Clear communication of plans is difficult at the best of times for leaders. Having to do so in times of uncertainty, when the information on which those plans rely is constantly shifting, is even more so. Today, leaders are having to create trust and communicate their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic amid rapidly changing information flows. The knowledge they use to make decisions today, might not be the same next week.
Prof. Karin Sanders from the UNSW Business School gives the following advice:
- Be upfront if you don’t have all the information
- Try to keep the messaging consistent around decisions and advice
- When decisions are finalised, keep messaging the same across the organisation
- Be upfront about hard decisions – or risk low morale and alienation
- Make it clear how people can help each other in the meantime
“Leaders, in general, find it difficult to be honest that they don’t know it either,” says Prof. Sanders. “They can have the idea that as a leader, one needs to show that they know it all. Sometimes you don’t know it all. It’s much better to be authentic and honest.”
Business Qld has published the following advice about what to do and what will happen if a person with COVID-19 visits your premises:
Worth a look.