Leadership Communication

It’s no secret that employees look for – and want – more meaningful communication and interactions with their colleagues, teams and leaders, especially given the recent events. Research shows that better communication leads to higher engagement, which is linked to increased employee motivation, productivity, sales, and – on the flip side – less absenteeism, turnover and injuries in the workplace.

How do development programs, such as the skills of influence, significantly impact participants and business long term, for the benefit of attendees and their organizations? Changed human behavior is hard to measure but people recognize when their own changes have positive results. Many participants, who went on to be senior leaders, have shared the lessons they learned, from courses I had the opportunity to facilitate earlier in their careers. Not only did they value their own personal results, but as leaders, the new approaches they used cascaded down through their organizations for better culture and business results.

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.

After months of managing through an unprecedented crisis, our communities and companies were rocked by another tragic, but this time, all too familiar event. After the senseless and unnecessary killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, was caught on video, the U.S. is caught in a familiar cycle of grief, anger and protest that is affecting the black community and everyone who cares about justice.

However, as we’ve seen throughout the crisis, leaders are stepping up to show their convictions and their values both to their employees and to their stakeholders. We’re seeing a variety of ways that CEOs and other company leaders are speaking out. While they’re choosing different paths and points of emphasis, we’re finding their statements to be authentic, bold, informative and illuminating. Best of all, we’re seeing them take a personal and unequivocal stand—which builds credibility and encourages action.

There’s no doubt we’re facing some of the biggest challenges of our time, as a nation, as people and as leaders.

As we all try to make sense of the unrest sweeping the nation, many employees started work this morning with yet another emotionally-charged, hugely complex topic on their minds, on top of the challenges many already face with the pandemic.

As I reflected on this post, talking about this crisis is one of the most difficult conversations for people in this country to have right now. As a white male, I feel ill-equipped in many ways; that said, I want to try and be part of the solution. As I considered this from the perspective of leaders and how they can help their people navigate these tumultuous times, I wanted to offer a few thoughts that I hope will help. 

People Move the Business Forward

It’s incredibly hard to be leading a company today. Amid all the economic upheaval from the COVID-19 pandemic, even the strongest among us are feeling powerless and anxious about the future. We are full of big questions. Will the business survive? If we weather this storm, what will the new normal be? How do I keep my employees safe today, much less engaged and focused? How about my own family and my own health?

While that sense of uncertainty is normal, it doesn’t have to rule the day. There are concrete actions all leaders can take to make this time a defining moment for their business, one that helps bring employees together in the best possible ways. Many companies have already begun to accomplish this. That’s inspiring to see. I’m also convinced that armed with some key strategies, all leaders can have a similar impact.

Just because you’re a leader doesn’t mean you’re immune from the same range of emotions and feelings your teams are going through right now.

Each of us has what’s often referred to as a human dashboard called a mood elevator. It’s our own self-awareness of how we’re doing emotionally.

During times of change and uncertainty, there’s an information vacuum that fills whether we want it to or not.

It’s often the result of us as leaders waiting to communicate.

While we’re waiting to have more answers, more clarification, all the answers (which we’ll never have), the void gets filled, naturally and easily. And research shows it gets filled with typically more negative thoughts and conjecture than the reality.