When the News is Bad, It’s Time to Communicate More

This article is written by Cynthia Owens

Economic storm clouds appear to be gathering in Europe and the U.S., and for many multinationals in Asia that may begin to impact budgets and sales forecasts and lead to policy changes dictated by factors outside of Asia. When the head office starts freezing travel and slowing new hires or cutting back on learning and development and bonus pools, the instinct for most managers is to downplay the bad news or get it over with and move on.

What managers in Asia should be doing when bad news hits from the West is communicating more often and more transparently with their teams across the region. When times are tough, it’s time to be using every opportunity and every communications channel in your company to make sure you are getting through to your employees.

Talk to your team members face-to-face. It’s a lot easier to convey bad news via email or the company intranet, but it’s a lot more important to communicate news that will impact your team face-to-face.

How? Try to make sure you have meetings in every office so employees can hear the new policy “from the horse’s mouth.” This gives you a chance to genuinely empathize with the challenges the new policy will create for your teams in this region. You can use these meetings as an opportunity to build a team spirit to get through a tough year.

Equip your managers at all levels with the information they need to answer questions that come straight to them. Otherwise you leave your middle managers feeling ill-equipped to support the company.

Do all this and repeat. Don’t just talk to your team once, meet them two, three, or four times, so you keep the lines of communication open and create opportunities for dialog.

Make time for impromptu communication. Once the head office announces the new “economy-class only travel policy” or a freeze on the office expansion plan, your instinct may be to get back to work and avoid explaining the policy a dozen times. But you should make an effort to spend more time talking informally with employees.

Your team wants to hear from you and talk with you about how any new policy affects them. They need to know that you understand their concerns and will support them when you can.

How? Go on a “walk-about” for 15 or 20 minutes a day; just wander the office and stop to chat informally with staff.

Deliberately spend more time at the coffee machine or in the canteen and start conversations.

Show up toward the end of regular department meetings and stay to chat with the employees.

When employees feel insecure or worried about their company they need to see you more. The goal is to be out in public in the office and talking to people.

Create opportunities to listen. It’s always easier to sit in your office than to answer a dozen questions every time you open your door. But many of your team members will want to share their challenges and make sure you know that their jobs may be harder. When you really listen, employees know and they feel acknowledged.

How? The company gets plenty to time to talk “to” employees. Now is not the time for you to talk, you have to actually listen and show you are engaged with your employees.

Set up town hall meetings in every regional office. Ask questions, and then shut your mouth and let employees speak. Invite small groups of employees to lunch and set an agenda that seeks their feedback.

(c) 2011 Organisation Solutions Pte Ltd.

About the Authors: Cynthia Owens is Senior Vice President of Organisation Solutions and oversees communication programmes and services. She has more than 20 years of experience working for some of the world’s top news organisations including The Wall Street Journal, ABC News and CNBC Asia. Cynthia now helps leaders and businesses communicate more effectively by helping them refine strategy and messaging and improve communications skills to achieve business goals.