Communicating with your Employees during the Coronavirus Crisis – 3 powerful and creative ways

We all know it – these are, to say the least, unprecedented times, so it’s now more important than ever to communicate with your employees, not just often, but also as meaningfully and creatively as you can, in ways that will show your teams you support them, and will keep staff engaged and involved, and motivation levels high.

So we’re not referring to the technology; we know there are some powerful remote working tools out there to keep in touch with your teams, ensure business continuity and keep employees strong and united.

But whether you call it Coronavirus crisis, pandemic, or COVID-19 lockdown, what really matters during these challenging times is not only the kind of message you’re transmitting; how you tell your story is key to really cut through the noise at a time when there is a lot of information, and bad news, to process as well as a lot of misinformation to sift through.

Now more than ever, the way you communicate with your employees needs to demonstrate you care and support them, just writing emails won’t do. It’s time to make an impression on your teams and appeal to their emotions, because emotional engagement goes hand in hand with motivation and a much needed sense of empowerment.

So we’ve selected three highly effective and creative ways of communicating with your employees that will really make a difference: you could reach out to your teams with a vibrant and energising animation, an intriguing infographic or even through the simplicity and familiarity of an email newsletter.

1 – The energy of animation

When communicating with employees during the Coronavirus crisis, why not go down the route of motion graphics? Not only will you share a unique visual experience that will remain in the minds of your employees for a long time, but you’ll be adding a sense of fun to your internal communications, and was ‘fun’ ever more needed than now?

2 – The intrigue of infographics

Have you ever thought that humans use infographic-like ways of communication before we can read or write, even speak? The way infographics communicate information appeals to the very nature of the way our brain works: as humans we process images much faster than verbal messages (60,000 times faster).

We are by nature drawn to strong visuals, so why not consider infographics as a key element of your internal communications strategy during the Coronavirus crisis. Infographics are so attention-grabbing because they often feel like a game or a puzzle, so by generating curiosity and intrigue you’ll have a much more engaged and emotionally invested workforce. Use infographics for your internal communications to bring your stats to life, or simplify a complex process.

3 – The familiarity of email newsletters

You may need to go back to ‘basics’ when communicating with employees during the Coronavirus crisis. The sense of familiarity that a company newsletter can bring may just be what your employees need in uncertain and testing times; making an email newsletter part of your internal communications can be one of the most effective ways of sharing key updates with your staff, and keeping them engaged, closer to what other teams are doing.

The way you structure the newsletter will help you prioritise your different messages, and depending on how the email newsletter is built, you may be able to track key KPIs like open and click-through rates, allowing you to apply learnings to future editions to maximise your time and effort during the Coronavirus crisis.