In Times of Crisis, Lead with Transparency and Regular Communication

“Communication – the human connection – is the key to personal and career success.” – Paul J. Meyer

So true. And you know what? There’s someone else we found, who strongly abides by this thought.

We, humans, are social animals, and communication is an integral part of our lives. It is something that connects us, brings us together, helps us learn, understand, assists us to be aware about things, to know about life, etc.

We have evolved a lot over the years with regards to how we communicate. With time, we have also seen myriad number of innovations happening in the space of communication.

Just the way we love to communicate and express ourselves when we are happy, excited, motivated, etc., communication is equally, rather even more, important during difficult times.

Here’s how Logicserve Digital got their communication game strong to be together, be safe and keep up with the spirit of life.

When the deadly coronavirus outbreak hit us, and it was a crucial time to think fast and act to safeguard ourselves and the society, the best move for a lot of companies was to implement work from home policy in view of the situation. Logicserve Digital was one of the first few companies who started with the work from home model. They believe that it was the right thing to do at that time. Absolutely agree with that. They also put together a team of health marshals who keep a tab on everyone’s safety and update the status to everyone. This is very thoughtful as it helps to maintain the clarity about situations in these times since everyone is home without any way of exactly knowing about things. Also, since people feel disconnected, tend to think a lot, assume their own thoughts; this clear communication was useful to keep everyone informed about the real updates with total transparency.

When asked about the situation, Prasad Shejale, Founder & CEO, Logicserve Digital, says “These are really tough times and we all have to support each other and work together to resolve it. As a leader, you have a huge responsibility on you to take care of your team and people who always look up to you. Rather than thinking too hard and getting stressed up, I feel, we should take care of the basic human needs and use it wisely to surmount the difficulties placed in our way. And that is possible through communication. I strongly believe that the job of the leader is to be able to communicate clearly, regularly with everyone and also answer any concerns or queries they have during such times.”

That reminds us of a famous quote by James Humes - “The art of communication is the language of leadership.”

While sharing his thoughts, Prasad also mentioned about how he ensures to keep the communication going with his team and what are the initiatives that he has taken during the lockdown period.

Right from day 1 of working from home, Prasad started talking every day in the morning with all the Logimates through live stream. He ensures that he shares all the important updates about the health & safety of the team members, any key announcements and also motivates them to tackle this situation. He urges everyone to be calm, not stress about things and tackle #OneDayAtATime (as he says). Talking about these sessions, Prasad says, “Lockdown is mentally so consuming, and everyone wants to start their day with positive but genuine thoughts. My sessions are aimed for doing this, are absolutely simple and not rehearsed at all. It is also a way to set a good remote work culture since we don’t really define work cultures for situations like these.”

In no time, people started getting habituated to the new systems, new ways of doing things. Also, people look forward to Prasad’s morning chat sessions and, over time, have started sharing their feedback and queries with him. He also makes it a point that he goes through all the feedback and queries that he receives and answers them the next day during the morning session. “It’s in a way beautiful to see how quickly people adapt, and it’s become a habit for all of them now to be there for the morning session. They know that they will get the answers to their questions during this time”, says Prasad.

He also mentioned how there has been a change in the topics he covers in the morning session. Initially, he started with updates and motivation, then people’s queries were being answered, and now, these sessions also comprise of various life lessons.

Prasad strongly feels that the leaders always need to be very cautious as well as sensitive towards people’s needs. During challenging times, it is even more critical for leaders to communicate with their people, figure out ways to communicate, if normal things cannot be used, open up new channels of connecting with everyone, be clear and real in all your conversations. You also need to understand that people have varied kind of fears and challenges in their lives, which can be beyond work. Hence, they really look up to their leaders for a source of positivity, motivation and healthy communication that can assist them in tackling the challenges head-on.

So yes, communicate well, communicate right and be real. That’s what’s going to keep up the humane spirit and help us tackle tough situations, together.

As they say,

Tough times don’t last; tough people do.

The author is the Founder & CEO of Logicserve Digital, a digital marketing agency.

Check the videos below to get a glimpse of Prasad’s regular, clear communication with the Logimates.