During times of crisis, you may feel like it’s all you can do to keep up with changes happening to your business. Even if you’re short on time, it’s important that you stay visible to your employees. They need to hear from you – and see you – now more than ever. While you can’t hold large group meetings right now, there are other ways to broadcast your message and continue to be the face of leadership at your company. Follow these tips to communicate by video with your team.
Take advantage of broadcast features that may be available through your LMS. By using the tracking technology inherent in your learning management system, you can monitor who views your message and follow up with people who may have missed it. If that’s not possible, you can always upload a private video through social media.
Regular updates are important as long as you’re not repeating yourself with every message. It’s okay to say something like “We’re still not clear on what will happen next” or “Not much has changed since last week, and I understand how frustrating that can be.” Be honest, then go on to share about plans you are making to prepare for the uncertain future.
Try to offset the negative with positive. Employee morale, in large part, follows your lead. When you have to deliver negative information, also offer messages of inspiration and hope for the future. Think about stories from employees or customers that you can share with their permission. Acknowledging employees who have gone above and beyond can also improve employee morale.
During times of crisis, it’s okay to mix business with personal. The crisis your community is going through is not just affecting your business and your employees’ jobs. Everyone is feeling it on a deeply personal level. If you don’t recognize that as part of your broadcast message, you risk seeming out of touch or insensitive. Share your personal insights, but don’t make it all about you. As a leader, you must show that you empathize with the broad range of issues facing your employees.
Just use your phone. The content of your message is more important than the quality of your video. It’s fine to use your phone to record a message for broadcast, though you should try to make sure nothing about your production distracts from what you’re saying. Watch the video below for some practical tips from our production team on how record a video with your phone.
