Communicating with your team

Are you communicating with your team?

They have been working from home for 6-10 weeks now.  If you haven’t been communicating, here’s what they may be thinking:

“Why isn’t the boss talking to us?” 

“Are we going to have pay cuts or furloughs or layoffs?”

“Is our business doing okay – or are we in trouble?”

“How do I know if the work I’m doing from home is what I should be doing to keep my job?”

“I wish I knew what’s going on.”

Each week that you don’t communicate with your employees, their anxiety increases.  If they don’t know what’s happening, they will make up some scary scenario to fill the void.  It’s human nature.

And whatever story they create, it will keep them from performing well at whatever work you have for them to do.

Following are 6 suggestions for your employee communications:

  1. Commit to weekly communication—by email memo, videoconference or 1:1 phone call.
  2. Always ask how each employee is doing. Show your empathy and compassion for the employees trying to work for you and also home-school their kids.  Be considerate of the employee whose spouse just lost his job.
  3. Express your appreciation for the work being done under unusual circumstances. Acknowledge specific achievements.

(Keep reading to learn about our 6-part program, “Develop Your Roadmap and Take Control of Change.”)

  1. Share information.  If you don’t have all the answers, at least let your team know what’s going on.
  2. Convey a positive outlook—if you can do so honestly.  Being transparent with the bad news is better than holding back.
  3. Let the team know how they can be involved in planning for the future—and involve them!

Following are a few examples of the messages you could share:

  1. The board is meeting this week to review a revised business plan that will shift some of our priorities. It will be exciting to take a fresh look at how we can reposition our business for future success.
  2. Our revenue is down this quarter, as we predicted, and we are looking at some revised financials to see if we can make up some of those losses in the next two quarters.
  3. We are implementing a hiring freeze immediately, hoping to reduce our current expenses and avoid layoffs, which would be a last resort.
  4. Next week our team will have a Zoom meeting to examine all of our work and to re-prioritize our projects for the next six months. Your input will be important as we strategize to ensure we are adding value to the organization.

The Activ Consulting Group is available to help you with business re-positioning and planning for this time of change and challenge.  And, as always, we are available to help you communicate effectively inside and outside your organization. Let us know how we can help.

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Take advantage of our Mother’s Day-inspired 50% discount on our new 6-part program to help you reimagine and reposition your business or your career.

Develop Your Roadmap to Take Control of Change begins this month. Three one-hour videoconferences and three one-hour private consulting sessions will help you re-imagine your business, your career, your path forward for success.

Click on the link below to learn more, then email [email protected] for discount details. Learn more at https://www.activcg.com/coaching.