The crisis and lockdown are putting us, our leaders, on the communications grill.

Employees are worried about the company and for them. Some of them adopt negative postures:

“It will never be the same again” or “It's screwed! ”.

Others are looking for even more meaning, on top of everything else.

We notice that the pace of up and down communication is becoming intense.

It is therefore becoming necessary to trigger a dialogue based on a speech by the leader every 4 weeks or so, whereas this rhythm was previously quarterly.

Here are 9 practical tips for preparing your speech/dialogue:

1- Include your executive committee in preparing the speech;

2- Take into account all the comments of the employees that were sent to you before the speech via:

• Managers, who must be involved;
• Tools for continuously measuring the motivation of your employees (e.g. Zest).

3- State things clearly, describe the situation, face reality, and don't be optimistic;

4- Address the three pillars of motivation for your employees: safety, objective, meaning;

5- Write a speech of up to 10 minutes, i.e. 2 to 3 Word pages;

6- Have a single key message, repeated at the introduction, middle, and conclusion;

7- Announce decisions (stop, start, continue) related to ongoing learning (learning book);

8- Work on the questions that will be asked after your speech in advance;

9- Do a blank check with your management committee, especially if you communicate by video.