Communication, more important than ever

2 mins
Published on May 15th, 2020By Gary Cattermole

But avoid video conference, Zoom fatigue

Now, more than ever, effective, clear and open communication with your people is more important than ever.

Covid-19 has brought unprecedented levels of challenge and HR has been leading from the front in organisation and facilitation, allowing businesses and organisations to continue to operate. Organisations have had to organise working from home and furlough, as well as the difficult tasks and conversations around reductions in working hours or redundancies.

For many, there is now a degree of stability, with a focus on returning to places of work (which will bring new challenges, as I mentioned in my previous blog).

Speaking with our clients has revealed that they have, rightly, been focusing on communication with their people before and during this crisis.  The communication has been centred around:

  1. From a personal perspective – how will this affect me?
  2. For the team and the organisation – how will it affect these elements?
  3. The basics – how will we continue to work and operate?
  4. Mental and physical safety and well-being – staying safe and well if we are working with other people or if we are working from home
  5. Keeping in touch – reaching out and just keeping in contact with colleagues
  6. The crisis – how are we managing this, what are we doing individually and collectively
  7. The future – what does that look like?  What will it mean for me, the team and the organisation further down the line?

I have also noted that there is an interesting backlash already starting with regard to video calls and Zoom/ Teams meetings.  People are reporting Zoom fatigue around these already – the requirement/ need to be part of them, especially when working from home (which, as we know can provide its own challenges!) is something that many people are struggling with.

It brings to the fore the age-old issue of ‘too many meetings’ – we appear to have carried this trend through into the current situation.  Can we not find a better way to deal with this?  Do we really need these many meetings? Answering these questions can help avoid Zoom fatigue.

From our perspective – it’s been apparent that decision-making is much quicker and more focused with fewer people involved – and in many instances, the quality of that decision-making hasn’t been affected; it has possibly even improved, with more focus on what the outcome needs to be.

Communication and involving people are incredibly important, especially now.  Keeping your employee engagement levels up is key.  However, as I have mentioned before, there are better ways of operating and doing things than endless meetings.  A Zoom meeting for the sake of it is no different to booking a meeting room in the office for the sake of it.

Think about how you are communicating, running meetings and making decisions.  Check-in with your people to understand how effective your communication strategy is: what is working, and what is not?  What level of information do people need/ want and how best should they receive it? Basically, how can you avoid Zoom fatigue?

For more information on how we can help with such an exercise using our employee survey services, or to discuss how we can deliver powerful employee insights through our 360 feedback surveys, pulse surveys and general staff surveys, please drop me an email at gary.cattermole@surveyinitiative.co.uk I would love to know if you have noticed Zoom fatigue!