Communication as a leadership tool.

There has never been a more important time to ensure your internal communications are as good as they could be. During a crisis, attention is often focussed on ensuring our communications with our clients are regular, on brand and consistent. This has been especially important for organisations who have had major changes like switching from in-house dining to take-away. ​I'm sure you are all over this. But are your internal communications as focussed and professional?

I don't want you to start bombarding your employees with more emails every day! Examples of internal communications include:

• Phone calls
• Emails
• Text messages
• Messaging in your enterprise software
• Messages on your payslips
• Staff meetings (in person or via video conference)
• Ad-hoc communications
• Any time you are relaying a message to your employees, or any time they are relaying messages back to you

What's vitally important, is that you are aware of the context of the messaging. This can include:

• Tone 
• Pace
• Focus
• Context
• Body language

Are you telling your staff "don't panic", then spending the next few hours rushing around the office frustrated that the video conferencing software let you down? I know this seems like a simple example, but it's an example I witnessed myself last week. This sends mixed messages to your team. 

When your staff look back on this period of time, they are not going to remember if you selected Microsoft Teams or Zoom video conferencing. They probably won't even remember how many extra hand sanitisers you purchased. However, they will remember your leadership through this time. Your internal communication is a powerful tool to display your leadership style.

Rather than worry about whether your choosing Zoom, Teams, Facetime or Skype, make a swift decision, then spend time considering these points before you embark on your next internal message:

• How do I want them to feel after this? Calm? Motivated? Reassured?
• Do I need to make this a task focussed or people focussed touchpoint?
• Is this the right medium? A phone call can be far more powerful than an email.
• What sort of leader would I want at a time like this? 

It's also important to remember that most mass media, social media and lots of general conversation at times like this is negative. People are fearful. If you can be the calming, focussed, professional leader in their lives right now, your messaging won't just be tolerated, it will be welcomed.

I don't mean to make everything too fluffy! The last thing you want them thinking is that you are not providing strong leadership. Personal and compassionate leadership (and communication) is not fluffy. (Just so we're clear.)

What sort of leader do you want to be remembered as? Go forth and structure your communication to match!