While we are talking about change....

I had the good fortune of listening into a call by the President of one Canada's largest media company's located in Montreal, speaking to his staff which he has been doing on a weekly basis. Needless to say the topic is about the COVID-19 virus and how this is impacting their business. I am not an employee of that company but my partner is, and he is working from home, so I could not help overhearing what was being said on the teleconference.

Needless to say, if there is a time when we need to help people manage change (and not in no fluffy kind of way), but in very very concrete terms in one of the most unprecedented times ever, this would be it. I have no doubt that many small, medium and large companies are doing the same, and have significant internal resources like their Communications and

H. R. teams to help them craft good messages. But the message is never enough. The "how" you communicate the message is as important as the content of the message.

I remember having had many experiences of working in corporations where change was quite frequent, and that we often worked on how we were going to communicate a message and the tone it needed to take. I worked through large re-organizations, the Quebec Ice Storm, SARS , and a large company takeover. Tone however ONLY gets shaped by the person sending the message, and how they are able to instill a sense of comfort and confidence in the message. I have born witness to messages that fell flat, by people who thought they were great communicators and who thought very knowledgeable about how to send a message out. And they fell flat on their faces and the change was poorly executed and I need not say more.

Yesterday I was witness to something very different and quite rare . The President has now had 3 of these calls in 2 weeks . Need to recognize that the province of Quebec is ahead of most provinces when dealing with COVID-19, and in my opinion likely the most organized and effective. When you look at their provincial leadership team, it's pretty amazing compared to others. But this is not about them, but I suspect , that for many company leaders, what they are seeing from the top is having some influence on how they are crafting and delivering their messages to their people. Amazing what a solid leadership example will do for you.

He was empathetic. He was clear and concise. He was honest. He was comforting in his tone, and most realistic in his message. He didn't hide anything from employees , and for some , it was not good news and was leading to "temporary lay off's". The reassurances he gave however about the fact that they would be returning to work, and that all avenues to ask questions was open. He spoke honestly about the financial impact. He didn't sugar coat anything (besides these are all adults who are watching endless news streams). I have to say likely one of the best examples about messaging and helping people manage change i've heard and seen in awhile.

I continue reading a number of articles and people on this site that I read regularly who are"experts" in change management (or at least profess to be). Most of the change management anyone of us have been through, pales in comparison to what we are seeing today. Way outside anyone's norm. But I am still convinced that some people regardless of how big the issue is, are just naturals in this regard. Sincerity , honesty, clarity, credible and empathy are skill sets that not everyone has. And when you find those gems of people , throw them in front of the podium or the video camera and use them. They will help you manage this as effectively as you can imagine.

And on a note of optimism, we will get through this. It's going to be rough ride, but hang onto your bootstraps we will survive.