Healthy communication with your team is always important, but it is paramount during a global outbreak to have healthy communication with a remote team.
Your team likely has a lot of questions and is wanting answers. They're looking for leadership and stability. The way you choose to communicate can either instill confidence or panic within your team. On top of that, many teams are now suddenly forced to work remotely, meaning the normal communication dynamics have shifted.
How can you continue to communicate effectively with your team despite these challenges?
From our many years of experience working and communicating remotely, here is the best advice we at Close can offer you.
1. Over-Communicate
When switching from in-office to remote work, the fundamentals of communication don’t change. The only difference is that you’re suddenly flying blind.
In a physical office, your team doesn’t have to open their mouths to communicate. All of us constantly communicate with our body language and facial expressions. Your team doesn’t need to speak up to say they’re anxious or burned out; you can see it on their faces.
Not so when you work remotely.
You won’t know what’s happening with your team unless they communicate with you. And they won’t know what’s going on with the company unless you tell them.
That’s why over-communication is essential.
This starts with team leadership: You, as a leader, need to communicate extensively with your team and set an example for them. Tell them what’s going on, what decisions have been made, and what needs to be done.
On the other hand, when you want to know what’s going on with your team, you need to reach out to them. When you check in, make sure you ask the right questions. Don’t expect your team to always come to you when they need help.
Your team will need to develop the habit of constantly communicating. They don’t have that habit right now, and they may not be used to asking for help or seeking advice when they need it.
Instead, as the leader, you need to facilitate this by encouraging open communication and being an example of the type of communicator you want your team to be.
When your team goes from working together synchronously to working alone in their homes eight hours a day, they can easily feel isolated and unmotivated. They will feel disengaged if they think they’re out of the loop.
Slack helps with communication, but nothing can beat a face-to-face meeting. And in this case, when I say face-to-face, I mean video calls. Hosting weekly video calls to talk about progress, company news, and life’ll help your team stay in the loop and motivated, even during a crisis.
Live by this principle: It’s always better to over-communicate than under-communicate.
2. Tighten the Cycle
How often do you currently check in with each individual on your team? If you’ve suddenly switched to a remote setting, that cadence needs to speed up significantly.
Don’t let two weeks or a month go by between check-ins. Especially during a crisis, you need to check in weekly (if not daily) with your team members.
Tighten up your meeting cycles and decision-making cycles. The decisions you made a month ago may not be the best decisions for today, so make sure you’re regularly checking in with your team and collectively working on the best decisions for this moment.
Be Honest, Be Clear, Be Human
All of your communication during this time of crisis must follow these three principles:
Be Honest
If your team doesn’t trust you during a crisis, they won’t listen to what you say, or they’ll doubt any direction you give them. That’s a sure way to kill productivity and collaboration on your team.
When times are tough, people appreciate honesty. If you admit things are bad now, they’ll trust you when you say things are improving.
And by being honest, you’ll build respect within your team.
So don’t shy away from discussing COVID-19 with your team. We’re all concerned on some level: if you project full confidence during this crisis, it will come off as insincere.
Be honest about your real concerns while helping your team feel confident about the future of your business. By discussing your concerns openly, you may also be able to brainstorm solutions with your team, helping everyone focus on moving forward through these hard times.
Be Clear
Ensure that your decisions are clearly communicated to your team and that you give specific directions. "Maybe" is not a part of your vocabulary when informing your team of a decision or giving direction.
When communication isn’t clear, each team member can interpret what was said and decide what actions to take. So, build a habit of summarizing decisions after every meeting. Ensure you clearly state what was decided and what each team member needs to do.
Be Human
Your team will face serious challenges during this crisis. Many of these issues will not affect work, but they will affect work.
We’re dealing with a worldwide outbreak. That means people suddenly have their kids at home while trying to work. They’ll have family members to take care of. They might get sick. On top of that, they’re inundated with doubts and worries about their family and the world itself.
That’s why communication with your team must be human.
Forget about the project you’re working on or the agenda of your Zoom meeting for just a minute, and focus on the people.
Ask them how they’re doing on a personal level. Let them know you’re around to support them. If necessary, break people out of shocked silence with specific questions like, “What are you feeling right now?”
That level of humanity allows each team member to feel connected to each other and cared for.
This will have a huge impact on their mental state and productivity at work.
4. Get Closer to Your Customers
It’s not just the time to get closer to your team but to get closer to your market and open up communication with your customers.
To do this, talk to the people in your company who interact directly with your customers and prospects on a daily basis.
Get in with your sales team and ask these questions:
- Why are prospects buying or not buying?
- What are their main concerns right now?
- What are their fears and doubts?
Talk to the support team and ask:
- What kind of support tickets are we getting lately?
- What common problems are coming up lately?
Talk to the success team and ask:
- How are accounts being managed now?
If you don’t think you have time to delve into customer data, think again. This is not the time to distance yourself from your customers; it’s time to get even closer to them.
Getting closer to your customers allows you to spot trends and opportunities and adjust your strategy accordingly. Get into your customers' world during a crisis, and you’ll be better able to serve them.
5. Be Transparent
Your company's employees need to know what’s going on to have peace of mind and make better decisions.
Especially in a remote team, transparent knowledge of how your company is doing during difficult times will empower them to make better individual decisions.
When you, as a leader, are transparent, your team is encouraged to be transparent about what they’re accomplishing. This generous cycle of transparency encourages each individual to take ownership of their work and be proud of the results.
6. Fight the Urge to Micromanage
For years, I’ve been receiving a similar question from leaders and startup CEOs: If I go remote, how do I know my people are working?
I’ve always given the same answer: Hire people you can trust and who love their work. Your biggest worry should be that people work too much, not too little.
Right now, many leaders feel blind as their teams suddenly work from home. They can’t just walk into their offices to see if their employees are working or playing Solitaire.
But if you’re worried about your team not giving 100% while working from home, it’s time to let go of those worries.
We’re living in the middle of a global pandemic. People are stressed enough without you telling them to send you a Slack message whenever they need to use the bathroom. When you try to micromanage your team with restrictions and rules, you’ll make them want to lie to you because they feel controlled.
It doesn’t matter when or how your team is working. What really matters are the results that they’re driving.
The best way to fight the urge to micromanage is to focus on the results your team is getting.
As a leader in your company, you’re already facing your own challenges during this outbreak, in addition to concerns in your personal life. However, you'll prepare your team to work successfully from home through this outbreak by developing a habit of over-communication, being honest, and avoiding the urge to micromanage.
Want more tips and advice on how to lead a company? Check out my free book From 0 to 1,000 Customer and Beyond — a step-by-step customer acquisition guide.
