In any time - good or bad - information overload can paralyze people, keeping them stuck in uncertainty instead of moving ahead decisively. And most often, information overload is detrimental. Finding the balance of staying transparent within your organization, without overwhelming your teams, revolves around the same principles we used in building Truvelop.
Keep interactions frequent but brief.
- Think short cycle. We built Truvelop around the idea that frequent, brief interactions create stronger relationships than infrequent interactions that turn into data dumps.
Schedule a time to inform.
- You don’t have to update your folks every hour of every day. Maybe you send out a daily bulletin, maybe it’s a weekly update email, maybe it’s a daily/weekly video. You have to determine the frequency and format - but keep it regular, and try to limit one-off exceptions.
Keep communications multi-directional.
- We learned this early on with Truvelop. Our customers want multi-directional communication. One-sided information exchange is a lecture. Teams and employees thrive more with communication that involves both listening and expressing. Offer your people the opportunity to submit questions for your scheduled communication, and respond to questions appropriately. If someone asks you something that is only relevant to them - answer as such. If the question applies to the group at large, include that question (and answer) in the regularly scheduled message.
Encourage internal communication and information sharing—of facts.
- This can be done via email, video, Slack, private Facebook group, text, intranet - the medium doesn’t matter. What does matter is your folks know that you approve and encourage information sharing. The one caveat is to strongly encourage your people to share facts and to consider sources. Facebook and Wikipedia are not sources of reliable facts. In these confusing COVID times, rumors stir up emotions unnecessarily. Facts give direction. Always be in the facts business.
Stay Flexible.
- Encourage your employees to ask questions. Figure out the best way to share information, and the best frequency for your organization. Balance is always a moving target. Stay adaptable and flexible. If you sense your people feel overwhelmed, back off a little. If your people are clamoring for more information, increase communication.
Truvelop is here to help. We are all in this together and we want to help you and your employees stay engaged, productive and motivated. Please always feel free to reach out to us with questions. Check us out at truvelop.com or email us at sales@truvelop.com for more info!
