How companies can actively use the post-lockdown phase for internal communication.
Three months “colleague-free”. For many employees, this was no cause for celebration. They felt isolated, a little disoriented, there was a lack of contact and coffee-table conversations with colleagues were no substitute for emails or video conferences. Others, however, saw this phase as a gift. The stress in the team had come to an end for the time being. Unspoken conflicts, lack of appreciation, bickering and arguments remained at a digital distance or were lost in a general avoidance of contact. Private matters took precedence over business matters, people took precedence over employees.
The easing of restrictions is currently underway and a gradual return to normality is beginning.
It is not to be expected that employees will remain completely unaffected by the long period of working from home. A radically changed everyday life and personal challenges have altered the emotional world. The workplace and colleagues are no longer a constant element in everyday life; worries and hardships have been added.
Internal communication in companies is currently in demand and challenged. For them, the lockdown exit is ideal for examining traditional structures, identifying obstacles and sowing the seeds for new forms of employee development and collaboration. According to experts, new closures cannot be ruled out and people need a sense of security and the opportunity to develop.
- How are we doing?
The question sounds almost banal. But if you manage to get the team members to give an honest answer, you will have gained a great deal. But it shouldn’t stop there. Neither the business world nor the private world has remained as it was. A targeted, cleverly structured survey can provide information about where each individual stands, or would like to stand. It can identify areas of conflict and point out possible solutions.
- Are our goals (defined before coronavirus) still up to date?
Internal Communications cannot answer all questions, but it would be good to check whether the strategic goals of the pre-corona phase are still up to date. This is by no means certain, as the initial situation was completely different. It can be assumed that companies are dealing with new and different wishes and expectations on the part of employees. And the companies and their budgets are no longer the same either.
- Are we on the right track or do we need to make corrections?
In the vast majority of companies, priorities and projects have changed. Perhaps the expansion of the production site has become obsolete for the time being, but the team app planned for 2022 has become urgent? These new circumstances give rise to new fields of action.
- What strategic changes are necessary to ensure work (together) in the long term?
The need for a well-structured home office offering is clear to all companies, and for many it is already part of the package. Introducing new tools or establishing new communication channels is not that difficult either. But how can people be brought on board in such a way that the team feeling remains strong and resilient and the processes remain in place and function both on site and in the home office?
Internal communication should pay particular attention to the following points in this phase:
Review goals and set new ones
A clear goal provides orientation and security for many people, but not for everyone. If agreed goals lead to increased stress for individual team members, it makes sense to adjust them. Not everyone needs a challenge to be met at all times. Perhaps the current stress is already enough of a challenge for less resilient characters.
Empowering creativity
Do employees need new tools or opportunities to get involved in the current change phase? How can more efficiency, transparency and ease be brought into everyday working life? Surveys and a look at new solutions and systems can provide inspiration here.
Provide support
Change always involves new skills and challenges and sometimes the new processes do not work as desired straight away. Teams should be supported in developing their own solutions.
Praise, motivate and appreciate
Appreciation is one of the strongest motivating factors for people. The fields of action of appreciation are respect, opportunity, self-efficacy and the subsequent success and recognition. Each of these fields of action should be discussed and defined.
Being respected, taken seriously and listened to is the basis of the process. The next step is to identify the scope for action. What opportunities are there to implement the teams’ wishes? What is available, what is necessary, what is still missing? If employees are then empowered to achieve the agreed goals on their own responsibility and perceive themselves as competent team members, success is as good as guaranteed.
Author: Christiane Capps
Copyright lead image: Unsplash/Danielle MacInnes