Need for Clear Communication and Empathy in times of crisis

Year 2020 brought with it an unprecedented crisis. One nightmare of a pandemic which has tumbled the equilibrium of our professional and personal lives, which we had built up with years of hard work and toil. It must have been a common experience for most of us in the last couple of days that you wake up one fine morning finding your world turned upside down and you realize there is no option to seek advise from people, whom you have always turned to in the face of a crisis, because they are as  clueless as you are! 

Most of the professionals all over the world must be going through the current  phase with lot of doubts and questions and lot of debates swirling on like a tempest in their minds. You are surrounded by conjunctures and sadly most of the news that you are exposed to are linked with the negativity of the black swan moment in your life. 

When the crisis stuck, I found myself pondering on a dilemma. Being a professional banker, when such a moment of pandemonium stared at my face, what should be the most important aspect in my professional life for which I should be worried about, more than anything else?

Is it the top line of my organization?  

Is it the bottom line and my incentives structure?  

After some thought, I found the answer very simple. Its customers. Like any service sector employee, I too chose my customers first when the crisis started. Initially,  when the lockdown began, I and my team had no idea what is in store or what exactly is the task ahead. We had a massive action plan about a photofinishing March quarter ( the most important day in a bankers life. I have another reason also, that was the day my elder son was born 12 years back ). All our plan had gone for a toss with the lockdown. Adding to that, we soon started receiving panic stricken calls from customers who were scared and equally unclear about future. 

I immediately called my team members for a meeting and we were unanimous in our decision. This is an exceptional situation and it requires extra efforts. The only thing  and probably the most important  thing we could do to all our customers, at that point of time was to  "communicate".

Effective and clear communication plays a crucial role during a crisis . The pandemic that we face today, it is a phase and it is temporary. The world was built, destroyed and rebuilt through a series of crisis. That's how the world as we see today is created. What we need to understand is when the crisis is over we still need to survive in this industry. The only capital we need to survive after the crisis is nothing but our customers. And so, it is very important to communicate promptly with reassurance to all customer queries. The customer would surely appreciate it if, in case, you are not sure how to provide him a solution for his query, but you let him know you will get back to him with proper clarity and then you do get back as promised within a reasonable time. Just like how every dark cloud has a silver lining, for the professionals we are, this is an opportunity to create customer loyalty and its also a testing time for many of us to understand how we can delight our customers. 

As a proactive customer centric action plan, my team took out a list of more than 600 customers of the branch and we decided to keep in touch with them. In a lockdown situation, we felt it would go a long way in making them feel confident, if we can make a call to them and assure them that we are with them for any of their banking needs.I personally called over 200 people in three days.Honestly, it was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life . Many people whom I had not met even once during my tenure with the branch, greeted me well, thanked me and my organization for the timely call and also wished well for my family. I got more wishes than what I gave. 

But soon, there was the next major development. The mayhem went one step ahead with the announcement from RBI that a loan moratorium will be provided to all people, considering the present situation. We were again flooded with calls. Again in such a situation, we needed a clear communication policy. And we outlined it thus:

• Be Bold 
• Be honest and consistent
• Get your facts and understanding right and do not miscommunicate
• Make simple statements ( facts) 

This was important because the times right now are so depressing and tumultuous. People are getting confusing and contradictory news from different platforms about the announcement. Various whats app groups and other social media platforms are spreading mixed news with an unproportioned gravity. I realised that so far during the crisis, the prominent discussion points centered around these six factors: 

1. Health 

2. Wealth 

3. Business 

4. Stock market

5. Job cuts 

6. Recession. 

All of a sudden, post the RBI announcement, all these 6 issues seemed to have taken a back seat and discussions on RBI moratorium and its possible impacts assumed center stage. 

As I mentioned, we were flooded with calls and mails. Customers wanted quick confirmations and guarantees that we, as an organization, would adhere to RBI instructions. This came at a time when the organization itself was in the process of decision making post the announcement and like any other banker, I and my team too did not have much clarity. It took us sometime to get the whole and clear picture.

Meanwhile, we made some further refinements to our communication strategy and came out with some more rules to be followed by everyone in the team alike:

1. Make the communication crisp and clear 

2. Do not predict things. (How far the lockdown will continue. What will happen to business after this etc...)

3. Do not say I don't know ( this is one sentence which is frustrating to already confused people when they expect a factual answer from you)

4. Be balanced in your emotions. Do not sound that you are repressed and disappointed. 

5. Do not communicate through whats app (I know some people differ with this, but I feel that its always good to avoid whats app communication in a crisis like this ) 

6.From the organisation’s point of view, its advisable and important that you keep all the records of your client communications. This will later help follow up and also create value for the work we do.

7. Last but definitely not the least, don't badmouth competition. This is not the time for it. 

We felt this is a comprehensive communication strategy which would help take care of the interests of our customers in the best possible way. 

All said and done, this small piece of write up will remain incomplete if I do not add a valuable lesson on empathy from my colleagues Ann Roy Philip. 

One of these days during the lock out, a woman had come to pledge a gold ornament. All she wanted was INR 10000-12000, a small amount compared to usual ticket size of my branch . I had observed that since morning, Ann, who handles gold loan portfolio of the branch, was discouraging gold loan enquiries which came through phone and also through some third party sourcing agents, considering the potential threat it carries in terms of spreading corona virus. Moreover, we had instructions from RBI, Government and also from our bank that only essential services needs to be provided. The services were also listed specifically and gold loan was not one among them. 

To my surprise, I saw Ann processing the gold loan, taking some extra effort for this first time customer. When she came to my cabin with the gold for verification and sanction, I was curious and asked her, “ Why did you do this? We were not supposed to do this”

She replied, “ If the lady has come all the way braving the police and barricades just for 12000 rupees, it must be really urgent. I have a gut feeling that she needs this money to buy food.” 

Her answer and her act of kindness made me swell with pride for being a banker. And it gives me more energy and enthusiasm to serve my customers each passing day during this crisis time.