| We are all familiar with this: we plan – and many advisors also suggest – not to read and answer our e-mails directly for an hour, then we open the inbox and we already regret our resolution. The states of “offline” and “online” are becoming increasingly intertwined at short notice, if at all. Because “online” has become a permanent state, app-hopping the new workflow.
One technical approach is, and this trend is also being noticed, to bundle the many apps. The enthusiasm for the many new possibilities of digital work facilitation is now giving way to the approach of tidying up and bundling. What does who need and with what priority. What if internal communications developed a guidebook explaining exactly that. A guidebook for balancing online and offline, between dialogue with colleagues and clients and dialogue with oneself, for example when creating a concept or an idea paper or preparing for a client meeting. These times of reflection are valuable because they have the quality of “taking time”. In a customer meeting, the person you are talking to quickly notices whether you have prepared well, i.e. whether you have dealt with them in advance. The same applies to internal communication. It is not enough to know it, it should be lived. This may include this online/offline guide, which allows employees to be offline from time to time in order to show a special presence online. Especially in the current situation around Covid-19, managers and communicators are very challenged. The switch to a home office is proving to be an endurance test for internal communication. And not only that. Internal communication is becoming a central point of contact for the company’s management, because economic success depends decisively on how cooperation works “from a distance” and digitally. By necessity, many things have been developed overnight to enable work in the home office. This, too, is the hallmark of professional communicators: In times of crisis, they are able to quickly and easily maintain contact with employees, managers and the company’s leadership and to link them with each other. Manifesting this would be – you guessed it – the subject of a guidebook that defines, for example, responsibilities, tools and processes, as well as topics on accessibility, working methods and how to involve the environment. If you are also facing such a challenge or need advice, please contact us, we will be happy to advise you. |
