Over Communicate (#11)

One of the toughest things to do as a leader is to communicate effectively to your team. I know it was tough for me. In a crisis, it is important to over communicate — with everything else going on your team will struggle to remember the message, get distracted, keep up with the latest information, drift (especially while working remote), and won’t be able to read your mind. A good rule of thumb is when you’re tired of hearing yourself say it, you’re about at the point where your message has cascaded two levels down.

Seven questions to help you do a better job of over communicating to your team:

• Have I asked the team’s preference on how they would like to receive information from me? Am I using it?

• Am I keeping the strategic message/vision simple (a purpose and 3-5 key tasks may be enough for the crisis)? When was the last time I repeated it?

• Have I provided the team the context that I am seeing?

• Am I sticking to the facts and not speculating?

• What does your team need to know today? And what do they need to know tomorrow? Have I provided this information?

• Have I provided the rationale (the why) for the decisions the organization has made?

• Have I provided the latest information from our organization? Even if it hasn’t changed this week it is okay to repeat it.

Hope this helps you communicate better with your team during your Friday check-in and beyond.