[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Regular company and employee communication is important at any time, especially during troubled times.  There are books, courses, and whole professions dedicated to effective workplace communication (comms.).

These tips are aimed at leaders and HR professionals, looking to communicate effectively.

1. Tone. Marketing professionals talk about a tone of voice in comms. Tone of voice is ensuring what you say and how you say it, aligns with your brand, values and shows consideration for how you want the message to be received. You don’t need a brand book. Keep any guidelines simple and uncomplicated. Be aware that the tone of voice needs adjusting in a crisis.

Have a light check and sign off process so any communication can be approved easily and sent quickly. Comms. in troubled times need to be delivered fast and that’s tricky to do if you are impeded by organisational politics or long approvals processes.

2. Be clear. Be clear on the purpose. Is it for information? Does it require action? What do you want me to feel, think, know, do or go away with? Don’t overcomplicate the message; keep it simple, be as honest as possible and signpost to other credible sources using hyperlinks or references to more details if necessary. You don’t need to replicate content if there are other credible resources your people can use, so be an expert curator for your audience and help them to help themselves.

3. Be concise. There is always more that can be said and brevity can be a challenge. It’s often worth asking yourself – what three key messages do I want/need to share. Avoid short hand, jargon or complicated language. Short sentences, simple words, clear directions, white space, appropriate visuals and good formatting all help.

4. Be authentic. “The great enemy of clear language is insincerity” as George Orwell said. Troubled times require authenticity, sensitivity, directness and empathy and this should be a central tenet of your communication. If that’s not your brand or values then keep your comms. authentic, professional and compliant. Your external brand and public image can be deeply impacted by poor internal communication in times of crisis and that might be difficult to recover from. The web is littered with examples of how to do it well and those that fail.

5. Be consistent. Hopefully, communicating to the business and your people has always been a part of your strategy to engage, inform and include your people in the business they work for. If it’s not, and this is a new, be honest about the intent, ask for feedback so you can learn and improve and be prepared to keep going. Communicating consistently is important, not only during times of crisis, and should be a natural part of business as usual good practice even if the messages, methods or frequency changes.

6. Pick the right tools. Marketing professionals talk about using the right channels for your audience. There are many so choose the right one/s for the: context, people, purpose, message, need and reach required. Don’t always reach for the new shiny tech tool. Pick the right tool or method for the message and who it needs to go to.

7. Find your comms champions. Comms doesn’t need to be done or delivered according to an organisational hierarchy. Sometimes corporate messages don’t need to be cascaded from top to bottom. Find the credible sources, those with good networks, connections and influence across your organisation, whatever their position and wherever they are. If you can find them they can become your champions, sounding boards, inspiration and supporters who can give honest feedback on your approach and help to communicate, involve, inform and engage people.

8. Continue. Once you have started to communicate don’t stop. Your comms. strategy will evolve and change but gossip, rumour and misinformation will fill the void if you do not invest in good planning around people/employee comms. If you want to inform, engage and involve your people in the business in good, bad or sad times then invest time in a well thought through approach to internal communication.

The workplace and world is a busy place. We have multiple sources of information, opinion, fact and it can get quite noisy. There’s an old adage – communicate, communicate, communicate. You might feel the message has been said once, that people should know this, that there is no need to repeat or clarify facts or information. That’s not the case. It’s important to keep sharing, engaging, informing and building on the messages that have gone before.

Sharon Green is an associate of Jarred Consulting and Ignium and founder of her own coach, consultant and interim company. Sharon is a people project manager with a long track record of leading and working on change and transformation projects where communication, engagement and buy in are essential to realising success.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row]