How to Main Contact With Co-Workers During Quarantine

Expert Talks are short Audio Learning files that your employees can listen to on any device, anytime, anywhere. Today, we explore the Expert Talk: " Maintaining Contact with Co-Workers " narrated by Vickie Lea Payne.

Co-workers are a company asset! Maintaining contact with colleagues creates a return on investment by reducing oversights. However, teams require direction to contribute optimally to business! We must communicate skillfully with remote staff, especially in times of uncertainty! Today, behavioral analyst and business strategist, Vicki Lea Payne, shows us ideal business correspondence via “The Bee Hive Model”. From the importance of communication styles, incentives, and personal presentation, to the upkeep of company morale and power of visual platforms, Payne shows us the best ways to maintain contact during quarantine.

Here are 3 strategies to improve contact today!

1.) The importance of face-to-face

93% of communication is non-verbal behavior and tone, while 7% is verbal. Thus, visual messages are far more powerful than digital messages. Face-to-face meetings have a paramount effect on co-workers. Team leaders must be able to efficiently cascade direction down the hierarchy. Face-to-face check-ins are the fastest and clearest way to support this. In formal face-to-face check-ins, we can have tone, while texts do not. This is ideal for calming staff and halting unproductivity caused by anxiety. With a visual interaction, we can relay an infectious message that generates hope and enthusiasm.

2.) Look for the connectors

Look for the connectors in the company: The mother hen, the dad of the group, the agony aunt, the wise owl, the white knight. These individuals can circulate information to co-workers, and create a collaborating and delegating leadership system. These natural conversation points are a great way to cascade information informally, alongside formal strategies.

3.) Understand your co-workers

Part of the contact with our co-workers is best served by looking at some of their values. By understanding our colleagues, we know the best communication style for them. Find an incentive. Do they require praise, recognition, or reward? Would they prefer a financial bonus or access to courses? Give co-workers a choice of 4 or 5 and ask them what they want. This will counteract the paralysis of uncertainty by giving teams an incentive to engage, be present, and recipient to information.

Explore Bookboon’s Expert Talks audio series and soundscape your home office with feel-good podcasts. Bookboon Learning is a fully branded, plug-and-play online learning platform that covers subjects such as leadership, personal development, and management. We are currently focusing on topics such as 'Working from Home,' 'Staying Positive,' 'Managing Virtual Teams,' and 'Resilience.'

We can be fully operational for your team in a matter of days.