for ‘office tittle tattle’ and mis-informed offline conversations.

Being transparent and honest with employees will therefore help instil trust and can prevent incorrect messages from spreading.

2.       Think about the message receiver  

Receiving difficult news can be just as, if not even more difficult than delivering it. From furlough to redundancy, employees have been subject to hearing sensitive news that can be hard to come to terms with. For this reason, it’s of the utmost importance to think of the person you’re delivering the news to and deliver messages with empathy.  

Top tip: Put yourself in the message receivers’ shoes. How would you like to be communicated with?  

3.       Listen to employees  

Communicating virtually has come as a huge organisational change for so many of us, so it can difficult to know if we’re communicating too often - I’m sure we can all relate to coming down with a case of “Zoom-fatigue”. It’s important to listen to your employees to find out if they are feeling overwhelmed and use this to gauge how frequently to communicate with them. Having 1-2-1 conversations or undertaking surveys with customers or employees can be a great way to do this.  

Panelist Caroline Briggs recalled her experience of communicating prolifically at the beginning of lockdown before adapting her approach. She now has a weekly team wide meeting which lasts 30 minutes and runs smaller team meetings where required.  

4.       Keep on top of engagement  

Working from home does come with its perks, but we all miss bonding with our colleagues. Without having the ‘water cooler’ moments (as our Managing Director calls it) in the office, it can be difficult to keep employees engaged and communicating with one another. Make sure you give your team time to bond, whether that be through activities, team Zoom’s or time to call each other.  

Caroline Briggs reflected on her employee engagement technique of arranging working from home friendly activities such as yoga and HIIT training to keep team members bonding. Meanwhile at Perceptive, we dedicate time each day - gel time - to allow our team to catch up and build stronger relationships.  

5.       Training for managers  

Managers have different strengths and weaknesses, for example, strategy building could be a strength but communication could be a weakness. For this reason, it’s important to avoid assuming that your managers know how to communicate clearly, including delivering difficult news.

Your leadership team need to be your communication ambassadors, particularly in larger organisations. Ensure they have sufficient training to deliver important messages, company updates and bad news, anticipating any potential fall out and providing techniques on how to deal with this.  

6.       Onboarding new employees  

If you’re planning to expand your team during Covid, you’ll likely be scrambling for ideas on the best onboarding approach in a virtual world. Mark Bustard had experience of this as he had to onboard new members of staff throughout lockdown.

His advice was to ensure new employees are included in team meetings and give them time to get to know their colleagues – 1-2-1’s with team members is a great way to do this. Above all, check in with them regularly to make sure they are settling in and feel like a part of the team.  

The most important takeaway of all? No one has the right answers. This period has presented organisations with challenges we couldn’t have predicted at the beginning of the year and we’ve all had to adapt to a completely new way of working. Be confident and be decisive in your approach to communication, stay informed and make justified decisions. Your confidence makes your team confident. Of course, if you need any assistance along the way, we’re here to help.