Locked down in your home office and want to know how to keep engaged with your frontline teams? Desiree Perez, Leadership Coach & Aviation Consultant, has some essential advice on communication skills that will keep your teams on top form during the coronavirus crisis

We are living in unprecedented times. Sometimes I wake up and think I am living in some kind of parallel universe. The news however quickly remind me that this is the harsh reality we are currently facing. Especially in our industry, where everything just seems to have fallen apart in a matter of a week.

Traditionally we are an industry that is used to connect with others, work closely with others and thrive as a team in some of the high demand situations that we are facing. Now, all of that seems to have changed. I am sure many of you have been asked to work from home, limit contact and manage an operation being at home.

When I first started working from home, this felt so different and, in some way, lonely to me. I love social interaction and I sometimes felt as if someone had cut my proverbial wings. I am sure you can relate in this current situation. In this series I want to share some tips and tricks on how you can still communicate and move your operation forward while being isolated.

Your employees that are still working at the airport, making sure that bellies are loaded, and passengers sit in the right seats, now need the support from leadership more than ever.

The big question is how do you that, being at home? If you are not familiar with it, platforms like Zoom have become my best friend since working remotely from home. Zoom for example is a video platform that allows to connect with others and has several additional functionalities such as a whiteboard and sharing of information on the screen. If you are asked to work from home, I encourage to use this or similar applications to connect with your teams.

A daily briefing at the beginning of the shift with frontline supervisors and other stakeholders where you can communicate the latest developments and provide moral support is of the essence. Frequent communication with your employees where you discuss challenges for the day and give room for problem solving are key.

You are likely faced with challenges that you have never experienced before, neither has your team, so use this as the time to grow together and problem solve together. It will help you in keeping your employees engaged and committed to your organization during these times.

As things seem to change by the minute this is also a perfect opportunity to share the latest updates. Communicate those with certainty as it gives people the trust and support that they need at the moment, along with a true idea of what is happening and how this impacts the organisation. Understandably this is a tough situation where we feel that communicating negative impacts is the last thing we want to do, but your employees will appreciate the honesty amidst the waves of information that is put out by the media.

In summary, I really want to encourage you to communicate frequently and to use video platforms to do so, instead of just emails. Human connection is important to all of us and this is one way you can continue to give this to your employees.

I am standing side by side with you and if you do want to discuss individual challenges that you are facing, please reach out to me at [email protected] and I’ll be happy to support you in any way I can. No strings attached