Communicating during difficult times

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Communicating during difficult times

Events in recent weeks remind us that we can all be subject to disruption ranging from terrorist attacks to natural disasters and organizational change; so it pays to know how best to act during difficult times.

Al Siebert, Ph.D, author of The Resiliency Advantage and director of The Resiliency Center, has a wealth of experience of crisis communication. "When people are emotionally distracted by upsetting world events or by internal organizational disruptions, it is essential to manage group meetings in a skillfully sensitive way," he says.

Here are his pointers for facilitating meetings when people have heightened emotions:

1. To facilitate well, you must first deal with your own feelings. Remember not to impose them or your values on others.
2. Conduct a group "check in." If people are feeling emotional about organizational or world events, focus on their feelings first, before trying to cover agenda items.
   Ask each person to comment on how they feel about the events, express any concerns they have, and comment on how they feel about being at the meeting. Look at each person closely while they are speaking to judge for yourself how "present" or emotionally distracted they are.
3. Discuss the agenda – ask each person to say if they feel they can be involved in discussions about the agenda items. Make it safe for them to say no if they can’t. Acknowledge their feelings, don’t suppress them, then focus the group on the things that must get done.
4. Reschedule some items on the agenda if necessary. If the majority of the group says they don’t feel that they can focus on the meeting, then table all agenda items that require open discussion until a later date. Limit the meeting to essential information items that are very time relevant.
5. Be prepared to postpone to a later date. Meetings usually require a relaxed atmosphere conducive to open discussion — this may be difficult in times of stress. Resiliency research shows that feelings of distress, anguish, anger and anxiety will constrict and narrow cognitive processes. Postponing a meeting is a rational course of action when involved group discussion, analysis, problem solving and goal setting is required.

Source: The article "How to hold team meetings during emotional times" appeared in the June 2005 issue of The Business Communicator.

Blogged on 10:17 AM by Upay

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