How to Deliver a People-Centered Communication
As your organization moves through times of significant change, you likely have or will be having to deliver sensitive information to your workforce. Regardless of how your operations and financial stability have been affected, the “new normal” post-change will likely look different and will require a well-crafted message to your employees. Specifically, if you’ve had to make difficult personnel decisions during this time, the stakes are even higher. Depending on your circumstances, employee engagement, turnover, morale and employer brand are all on the line.
So just how do you develop a sensitive communication that shows that you are putting people first while making decisions that are in the best interest of the health of the organization? To start, you need to have definitive answers to the following questions:
After reading or hearing the message (depending on the medium you choose), how do you want your people to feel?
What action do you need from your employees?
What are the most burning questions your employees will have about the topic you are communicating?
How can your employees contribute to the solution to the challenges you face?
After answering these questions, you are ready to write the message. As you put the content together, be sure to include these four elements to create a powerful communication:
Transparency
First and foremost, it is critical to build trust with your workforce by providing an appropriate level of transparency in your message. But what is an “appropriate” level of transparency? The short answer is that it truly depends on your organization, but at a minimum you should be providing enough information for employees to take appropriate action that helps them contribute to the broader goals of the organization. In addition, the level of transparency should elicit a feeling from employees that leadership cares enough about their well-being to be open and honest, even if news is difficult to hear.
Unity
It is important that employees know that leadership is equally invested in moving forward “together”. When this is heard, your workforce is more likely to come together and give discretionary effort since they know that “we are all in this together”. This leads to better levels of engagement, and ultimately higher levels of morale and lower turnover. The best way to communicate this is to substitute “we” in as many places as possible when your organization’s name is mentioned.
One example of this could be instead of saying: “ABC Company will move forward stronger than ever”, you could say “We will move forward stronger than ever”. This small difference will lead to significant changes in the reception of the message.
Commitment
A critical point of any sensitive message is what commitment is being made on the part of the organization as well as the call to action for the workforce. If employees are being asked to commit to certain actions, buy-in will be much greater if they know that leadership is also committed to doing their part to be a part of the solution. In cases where a great deal of effort is required from employees, it is important to be specific on the “why” behind the ask so that everyone understands the benefits that will be realized if everyone does their part.
Support
Lastly, it is essential that the message includes both an offer for support from the organization as well as an ask for employees to support one another. Especially in the current environment we are in, employees need to feel safe, supported and that the organization is there for them to assist in these difficult times. Ensure that the appropriate support resources are communicated in your message so that employees know that their well-being is a priority and that leadership cares about them as a person.
Developing sensitive communications can be difficult, but with the right strategy, you can create positive outcomes from a not-so-positive situation.
