The ripples of the second COVID-19 wave is being felt across India at present. With lockdowns and movement restrictions imposed on businesses, employees are spending significantly longer periods working from home, bringing with it a cascade of issues. This in turn means the best possible degree of internal communication will be required. Luckily, this can be accomplished in four steps.
Step 1: Bridge the gap between you and your employees.
Studies by Harvard Business Review revealed that employees felt the biggest communication challenges came down to the need to move from top-down communication. This was exacerbated by a perceived gap between senior and middle management of companies due to lack of transparency.
Efficient and effective managers are able to move past such challenges by communicating with employees in manners that are open, genuine and direct. But of course, this is easier said than done. Each member of the team has their own strengths, weaknesses, good or bad days (yourself included!). They also may be at different stages in the growth of their career. This would mean that willing disclosure of information also varies.
To navigate safely from point A to B in a car, you’d need directions. Likewise, team members, too will be in need of direction when deliverables are given for which they are held accountable. This is why transparency is important, and where you need to bridge the gap with your employees.
But of course, for building actual bridges, too, you need tools. A bridge between people’s communication would be a good communication tool. MultiCall is one such, where you can categorize your team members into groups and favourites as well. In this manner, you can speak to your team members individually before adding more members and connecting with the team as a whole.
Step 2: Promote two-way dialogue within your company.
Your everyday road typically works two ways. Communication does, as well. Managers can demonstrate that they appreciate the value of real communication by having channels to allow for ideas to flow in multiple directions across the organization. In the process, superior and subordinate work to build a genuinely conversational culture within a company
Meeting regularly over a MultiCall, be it for a weekly review or the start of a project can help with this. The Call Monitoring System allows you to maintain check-ins with the entire team, and they can report on progress, plans, and challenges together with you.
Step 3: Engage employees in the work of telling the company story.
In an environment that mandates distancing, the element of alienation is created in the process. This creates a problem in its conflict against the need of companies trying to ensure that their employees remain engaged. The symptoms of the disengaged employee range from being silent at discussions, to not demonstrating any initiative. MultiCall helps towards maintaining employee engagement with its Call Monitoring system, an assortment of features to minimize distractions:
Adding/Removing Participants
Ensuring everyone is involved is critical to knowing whether they’re engaged. When your MultiCall has begun, your screen would appear with the list of all your participants. You can also add participants while in call, by either selecting from the list of contacts on your phone, or by dialling in the number as and when you need the individual to join the call.
Recording
Keeping track of extensive calls are important, and MultiCall lets you do just that with its recording feature. It would also help you monitor signs of employee engagement that were discussed earlier when listening in later.
Step 4: Pursue a clear agenda.
Consistency is keen in communication. It’s the Goldilocks approach you have to maintain. Not too much, but not too less either. Just right and regularly. And of course, have a plan. Managers need to take due courses of action in order to ensure that their conversation with employees unfolds according to a clear strategic plan. This needs to align organizational objectives as well.
Working from Home brings its own associated opportunities and challenges. Employee recruitment and retention can be a challenge, but ensuring continuity in internal communication is the quintessence. Beyond the fact that these four steps are key to internal communication is a deeper essence. Leadership, in and of itself, is an open conversation. So begin that conversation, and reach more now.
