COMMUNICATING TO YOUR TEAM DURING A PANDEMIC
Insights and tips for leaders rooted in behavioral science
People do not handle living with uncertainty very well. As humans, we have a tendency towards negativity bias, viewing things as more negative than positive. When things are in flux, with lots of unknows, we tend to fill up those blank spaces with negative thoughts. We tend to perceive a tiger hiding behind every bush and hear the lion’s roar in every sound. In this time of frenzied craziness, company leaders need to be the calm and reassuring voice for their employees.
Here are four tips based on behavioral science that can help you communicate during this time of crisis.
1. Simplify the message — during times of stress; our brain has limited ability to process and absorb information. Keep messages to employees simple and clear.
2. Talk to the emotion — employees are in a state of flux, with much of their world thrown into turmoil. Leaders need to ensure that they take those emotions into account — it isn’t just business as usual.
3. Be fully transparent — there are significant changes and uncertainty during this time for employees. Leaders need to be as open and honest about the situation as possible — even if that means talking about negative impacts or stating that they do not know the answer.
4. Focus on community — in these socially distancing times; people need to feel connections. Companies provide that sense of belonging for many employees. Help your people connect with you and with each other in meaningful ways that you didn’t do before.
Simplify the message
Company leaders need to ensure that the messages they are sending out to their employees are simple and clear. Stress and worry limit your employee’s ability to pay attention and think clearly. Behavioral scientists call this cognitive overload, where the brain’s capacity to focus is severely limited.
Leaders need to reduce the complexity and amount of information that they are sharing in any one communication.
This means that they need to focus on, at most, two critical concepts in any communication. Keep communications short, to the point, and actionable.
Tips on how to simplify the message:
- Keep e-mails to three paragraphs or less. More than that, and you risk losing people’s attention.
- Keep spoken messages to ten minutes or less. Cut the extraneous information and get to the core message in an emotionally sensitive manner (see Talk to the Emotion section below).
- Focus messages on one or two key items. If you need to communicate more information, think about splitting up the messages, providing a mental break for people (i.e., a short anecdotal story between key concepts to break up the information), or using visuals to convey information.
- Repeat the message often. We often underestimate how often we need to hear or see a message for it to sink in. Don’t worry about being redundant, in a study by Edelman, they found that 63 percent of people wanted at least daily updates while 20% wanted updates several times a day.
- Frame communication for positive action. Positively tell people what you need them to do. People respond better to positive messaging that provides them with concrete, clear action steps. For instance, instead of saying, “We want you to practice social distancing,” which is vague, say, “Stay six feet apart, that’s like talking across the back of a pick-up truck.” Make it relatable to your audience, for your office staff that’s “one cubicle apart”, for the warehouse it’s two shipping crates… so on and so forth.
- Let employees know what to expect. Help your employees understand the process that the company is going through and what they can expect for the next week, month, and year and clearly outline what the company expects of them.
Talk to the emotion
Many of your employee’s lives have been turned upside down. They are working from home, cannot meet with their customers or teammates, are required to home school their children, are worried about their loved ones, and concerned about their finances. These emotions are real and impact how they perceive and react to the world.
Messages during this time need to address this situation in an emotionally sensitive manner. Leaders who do not do this risk being seen as tone-deaf to the situation at a minimum and, at worst, being viewed as uncaring and immoral. The ramifications for a long-term impact on how your employees view you and the organization are significant.
This is not business as usual, and if you proceed as though it is, you will be viewed harshly. As humans, we infer intention from how we communicate. In these times, there is a need for that intention to be on care and safety. Focusing on the bottom line or increasing revenue, while important from a business perspective, has to be reconciled with the emotional need to show how you are taking care of your workers.
It cannot be stressed enough; the potential downside of being seen as greedy or uncaring in these times is frightening. If the emotional state of your employees is not taken into account, you risk a long-term negative impact on employee retention, employee motivation, company culture, and public image.
Tips on speaking to the emotion:
- Communicate to feelings: in your broad-based communication, make sure that you are honestly addressing the emotion that everyone is feeling. Your people are scared, nervous, anxious, confused, tired, stressed, mad, sad, and have a host of other things that are influencing them right now. The words you use to communicate these feelings will be different for every company depending on your situation and culture. Take some time to understand what your people are feeling and address those issues.
- Check-in on a personal level. This is an opportunity for you to take some time to get to know your people. When you get on a one-on-one call, don’t let the response to “How are you doing?” be “fine.” You need to probe beyond that. One leader we talked to said, she responds, to “Fine” with “No, you’re not fine, none of us are.”
- Focus less on business and more on caring: It is important that the work gets done and that the business moves forward, but professor Brad Shuck identifies that during this time, we should practice a little grace and flexibility for long-term success. People will remember how you acted and what you focused on in these times and that will have a strong influence on how they think of you and the organization when this is over.
- Emotionally proofread your e-mails: Researcher Liz Fosslien recommends that during this time, we emotionally proofread our e-mails. She notes that much of our normal recognition and praise happens in informal “bump-ins” at work. It’s within those few moments before or after a meeting, or when you see someone in the hall or the cafeteria. With the new distance working requirements, we don’t thank people or congratulate them as we should. Emotionally proofread your e-mails and ensure that you are recognizing accomplishments and giving out praise when you can.
