Keeping up with communication can be challenging during change. In fact, you can never really over communicate during disruption!
Employees often assume that leadership is withholding information, when in actuality, you may just not have answers to the questions being asked.
When this happens it’s very common for employees to speculate and trade rumors. When we don’t know the whole story, we create a story that seems likely. We refer to this as filling in the gaps.
Let’s try an experiment to see how this works. Select the TABS below and follow the instructions.
COMMUNICATION EXPERIMENT
Take 15 seconds to memorize the items on this list.
| Bed | Wake | Snore |
| Rest | Snooze | Nap |
| Awake | Blanket | Peace |
| Tired | Doze | Yawn |
| Dream | Slumber | Drowsy |
After 15 seconds have passed, select TAB: STEP 2.
Now grab a piece of paper and write down as many words as you can recall in the next 15 seconds. Don’t go back to STEP 1 to peak!!
After you have written down all the words you can remember, select STEP 3.
Look at the list of words you recorded.
- Did you remember the word BED? This was the first word on the list.
- How about the word DROWSY? This was the last word on the list.
- How about the word SLEEP?
If you’re like most people, you probably included this word, but it actually wasn’t on the list! As you were memorizing the words, you “filled in the blanks” and associated SLEEP with all the other words.
This is what is meant by filling in the gaps. And guess what!? Your employees are likely to do this when you leave things out of your communication – especially during uncertainty!
As you can see from our experiment, open and honest communication is so critical during change.
It may seem obvious, but leaders often shy away from talking about change for many reasons including not having all the answers, fear of how others will respond, fear of failure, etc..
Promoting a climate where employees feel safe to ask questions and talk about change will minimize communication gaps and promote team unity, safety, and trust.
As you find opportunities to communicate, set aside some time to prepare first. Use the following to guide your prep time.
- What message do you want to communicate? WHY is this message important?
- Words are very powerful. What words do you want to intentionally choose? Which do you want to avoid?
- What emotions do you want others to pick up from you? How do you want others to feel as a result of your communcation?
- Who is impacted by the change? Who needs to be part of the communication?
- How will you communicate? Which specific method(s) will achieve your outcome?
- What is the best timing for this message?
Ask someone from your team for feedback about how you communicated the message. Where is there opportunity to continue to develop your ability to communicate effectively through disruption?
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