As leaders and communicators, we’re all working to be sensitive and empathetic so employees feel supported and stay engaged during these unprecedented times. Organizations are adjusting to situations in real time as they determine what the future of work looks like. 

To better understand the current environment facing you today, we want to ask you, “what’s keeping you up at night?”

While companies have come a long way in just a few weeks with video meetings, we all have much to learn about how to make video conferences more engaging and productive – and far less taxing for employees.

To help you on that path, we’ve compiled a quick list of the 11 most important tips and tricks to keep top of mind, compiled from our recent experience with clients and our decades conducting meetings of all types for leaders and teams.

In today’s world, we’re faced with a number of new challenges both in the workplace and at home – whether it’s our new working arrangements, impacts from COVID-19, looking inward as we shine a spotlight on societal issues, or something else – and our people need empathy.

As many of us are spending our days in virtual meetings, we’re realizing the energy drain from staring directly at our colleagues in two dimensions from just a few feet away. That typically wouldn’t be the case in face-to-face meetings where you naturally and easily follow the conversation much like you were watching a sing-along. The conversation is a little like a bouncing ball where you naturally move your head and attention to keep up with the dialogue. There are breaks – both literally and figuratively – in the conversation, which allow for a little recharge of the batteries or at least a few moments to take a breath, reflect, and regroup.

With so many changes happening in a short time stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and social crises, employers face important decisions on how to go forward in managing their teams and adapting for today’s realities. It’s a good time to look at where your business is now and apply what you’ve learned over the past several months. It’s also important to look at ways you are listening to and connecting with employees, and opportunities for greater focus on diversity and inclusion.

As many of you may have seen, we’ve shifted much of the content on our blog to focus on topics to help you lead and communicate through COVID-19. As the world of work continues to evolve, we’re committed to covering topics that are most helpful to you and making free tools, ebooks and blogs readily available.

It’s with that in mind, we’re excited to share our newly updated COVID-19 Leadership & Communication Resource Hub.

Even though we’re only halfway through the year, we can expect 2020 to go down in history as a year of tremendous challenges and changes, a year that shook our way of life, our ways of working, our family, business and social relationships and our attitudes toward institutions like healthcare and law enforcement.

The combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer – and the civil unrest that followed – will have lasting effects on people’s attitudes, feelings and mindsets as well as their values and beliefs.

Some leaders consider listening a soft skill (maybe even overrated), others may consider themselves good listeners, and some know it’s a skill they need to work on. Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, one thing is certain: a big part of your job right now is to listen.

Part of what’s changed as we all live through the COVID-19 outbreak and civil unrest is the urgent need for leaders to listen to their employees and understand the challenges they face as they deal with today’s uncertain and ever-changing situation.

Listening is One of the Most Important Things You Can Do Right Now

With thousands of employees shifting to working from home overnight and other on-site workers dealing with new health and safety concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic, today’s employers face a range of pressing questions about the future world of work.

Even in just two months, our team at The Grossman Group has learned a lot by listening to leaders and employers, surveying employees and conducting focus groups to really understand how various audiences are thinking about the workplace going forward. And of course, we know from years of experience helping companies manage a crisis what works best to set organizations up for long-term success. Naturally, a lot of the best practices come down to more strategic communication, planning and better employee listening. Yet there are many other smart practices to apply as well.

“We were able to do in days what would have taken years.” I’ve heard this often lately.

I’m in awe of how employers and employees have stepped to the plate to do amazing things… shifting business plans in days, reinventing ways of working, and turning “we could never” into “we can and did."  In many ways, though, the hard work is just beginning. We’re entering a new stage of navigating through change when fatigue sets in and a company’s culture is tested.