The Great Resignation, or Great Reshuffling, or whatever you call it. I’m talking to a whole bunch of people who are re-prioritizing, re-examining, and re-thinking what their work is about.

It’s a major factor in how employees are making decisions right now.

Part of the problem is that everyone has their own priorities and sense of balance. More than ever, it really matters if you have small kids, elderly parents, or are thinking of buying a house when prices are going through the roof.

As a decision-maker for your organization, it’s probably unsettling when you don’t know how people are thinking. Fortunately, there are two big things you can do about it.

You can talk to people. Having individual conversations with your employees really helps you to see what they’re dealing with. You’ll see patterns in their areas of concern. And most importantly, you’re showing your people that you really care about them.

You can tell people what you’re doing and why. I know that it can be difficult to talk about things where you may be feeling a little unsettled yourself. Sure, you’d like to be that leader who is always brilliant, compelling, and certain about the future. But most of us aren’t that person, and it’s become more difficult to fool people into thinking you are.

Here’s the simple game plan for how you communicate change to your team:

  1. Here’s what we’re doing
  2. Here’s why we’re doing it
  3. Here’s why change is important
  4. Here’s what we’re doing to mitigate negative impacts
  5. And … I care about helping you through this time.

Of course, you knew this. It’s not rocket science. But are we doing it?