The name of this blog comes from our mission at INFLUENCE: “To empower people with clarity and confidence.”
Our objective is to provide brief but meaningful topics (under 500 words) that inspire, educate and empower leaders through resources both inside and outside of INFLUENCE. This week’s edition is provided by David Salmons.
Employee anxiety grows when uncertainty looms, and clear communication is still one of the most empirically proven strategies for dealing with corporate anxiety. Yet according to a recent Gallup poll, only 19% of U.S. employees strongly agree that their leadership communicates effectively with the organization.
This is worth a closer look because, as Jennifer Robison, Senior Editor at Gallup, says: “Anxiety torpedoes performance.” Which means, while it may be difficult to know what the future holds, it’s still important to communicate both what leaders DO know as well as what they intend.
Let’s take a moment to unpack that.
Foundationally, as Jennifer points out, anxiety is reduced through clear, ongoing communication. She adds that, “More words are better than less, and even if you repeat yourself, you’ll expand your influence.” This type of influence not only reduces employee anxiety because information fills in the blanks, but it also reduces anxiety because it shows leaders care enough to communicate – all of which leads to the second point.
It’s important to let employees know both what leaders ARE doing and what leaders INTEND to do because they care. This is critical because assurances reduce anxiety. That’s not to say positive intentions will always be realized no matter how sincerely and factually they’re stated. Most employees realize this. The point is that employees have their antennae up to sense leadership intent.
And on that note, it’s important during course corrections to emphasize the cultural values defined all along as guiding principles. Regular conversations about corporate values will help support team resilience, especially if leaders have already built a deep cultural awareness around these values.
Also, leaders should continue talking about goals, this being a way to help employees remember that the ship is moving ahead despite the storm. In contrast, NOT talking about goals passively allows employees to fixate on the idea that the ship may be sinking.
To summarize these thoughts, while there’s lots of practical advice available for leaders navigating difficult times, one of the more common and proven strategies involves frequent information sharing by leaders. In short, when leaders communicate what’s being done – and what they intend to do – it can make a big difference in reducing the anxiety levels and increasing the performance of corporate teams.