Communicating During a Crisis
4 May 2009
Read by 1792 persons
Announcing budget cuts, strategic changes, or layoffs... Managers today face difficult situations that are as frequent as they are brutal. How can they be overcome without demotivating the team? Coach Catherine Sorzana, director of the Media Coaching Communication firm, gives us a survival kit.
1. Communicate transparent, accurate, and complete information as early as possible
Difficult situations create a need for information. If this need is not met, you cannot avoid the spread of rumors.
Is your company planning to announce bad results? Give employees the information first. Organize an internal meeting or transmit the information simultaneously to the various managers in charge of disseminating it. If your employees learned the news from the press, their trust in the company's internal communication would be seriously shaken. (Even listed companies, which have more communication constraints, can follow the principle of communicating "as soon as the law allows").
Be factual, concrete, and simple. And ensure message consistency over time.
2. Communicate with a human touch
This means talking about people and not just actions or results. Mentioning "a reorganization project that involves outsourcing some of the tasks previously performed internally..." clearly means that jobs may be lost. What will happen to these positions? Will there be opportunities for employees to be reassigned to the chosen service provider? The answers to these questions must be part of your communication.
Another tip: don't banish all emotion from your way of expressing yourself. For example, you can say that you understand the expressed concern, that throughout the "crisis" you will remain attentive to people's needs. Employees need this more involved, more human level of language. A purely rational, cold discourse could neither reassure nor convince them.
3. Be present on the ground
You must act and show that you are acting. Beyond the mere act of communication, intervening in the first hours of a difficult situation is the best response to expressed anxieties. This also has the merit of reaffirming and legitimizing your role as a leader. If, of course, the action is appropriate and effective.
Stay accessible. Troubled people who have questions must feel that you are there, that you are doing what is necessary. This does not mean that you should only deal with this, at the risk of being constantly interrupted in the rest of your work. But it is good to schedule times for discussion, where people can come and ask you questions. It is up to you to define the limits of your availability. If it is a serious crisis, your door should remain open every day (at least during a defined time slot). Otherwise, schedule regular information meetings. Their frequency will depend on the severity of the situation and the amount of information to be conveyed.
4. Say what you will do to prevent the difficult situation from recurring
Put the company's (or department's) action plan and communication back into a positive dynamic. It is important for teams to feel that their efforts will not be in vain and that they will not last forever.
5. Finally, don't neglect post-crisis communication
Good communication during a difficult period helps maintain team confidence. Continuing to communicate along these lines helps to anchor this confidence. Keep your good habits: a time for sharing information and listening to questions once a week, for example.
Posted on May 4, 2009
pourseformer.fr
1. Communicate transparent, accurate, and complete information as early as possible
Difficult situations create a need for information. If this need is not met, you cannot avoid the spread of rumors.
Is your company planning to announce bad results? Give employees the information first. Organize an internal meeting or transmit the information simultaneously to the various managers in charge of disseminating it. If your employees learned the news from the press, their trust in the company's internal communication would be seriously shaken. (Even listed companies, which have more communication constraints, can follow the principle of communicating "as soon as the law allows").
Be factual, concrete, and simple. And ensure message consistency over time.
2. Communicate with a human touch
This means talking about people and not just actions or results. Mentioning "a reorganization project that involves outsourcing some of the tasks previously performed internally..." clearly means that jobs may be lost. What will happen to these positions? Will there be opportunities for employees to be reassigned to the chosen service provider? The answers to these questions must be part of your communication.
Another tip: don't banish all emotion from your way of expressing yourself. For example, you can say that you understand the expressed concern, that throughout the "crisis" you will remain attentive to people's needs. Employees need this more involved, more human level of language. A purely rational, cold discourse could neither reassure nor convince them.
3. Be present on the ground
You must act and show that you are acting. Beyond the mere act of communication, intervening in the first hours of a difficult situation is the best response to expressed anxieties. This also has the merit of reaffirming and legitimizing your role as a leader. If, of course, the action is appropriate and effective.
Stay accessible. Troubled people who have questions must feel that you are there, that you are doing what is necessary. This does not mean that you should only deal with this, at the risk of being constantly interrupted in the rest of your work. But it is good to schedule times for discussion, where people can come and ask you questions. It is up to you to define the limits of your availability. If it is a serious crisis, your door should remain open every day (at least during a defined time slot). Otherwise, schedule regular information meetings. Their frequency will depend on the severity of the situation and the amount of information to be conveyed.
4. Say what you will do to prevent the difficult situation from recurring
Put the company's (or department's) action plan and communication back into a positive dynamic. It is important for teams to feel that their efforts will not be in vain and that they will not last forever.
5. Finally, don't neglect post-crisis communication
Good communication during a difficult period helps maintain team confidence. Continuing to communicate along these lines helps to anchor this confidence. Keep your good habits: a time for sharing information and listening to questions once a week, for example.
Posted on May 4, 2009
pourseformer.fr
