By Ricardo Ortizcazarin | President, Cazarin Interactive

Advice for leaders in our new business reality: Practical tips to lead and communicate effectively.

We must adapt to our new reality to thrive!

I am over fifty years young 🙂 and in my lifetime, we have not experienced a pandemic until now.  The COVID-19 vaccine will help us to reimagine what our new reality looks like; however, the wide use and discovery of such a vaccine is at least 12 to 18 months away.  This means that we will live with our current social distancing norms for a while and some industries (service, entertainment, airlines, car rental, etc.) will have a difficult time trying to do “business as usual” or even adapting their business to meet changing customer needs. 

As leaders, we must have direction and know how to talk to our staff. I don’t claim to have all the answers. I have attended seminars and gathered valuable information from some experts. Here are some basic tips to help you with this new business reality:

When talking to your staff use these statements and make sure you know they are true and based on facts:

1. Facts: This is what I know based on facts—provide sources
2. Thoughts: This is what is in my mind right now
3. Optimism: This is what I am positive about

By having this sequence in your communication you will be able to have a structure that evokes listeners to pay attention and take action.

The anxiety for people is at different stages, I have friends around the world and in some countries, people can’t leave their homes unless they have a permit to purchase food. While some industries have been affected negatively, industries that support grocery stores, home improvement, or offer eCommerce stores based on home-related items are doing quite well.

Even here in the US, some regions are experiencing high anxiety and some are celebrating in bars in the Upper Midwest where restrictions have been lifted. It is up to you to create safe policies for yourself and your employees with safety at the forefront.

In an earlier blog, I talked about communication and how effective communication is necessary. With the current situation, meetings are only taking place via video conferencing and that will continue for the foreseeable future—we need to be flexible as we try to plan going forward. 

Studies have shown that the best communication is face to face as much of communication is not even verbal but includes body language and facial expressions. The challenge individuals are tasked with now is, when appropriate, to make your virtual calls include video conferencing going forward so it mirrors a normal conversation.

Face to Face even virtually should be the goal 🙂

Since video calling is an option on most conferencing systems, use a phrase such as “I want to see your happy face(s)” or let your colleagues know in advance if you would like the call to include a video so they are prepared.

This is a good step to enhance communication in this new environment.

Question

What is your new business reality?

Let us know if we can help you in any way at marketing@cazarin.com.