When you communicate with employees you want to gain and build their trust. That leads to quick clarity and understanding.
Here are 9 principles to guide you when communicating with your employees.
Lead with empathy
Create a sense of togetherness when you share information, showing how it affects all of you in similar ways.
You can also show compassion by recognizing how it will affect the team or individuals in different ways.
Be transparent, accountable
Employees want to trust what their bosses say. It’s important to treat workers as adults and be direct and truthful, especially when it’s bad news. Be transparent, explaining what you know, how you know it and how and when you’ll share more.
Commit to well-being
When you talk about difficult situations or share information that affects employees in negative ways, recognize their well-being as well. Remind them of organizational support and resources – perhaps formal channels such as counseling or informal channels such as talking privately with you.
They will almost always remember how you made them feel more than they’ll remember how the information affected them.
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