Tuesday Tips

We’re living in unprecedented times.

Things are shutting down all around you.

But it’s essential your business doesn’t shut down around you too.

So here are four Communication Top Tips, to ensure you and your colleagues continue to work well during our Virus Crisis:

1. Communicate more than ever. In crisis time, communication is like healthy eating – “little and often”. So, maybe double the frequency but halve the duration. Make sure your colleagues know what your company’s doing, what your team’s doing, and what you’re doing. There’s enough uncertainty, without people having to guess what’s going on inside your head
2. Empathy, not projection. You need to know how other people are feeling, and that you don’t just project your own emotions onto them. So ask them. Ask how they’re doing; what extra help they need; what changes they want you to make. Ask… ask…
3. Brilliant virtual comms. There’ll be less face-to-face and more virtual – conference calls, Skype, webinars etc (I’m doing more webinars for my customers than ever before). So make your virtual comms as powerful as possible. Be clear on outcomes. Shorten the agenda and duration (nobody likes long conference calls!)
4. Better emails (but as few as possible). It’s easy to over-email in times like this. So don’t send stuff for the sake of sending it. And when you do email, include a clear action at the end – or the reader won’t act!

Use all four. Or something else.

But the world is different now. Which means you need to communicate differently.

So what are you changing, to make it easier for everyone around you?

Action Point

Communicate differently to ‘your normal’. But make sure you add value, not just noise.