As teams prepare to virtually announce layoffs, calculated preparation for management is critical. This is not just another Zoom meeting. This is an announcement that will affect people’s lives and the future of the organization. However, with proper preparation, you can respond effectively and compassionately to layoffs online. You should do the following: First, block off your rehearsal time to get ready. Visualize your audience of employees to show empathy. Use body language effectively to appear authentic. Look directly at the camera to show honesty. Finally, remember to breathe and show your confidence by remaining calm.
Alongside meetings, job interviews, and even social events, layoffs have entered the virtual age. After all, it was inevitable. In her recent McKinsey survey, he 35% of respondents reported being able to work remotely full-time. Logically, if someone is working remotely, they can also be fired remotely.
However, this does not allow managers and company leaders to handle issues without sensitivity and compassion. Just as most of us are familiar with platforms like Zoom and Webex, expressing our feelings and reassurance towards them is not easy for many of us. This is a problem because so many things are at risk when an employee is laid off.
As teams prepare to virtually announce layoffs, calculated preparation for management is critical. This is not just another Zoom meeting. This is an announcement that will affect people’s lives and the future of the organization. Not only do executives risk losing the trust of their remaining employees and other stakeholders, they can also create heartless “Zoom fired” headlines and face backlash on social media.
But with proper preparation, executives can respond effectively and compassionately to layoffs online. Here’s how your team should prepare and deliver your virtual announcement.
Block rehearsal time.
Layoff preparations should not be rushed. Skimming through scripts written by the communications team is not sufficient preparation. But all too often, this is what executives do. Instead, remember your grade school mantra. Practice makes perfect.
Block rehearsal time, ideally a few days before the presentation date, once it’s on your calendar. Use this time to make sure your message is written and approved by the legal department a few days before the announcement, review the script and make any changes, and give yourself enough time to read through it several times .
You might think it doesn’t take much time to prepare, but it does. To appear confident, poised, and trustworthy, you must be familiar with the material. You also need time to break the story down into bullet points and figure out exactly what to say at each point.
If you read a script or use a teleprompter, it takes several rehearsals before your audience can trust your stream to be authentic. Alternatively, pin a post-it note to your computer monitor, or place her second monitor behind the camera to itemize.
Visualization exercises are important.
It’s hard to get your message across online without a physical audience to build an emotional connection with. To create an emotional connection on Zoom, you need to visualize your audience. To do this, consider the following.
- where is the audience looking from? House? office?
- who are they with? their family? colleague?
- What will they feel when they hear the news?
- What are their immediate concerns?
- What do they ask so that I can address them immediately?
- What fears can you alleviate?
You can take this a step further by creating “avatars” to represent key employees, such as a 45-year-old father of three or a 63-year-old woman nearing retirement age. You can pretend to be talking directly to these particular employees, mentioning their fears and trying to alleviate them.
Be careful with your body language.
Body language is important. The audience is watching for signs that you are nervous. If you play with your wedding ring, move your glasses, touch your face, scratch your beard, or move or turn your chair, they may take it as a sign that they shouldn’t be confident in you. To make you look more enthusiastic, try leaning slightly towards the camera.
Many executives are instructed not to use their hands when speaking. This is terrible advice, because our hands help us convey our emotions and passions. If their use is restricted, we can appear rigid. It means that there is a possibility that it suggests that For all these reasons, you should feel encouraged to use your hands naturally when speaking.
Look straight into the camera.
Getting the camera shot right is also important. The camera should be at eye level. It looks intimidating when the camera is below your face. If the camera is too high, it will look tame. Look directly at the camera while you are speaking, not at individual audience members shown in boxes on the screen. This allows you to keep eye contact with all employees.
The exception to this rule is when questions are taken after the announcement. In this case, you should watch the computer monitor while the employee asks questions. This is natural and helps you “read the room”.
Don’t forget to breathe.
It’s understandable to be nervous in a meeting like this. You’re probably bringing in a lot of your own emotions and might get angry or embarrassed. Not only does it help you get the job done, anxiety can dramatically change a person’s voice. Countering this through proper breathing is essential to showing strength and confidence.
Before you start announcing, take a belly breath to contract your diaphragm and expand your belly. Do it again after her first 2-3 sentences. And keep doing it. Without these breaths, you don’t get enough lung capacity, and you can get short of breath and cut off the last word of a sentence. This makes you feel less confident.
Support your employees when they need it most.
Layoffs are never easy. Thinking about people affected by unemployment and anxiety makes it even harder to do it right. Add the difficulty of virtual communication to the mix and it becomes even more difficult.
But with the right preparation, mindset, and body language, leadership teams can communicate difficult news effectively and compassionately. If you get your message across well, ex-employees will feel supported and respected. Meanwhile, the rest of the workforce will feel motivated to continue working because they can now trust the company to be on the right track.
