Leading Through Crisis

Tips to mitigate anxiety and uncertainty
Content Management
- Establish a single point of contact for all COVID-19 related content requests
- Develop a governance process to evaluate priority of all inbound requests, determine most effective vehicle and assign content owner
- Identify specific SMEs for all core COVID-19 related topics and coordinate all content development and approvals with those individuals
- Develop and utilize a channel selector tool to provide consistent guidance to assign types of information to types of publication
- Create a repository for communicators to access all final drafts
Organizational Communication
- Develop a devoted COVID-19 microsite to serve as a single source of truth
- Develop short summary papers and FAQ documents detailing policy and providing background on critical topics
- Summarize general COVID-19 related developments to honor employees’ hunger for credible information
- Develop a predictable cadence for newsletters, executive messages and microsite updates and communicate expectations
- Host regular calls for top leaders (e.g. VP & above) dedicated to COVID-19 updates
Listening
- Create short pulse survey (<5 minutes) to be distributed to samples of employees (~500) every week to track confidence, anxiety and engagement
- Give managers intake guides to identify employee issues and quickly surface those to top leaders
- Assemble focus group participants and/or established employee communication council to provide deeper insight to high level empirical findings
Wellbeing
- Create a library of wellbeing resources (e.g. guides to mindfulness, yoga, “six minute workouts”, meditation, etc.)
- Create contests to promote activity, such as a daily steps challenge
- Experiment with wellness activities at the beginning and/or end of meetings (moments of gratitude, recognition, reflection, breathing, etc.)
- Help executives model wellbeing priorities (reinforce work-life balance, promote exercise, be comfortable showing emotion and vulnerability)
- Publish external resources, such as mental health hotlines
Executive visibility
- Identify a C-Suite executive with credibility, appetite and communication skills to serve as public face of response
- Develop “signature vehicle” suited to that leader’s authentic communication style (virtual town hall, video, short podcast series, email, etc.)
- Utilize executives to show commitment to work-life balance and support for the “whole employee” (e.g. videos of executives reading children’s books)
- Demonstrate commitment to new digital collaboration tools by executive relentless adoption (Slack, Teams, etc.)
Manager support
- Create a dedicated manager microsite (if one doesn’t exist) or convert existing platform to COVID-19 focus
- Prepare resource library with articles, tip sheets, meeting guides on how to practice empathy, communicate transparently and connect decision-making to purpose
- Pre-populate resources for various business continuity scenarios
- Daily digest: special newsletter released each day recapping key messages and new resources (no more than 5) and providing outlook for upcoming milestones
- Create manager-specific channels/forums in digital workspaces
Remote work enablement
- Create instruction resources for all technological matters of remote work (checking computers out of office space, establishing direct deposit, etc.)
- Establish a “white glove service” center for IT support for employees utilizing remote work technology for the first time, or struggling to set up home office spaces
- Develop a remote work onboarding program for both new hires and existing employees
- Adopt “open sync calendar” system to help employees block availability during periods where they have personal constraints
- Publish resources in newsletters with tips for effectively working from home
Virtual engagement
- Create events such as digital coffee shops, digital water coolers and digital happy hours to capture the community of the office online
- Reinforce rewards and recognition programs to ensure employees feel seen, recognized and valued while working from home
- Utilize mobile apps to share news and foster community in the absence of personal proximity
- Create personal interest Slack/Teams channels