The Value of Normalizing the Situation

Posted on Wednesday, January 28, 2009 by Frank Roche

Did you notice what happened very quickly after US Airways 1549 landed in the Hudson River? Government officials were all over the television saying, “Everything’s okay. This was an oddity. We have the bird situation under control. Here’s how we handle the birds in our flight paths.”

That’s called normalizing the situation in the communication business. Tell everyone that it’s going to be okay. That it’s not SNAFU. That we know why things happened. Move along folks, nothing to look at here.

What’s sadly missing in a lot of employee communication these days is the lack of normalizing. We hear of thousands and thousands of people being laid off — and we hear almost nothing about the millions upon millions of people who are still working to make their workplace better. Wouldn’t it be great to hear some uplifting stories right about now? To tell your employees some stories about what’s going well instead of only that things are bad and could get worse?

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User Comments

  1. mszypko

    Jan 28th, 2009

    Great point Frank. The “survivors” are now walking around under a cloud of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). Will I be next? Why them, and not me? We need to engage those still on board because we NEED them to turn the company around! Lets rally the troops, get focused and get moving. If we do a good job, who knows, bonuses may be coming back and if we do a great job, our former colleagues may be coming back as well.

  2. John Cerasani

    Feb 3rd, 2009

    Frank— you couldn't be more right on this. I believe this is especially true with employee benefits. Yes, there are new government mandates, and Yes, things are complex to understand (like HSA's)… However, the sky isn't falling and effective communicaiton can make employees feel a lot better about any changes.

  3. Frank

    Feb 3rd, 2009

    John, it's like it got so bad we forgot to talk about what's right. You make good points about mandates and HSAs…we need to get back to being normal again.

  4. Joanne Bintliff-Ritchie

    Feb 5th, 2009

    You make a great point Frank. These communications do require a bit of finesse though. The message cannot be received as 'the company has its head in the sand', or 'our leaders are being insensitive to those who lost their jobs'. Seriously engaging remaining employees in the work to be done and the opportunities to be siezed, and addressing 'survivor' fear, malaise and anxiety are critical. How it's done is also important.

  5. Frank

    Feb 6th, 2009

    Hi Joanne!

    I strongly agree with what you say — the process of how to normalize is
    essential. If it comes off like “nothing to look at kids, steps away,” it
    comes off as dismissive. It has to be upbeat and normal….but authentic.

    Thanks so much for your comment.

    Frank

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