Is a crisis the invitation to transformation
Are we going through a crisis or are we going through change?
Or both, and what is the difference?
Last week, I was invited to join Amanda Coleman and two other change communication experts; Trudy Lewis, Director of Lewis Communicate and Jo Twiselton, Director of Twist Consultants on a panel discussion looking at the future role for communication and whether the profession is ready for what lies ahead.
This conversation got me thinking about the COVID-19 crisis and the political and social shockwaves pulsing through our world, I wonder if we are using these times as an opportunity to reflect and make positive change.
Jo reminded us to think about wellbeing in times of change and crisis. Crisis and change can be disruptive. She said invites us to, “pause and think about what is needed rather than reacting, which is what a lot of us have had to do over the last six months…find some space to pause and look back on what we’ve learned.”
“There is a lot to be said about consistency and certainty. Leaders are sometimes moving too fast, we are always working at pace, setting our own pace” Trudy reminds us to “take time out to reflect on what’s worked and not worked”
I believe that learning and growth happens in the spaces between- what was- and - what will be- We have had so much crisis, that we need to use disruption as an opportunity to build the skills we will need in the future.
Here are some of my key take-aways from this session:
We need great communication in crisis and transformation periods. Clear and consistent, human centred and two-way communication.
Organisations with a strong and relevant purpose and values can use them as a glue that can help their people to navigate uncertainty. Listen to understand your business and your employees, meaningful translation is essential.
Crisis leads often leads to change, but in many organisations, we currently have crisis and transformation running simultaneously and the crisis is a continuing. Taking care of ourselves and each other is essential.
Leaders must understand how to take their people with them, helping them to move away from the sense that change being ‘done to us’. For this emotional intelligence from leaders is essential, especially in conflict conversations that require leaders to listen with an open mind and heart.
It was interesting to me to learn that the three of us on the panel were all coaches. The skill to coach during change has been essential in managing the change and communication. Jo describes why it is helpful, “Coaching and listening, understanding the psychology of change and thinking about the communication points on the grief curve change. We have all personally been through the change curve and experienced what it is like to have received messages that are clear or unclear.”
For me crisis and change is an invitation to evolve.
It is a shake by the shoulders and a wake up call to think more about those things that a taken for granted and have become second nature.
Growth and change happens in liminal spaces. The space where we have left what was behind. We hold our ideas more lightly, let go of those mindsets and behaviours that don’t serve us anymore and put humans in the centre of any change.
Connect with the Amanda, Jo and Trudy
Amanda - Amanda Coleman Communications- or Amanda’s twitter @amandacomms
Amanda is also author of Crisis Communication Strategies- How to Prepare in Advance, Respond Effectively and Recover in Full
Trudy Lewis- Lewis Communicate website or Trudy’s twitter @lewiscomms
Jo Twist Consultants website
We will need resilience, curiosity and a growth mindset to handle crisis and change.
About this Event
This expert panel discussed how communicators need to be in the middle of the changes taking place. After the crisis comes the change but are communication professionals ready to pick up the baton and be at the centre of what comes next? The panel considered best practice, what more can be done and the what it means for change, diversity and communication in the future. The webinar was hosted by Amanda Coleman Communications Ltd, crisis communication experts.
