Re-Entry Package, Part 3 - Communication & Leadership

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Re-Entry Package, Part 3 - Communication & Leadership

(posted: May 25th, 2020)

How is it going as you build your re-entry strategy? I hope these resources are helping you get some clarity.

Right now, about 66% of workers in the US are not comfortable going back to work.

With this level of uncertainty and resistance, you must have a solid change-management program as part of your general re-entry plan. Everyone, your executive team, your managers, your front-line staff, must be aligned with the program, and the number one element to managing change effectively is communication.

Note that communication is not just what you say, it is also everything you do. Every single action is a communication. Your people are looking to you for guidance, for a measure of stability, for reassurance, and for inspiration.

As one CEO says, "My people don't expect to know every step I take, but they want to believe we are moving with the same compass, in the same direction."

If we shift our perspective slightly, though, the pandemic offers you and your team an opportunity to transform. Committing to clear communication will lay the foundation for that transformation.

How, and what, are you communicating now? How often should you communicate? What should you be sharing? I recommend crafting a written communication plan, that addresses communication generally and touches on elements that may be specific to your situation. One of the best ways I've found to really get to what's important is to ask and answer a series of questions. As you do, the structure of your plan should emerge. Here is a worksheet to get you started!

If you as a leader have clarity and can light the path forward, your people will follow. Humans are amazingly resilient. If done correctly, you and all your employees will be able to cope with stress better and you will create loyalty and inspiration which will have a lasting effect.

You can’t afford the risk of this not working.

The Re-Entry Package Series:

Additional Re-Entry Resources

To support you as you craft your plan, here are several additional resources:

Stay grounded, healthy, and hopeful,
- Kristi