Rethinking communication as the pandemic drags on

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/09/2020 (1876 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s an old leadership adage that says you can’t communicate too much during a crisis. But COVID-19 is no ordinary crisis, and despite the pandemic’s omnipresence in both our personal and professional lives, many of us are growing increasingly tired of hearing about it.

The information overload that some have dubbed “COVID fatigue” is real, and it’s a concern not only for health officials responsible for keeping the public vigilant and informed, but for companies and institutions who will have to operate in the pandemic’s wake for the foreseeable future.

For many organizations, internal and external communications needs are exploding right now: Business operations, employee policies, health and safety protocols, strategic plans and myriad other considerations all continue to be revised and rewritten as the ground continues to shift. There’s a lot to communicate when so much is changing.

Employees and customers ostensibly want and need this information, but as the pandemic drags on our capacity for absorption is increasingly diminished.

The phenomenon of information fatigue didn’t arrive with the coronavirus. Charities contend with compassion fatigue when donors become numb to stories and images that once moved them to open their wallets. Climate fatigue or “green fatigue” helps explain why warnings of a catastrophic future don’t necessarily compel action, despite the severity of the headlines and the clarity of the science.

But this time it’s different. We’ve collectively endured a relentless barrage of pandemic-related information for the past six months, and cooler weather means the impact of the virus and the information we hear about it may only intensify. The fact many of us are already emotionally exhausted and mentally overwhelmed only compounds the challenge.

How should organizations adjust their communication playbooks as we get deeper into the pandemic? Four quick suggestions:

Rigorously isolate and prioritize essential messages. Nobody’s paying attention to lengthy missives right now. Identify the two to three corporate priorities that are critical to organizational success in the current moment and build awareness and understanding around those.

When I teach communications in the classroom I illustrate the importance of message prioritization with a ball exercise: If I toss six balls in the air it’s unlikely someone will catch all of them, and I can’t influence which ones they’ll catch. If I toss a single ball the odds of it being caught dramatically improve.

Dumping extraneous messages may mean organizations are ultimately communicating less often. That’s desirable if message uptake increases. Frequency should be a product of need: If companies communicate when there’s something substantive and meaningful to say, audiences will learn that each new communication is worth their attention.

Don’t over-rely on a single messenger. In the early days of the pandemic we tuned in whenever public health officials appeared on our screens; their presence alone conveyed a sense of gravity and urgency. Six months on, their messaging hasn’t diminished in importance but their presence has become routine. There’s an organizational parallel if the CEO or other senior leader has been the sole messenger throughout the pandemic. A consistent, authoritative voice can create familiarity and trust, but it can also translate to desensitization and monotony. It may be an appropriate time to elevate other speakers in your organization.

Humanize the conversation. Organizations and governments too often hold tight to an earnest belief that sound information alone can influence beliefs and behaviours. That’s a mistake. In practice we believe and listen to those who project an understanding of our needs, regardless of whether they’re reliable sources. Empathic communication — conversational, plain-language messages that directly address the concerns, anxieties and expectations of the intended audience — is the aim right now. As Tom Friedman recently noted in the New York Times, people often don’t listen through their ears; they listen through their gut. If we want people to hear us we first need to show them we’re in their corner.

Try novel approaches. Companies and public health officials have each struggled to build understanding of new information, policies and directives. It may seem unorthodox to use, say, a crude hand-drawn illustration to explain the difference between social circles and social gatherings (as Ottawa Public Health did on Twitter) or to play “two truths and a lie” on social media to convey virus-related info (again, Ottawa Public Health) but tactics like these have been enthusiastically embraced by the public and likely helped create much deeper understanding.

Employees, customers and the public are saturated and stressed, and the worst of the virus may be still to come. The current moment calls for a dose of levity, brevity and humanity in our communication, especially as we settle into the fact the virus isn’t going away any time soon.

David Leibl is founder of the Winnipeg-based communications and executive advisory firm www.oncallcomms.com