The gifts I’ve experienced through COVID-19 #LeadBoldly #MomBoldly #GLChallenge

By Lori Jones, President & CEO of Avocet Communications

Most of us have seen the Lead Boldly campaign and have engaged with it either directly or indirectly through friends or our social feeds. As I proudly began utilizing the mantra, I realized that there was so much more at stake during the COVID-19 outbreak than our businesses.

How will it impact my children? Will they continue to learn at the same trajectory? (I am not good at trigonometry!) They will miss their friends. Cancellation of prom and graduation is a distinct possibility, My next thought: how would this impact my business? My ability to meet my daily leadership and solution delivery? How will it impact my employees? How will it impact our customers who have become dear friends? All of these components came crashing down and I was fraught with worry, anxiety, and fear. 

And, then a business advisor shared Joshua 1: 7-9 with me.

7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” 

Beautiful and meaningful words that I find more comforting today than ever.

My hope is that these unprecedented times will create stronger families, stronger work teams, stronger marriages. And, just maybe, the outcome will be more innovation, understanding, respect, and more love.

I made the decision that I would implement three parallel paths of crisis management, one for our clients, one for my team, and one for my family. In all cases, our crisis management mantra “Straight Talk, Reassurance, and Consistency” has been implemented.

Now is the time to lean deeply into your values and assure your audiences through walking the walk and talking the talk. And, it is the time to make sure that all of your communication messages whether it be through social media, customer or internal video, email, or television are in line with those values. 

Straight Talk

Telling people like it is is critical at this time. This applies to both your internal and external audiences, and to topics surrounding financial health, moral obligation, and social responsibility. 

?       Be decisive and provide exact details about what you are doing to mitigate the situation. 

?       Acknowledge the personal and emotional, NOT just the business-side of what your employees and customers might be going through.

?       Time stamp each and every piece of communication. With COVID-19 constantly changing our social landscape, what you stated on Monday could be completely outdated 24-hours later. 

Family straight talk is a mantra that my husband and I have always instilled with our children. Remember that it is a two-way street. Expect straight talk back from your children, team, and customers. 

Just as I have recommended to my clients for their businesses, we have taken advantage of this time to focus on our family values. We’re home, we’re together, what better time to slow the clock a bit and ask some questions about who we are, what we’re about, and what’s important to us as a family and as individuals. Take a look at the Generous Leadershipa Challenge detail below, we have implemented this as a family, and it has created some very special discussions and memories.

Reassurance

Teams and customers look to leadership for reassurance during times like these. If leadership shuts down the brand is at risk. False rumors and disinformation begin to spread, and your reputation is in peril. Proactively taking control of the narrative, honestly and with compassion, is vitally important.

·       Think about who is involved (internal teams, customers, business partners) and what their specifics concern might be. How do you reassure them and how do you let them know that you are the right person to help them get through this?

·       Express sincere and genuine care for everyone involved. Share the EXACT steps that you are taking to help out in the situation.

One of the things that Team Avocet has done is to take part in the Generous Leadership? Challenge. Generous Leadership?, as defined by entrepreneur and thought leader Tricia Halsey, is about “abundantly giving of yourself so that others may be better people who do better work. It is about choosing to be a light to others, and about choosing to live from a place of peace instead of fear.” We’ve adopted the Challenge to test our notion of leadership in weekly personal, empowering, and reflective experiments that we’re doing as we work remotely or virtually over the next few weeks. We are taking on the Challenge is an opportunity to redefine perspective and to focus on the culture and the true heart of our organization.

The main outcome, according to Halsey, “is to experience personal change through intentional doing,” and we are excited to be a part of it!

Communicating with and leading our little ones is no different. They need to see mom and dad on the same page, and they need reassurance along the way. 

Despite our hectic schedules, my husband and I needed to make sure that the kids didn’t listen to the news too much and build fictional stories in their minds over half-truths being pushed out. We had to worry about their worry. But, on a brighter note, we’ve been enjoying our family time more than ever. We typically eat out at fast-casual restaurants three to four times a week due to long work hours and late-night activities with the children. But, since the stay-at-home order in our state, I have cooked more than I have in the last two months and we are back to sitting at the dinner table together every night. We are connecting on a deeper level, and I am beyond grateful. 

Like many of you, the thought of homeschooling while I worked from home was at first a great worry. But I have found it to be absolutely invigorating. I find so much strength in watching my children with their studies and helping them where I can throughout their school day. I give so much credit to the incredible teachers and administration class administrative staff at their schools. We are having an absolute ball. From skits, dances, walking, running, cooking together, eating together, laughing together, relishing in our love with one another, it’s all about being together.

The gifts I have received over the last few weeks are many and I believe I have become a more well-rounded mother and wife.

And, to be honest, I can’t help but wonder if there is more meaning behind what is happening. 

Consistency

This is a time when more communication is better. Everything is moving so quickly around us that something that you stated two days ago, could in fact change. Use language such as, “Given the facts that we currently have available,” so that you aren’t pigeon-holed with a change and that trust is gained.

Thinking on all your diverse audiences, ask yourself what is the best channel of communication? Answers might be:

?       Set up a private Facebook page for furloughed employees.

?       Communicate to customers via social media, email, and one-on-one calls.

?       Have virtual town halls with current team members.

?       Pick up the phone and call your business partners.

?       Deliver key messages through video.

Communicating with our little ones is not different. They need to see mom and dad on the same page, and they need reassurance along the way. I laughed out loud drawing the parallel to home. There is SO MUCH communication now. In between each meeting, each call, each email, we are talking, communicating, reassuring, loving. 

I consider this current climate of uncertainty an awakening and I’m so glad I was forced into it.

Many things in the world are hard to understand and COVID-19 is one of them. I do know that communication is key at this stage and it is expressed in many ways. I see chalk art drawings on driveways that talk about being kind. The memes that have crossed our desks are humorous and reassuring. People are hanging up Christmas lights to show support for our first responders. Straight talk, reassurance, and consistency in communication is helping to drive this. Through this we will build up community ties, tighten client relationships, build stronger teams, strengthen family interplay, and love more deeply.

LORI JONES:

Lori Jones, president and CEO of Avocet Communications, brings top retail, consumer, and business-to-business branding expertise to all aspects of integrated marketing. Her experience with Fortune 500 brands, middle-market challenger brands, and entrepreneurial startups have made her an in-demand speaker at industry sales and marketing conferences. Her top-rated Integrate & Ignite podcast is listened to by CEOs, CMOs, and innovators all over the world. Founded in 1980 and consistently honored as one of Colorado’s leading marketing agencies, Avocet Communications has earned a national reputation for helping its clients increase customer count through integrated marketing communications solutions.

You can reach Lori via twitter @LoriJones or via email: [email protected]