How Much of a CEO's Job is About Communication?

THE SKINNY

What makes a good CEO a good communicator? How do good CEOs communicate well? Over the years, technology has changed, the workplace has changed, even office attire has changed, but importance of executive communications has not. According to Brad Whiteworth from Cisco, sixty to seventy percent of a CEO’s job should be communication. Whiteworth recently presented the collected wisdom from CEOs of the last 50 years regarding what good executive communications looks like. The CEOs noted were winners of International Association of Business Communicators’ Excel award.

THE STORY

Based on his analysis, Whiteworth suggested there are thirteen tenets of successful employee communications that CEOs should practice:

1. Share your vision. According to John Ryan, CEO of Farm Credit in Canada, “Strategy is one thing, but if you can’t communicate it in a way that people will understand it, you’re not going to be able to execute.”

2. Reach out and touch someone. CEOs can’t sit in their office and wait for problems to come to them. You have to be active and be out in the trenches like managers at Hewlett Packard who practice “management by walking around.”

3. Walk the talk. Your actions have to match your words. According to Jean Pierre Garnier, Exec VP of Smithkline Beecham, “Employees are going to observe, then they will see if my behavior matches what I tell them.”

4. Listen, then speak. People want to hear you speak, but you need to listen to your employees. According to Brian Dunn, Chairman and CEO of Best Buy, “The old saying about having two ears and one mouth and using them in equal proportion holds true in the business world. We try really hard to make listening a priority.” An effective employee communications program must always be two-way.

5. Communication must be constant. Communications is the river that flows through the entire organization. According to Jerre Stead, CEO of Legent “If we aren’t keeping our people current and constantly up-to-speed and sharing the facts - - we aren’t allowing them to be accountable to making a difference.”

6. Understand you audience. Make sure everything you are doing outside the organization matches what you’re doing inside the organization. According to Larry Weinbach, President and CEO of Unisys. “The first and foremost public is your own employees.” Also, Brian Dunn, Chairman and CEO of Best Buy says, “The lines have blurred between external and internal communication, in fact there really is no such thing as internal communications anymore.”

7. It’s about the story. Content is king. You need a story to tell. According to Rajesh Subrammamniam, President of Fed Ex Canada, “People tend to focus on the channels of communication. I think more focus should be paid to the front end of the process.”

8. Tell it like it is: Deliver bad news as well as good news. According to Larry Weinbach, President and CEO of Unisys, “Whether you’ve got good news or bad news, you’ve got to give it directly. There’s no question an employee asks that doesn’t deserve an answer.”

9. Simplicity rules: Be direct and simple. Today Steve Jobs is known for delivering simple yet powerful product introductions for Apple. For example, when he introduced the new iPhone, his message was that this device does three things: it’s a phone, an MP3 player, and a ?

10. Practice makes perfect. Steve Jobs wasn’t, however, always a slick, cool presenter. Steve had to learn and perfect these presentation skills over his thirty years in the personal computing business.

11. You can’t over-communicate. People rarely complain that you’re telling me too much.”Don’t be afraid to over-communicate. Resist every temptation you have not to communicate to people” Rick George, CEO, Suncor Energy.

12. A never-ending lesson. Communications is a skill you learn to master it over time. We can always learn something that will help us improve the way we connect with others.

13. Be authentic. You don’t have to behave differently as a communicator when you become a leader. Be consistent and authentic with who you are whatever your leadership role.

THE SCORE

As communications professionals we need to learn the way our CEOs learn so we know how to coach them. To gain insight, ask the CEOs support staff and family how they operate to understand their style, strengths, and habits.

As accomplished as they may be in business, ask them practice and rehearse on videotape. Everyone can use practice. Be their advocate in helping them become a better communicator.