- Allow for some vulnerability: You don’t have to communicate all of your fears and concerns, but do let people know that you are human and that you are experiencing emotions around this crisis as well. Share your own feelings about the changes happening and your responses. Studies have shown that demonstrating authentic vulnerability can help build trust and engagement.
Be fully transparent
In times of uncertainty, trust is a key component for keeping your team working hard and performing. If you lose trust, the consequences are severe. Losing trust can lead to a lack of engagement, lost productivity, poor motivation, chronic tardiness, toxic emotional contamination, and a host of other negative behaviors.
Trust comes from people feeling that you are open and honest with them. They understand that you can’t always tell them everything, but that you will be honest about that, and tell them when you can’t say something. If they think you are hiding something, particularly if it will impact them in a negative way, they will be harsh in their judgment of you.
It is important to let them know in advance of things that are coming down the line. If you know of upcoming changes in hours, pay, incentives, or rewards, don’t try to hide that because you are worried about losing motivation. Most people are motivated by a multitude of facets, and if you give them the rationale behind the changes, you will be surprised at how they respond. There are always exceptions to that rule, people who will not respond positively, but the vast majority of employees will still be motivated and work hard and continue to perform at a high engagement rate. However, if you hide that information, the long-term damage to trust is very difficult to regain.
Tips on how to be fully transparent:
- Tell it all — the good, the bad, and the ugly: We have a tendency to want to protect our people from bad news. We worry about how they will take it and how it will impact their productivity. However, during these times, people are expecting bad news, and they will have their “BS” detectors up and will be looking to see if you are honest. Tell them the truth as soon as you can.
- Don’t be vague: We often try to obfuscate and not address the issues by being vague with our communication. Don’t do this. If you have specific information, share it. If you don’t know, let them know that you don’t know.
- Don’t be concrete about things that are not concrete: Be clear on what is concrete and what is still unknown. Don’t try to make people feel better by saying things will get back to normal by a certain time if you don’t really know that will happen.
- Don’t sugarcoat things: If you have to change how much people earn or their hours, or have other bad news, be honest about why and about how it will impact them. People will respect the honesty.
- Outline specific actions: Ensure that your communications provide your employees with actions that they can take to help. Keep these actions to the point and concrete. Instead of saying, “reach out to your teammates,” which is vague, state, “We are asking everyone to contact at least one teammate a day to check-in with them.”
- Provide a behind-the-scenes view: Let people know what is going on behind-the-scenes. How is the leadership team working on this, and what is the process that they are using?
focus on community
The 4-Drive Model of Employee Motivation identifies four underlying drives at the root of much of our employee engagement. One of these drives is the drive to Bond and Belong, which states that we are motivated by having a sense of belonging with others inside the organization. Leaders can help build this sense of belonging with how they are communicating.
Additionally, the 4-Drive Model identifies that we are motivated to defend those organizations or teams that we feel a sense of alignment with from any outward threats. By reinforcing this sense of camaraderie and sense of team, leaders are tapping into employee’s desires to protect their company from this new external threat.
By focusing on the community inside the company, leaders are responding to the immediate needs of their employees and planting the seeds for a stronger company culture once this crisis is done.
Tips on how to focus on community:
Build organizational dialogue between people: In times of stress, we find solace and comfort in talking with others. In this time, when many companies have instituted work from home practices, the need to gather and talk is even greater. Some companies have responded with Zoom happy hours or even just Zoom drop-in times where people can interact with other teammates.
- Use “we” statements: Use language that focuses on the team. Stay away from “I” statements (unless it is about your vulnerabilities — see above) and focus on we statements, such as what “we” are doing and how “we” are responding to this crisis.
- Build a two-way communication path: Communication is not a one-way street. Organizations need to both disseminate information and gather information. Be sure you are reaching out to find out what is going on with your team members.
- Help people find ways to help: Endorphins are released in the brain when we volunteer or donate or help out others. Highlight how people can help out others and how the company is assisting in that effort.
- Get to know people on a more personal level: Video conversations can allow a deeper insight into who people are — we get to see their house, their kids, their pets. Use this time to share more about yourself and find out more about your team on a personal level. This can open the door to new dynamics and team relationships when things eventually begin returning to normal.
- Celebrate the successes: People want to see joy and progress. Share positive stories of the team and individual accomplishments. Help highlight those uplifting moments and the positives that are occurring during this time.
moving forward
As mentioned before, employees are living with a significantly increased level of uncertainty, which we do not typically handle well in the best of times. Our brains are designed to anticipate the future. This is an evolutionary design that allows us to plan and prepare. The less certain we are of that future, the more the brain has to work to fill in those missing pieces with conjecture.
The more that leaders can ease that stress and account for the emotions that employees are feeling, the better it will be.
Communicating in a time of pandemic is not easy. There are lots of facets and elements that leaders need to take into consideration. By understanding that this is not business as usual, adjusting their communication styles appropriately, and using behavioral science insights, leader’s words can help keep people safe, provide guidance, and navigate their companies through this crisis.
However, this is an opportunity for leaders to be purposeful and proactive to address the concerns of their employees. Doing it intentionally and appropriately will help successfully lead their company through these troubling times and set it on a long-term path of triumph.
About the Author:
Kurt Nelson, Ph.D., is the Founder and President of The Lantern Group, a behavioral design and communication agency. He is a sought after behavioral science consultant and expert in human motivation. His work focuses on how companies can apply behavioral science insights into their work to improve employee performance and satisfaction. He is also the co-host of the global top 20 social science podcast, “Behavioral Grooves.”