{"id":58,"date":"2020-03-16T11:07:01","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T11:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taskgum.com\/blog\/?p=58"},"modified":"2020-03-27T09:11:41","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T09:11:41","slug":"operations-and-internal-communication-strategies-for-effective-ceos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taskgum.com\/blog\/operations-and-internal-communication-strategies-for-effective-ceos\/","title":{"rendered":"Operations and Internal Communication Strategies For Effective CEOs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[This article is written by Leonardo Fed<\/a>, it was very good article to read \/ learn, so I am sharing it in this blog, The original link of this article is given at the bottom]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Most of us are wired to believe that if we say something, those who hear us will just naturally execute it exactly as we had envisioned it in the first place. If only managing people were that easy. In reality, just because you said, doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s actually going to happen. Without providing the right direction, determination, and ongoing communication about the context of the work to be done<\/a>, the chances of actually observing the result you envisioned are very low.
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The fundamental premise is that success is achieved not when the CEO thinks something is important, but when everyone thinks it is. What follows are some prescriptions to help you understand how effective CEOs, and leaders in general, should think about internal communication and operations. First we\u2019ll go through some basic principles, then we\u2019ll look at some real-life examples from some of today\u2019s best companies, including Salesforce, Drift, Front and PayPal. This essay is about practical tactics and key insights from world-class leaders and operators. We\u2019ll discern what some of the secrets to their success are, as well as how you can implement them and avoid common traps and mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narratives (not facts) are what move people<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Subtract facts from reality, and what\u2019s left is storytelling. Great leaders know that while facts help people understand and comprehend reality, it\u2019s in narratives that make enthusiasm, excitement and passion \u201chappen\u201d. Ultimately, we are the stories that we tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery was rightly pointed out in one of the comments<\/a> of my latest write-up.
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When communicating important new messages, rather than presenting new facts try thinking of it as broaching a new narrative<\/em>. Think of what you\u2019re trying to accomplish in a broader and more holistic way, surrounding the facts (the actual company goals and milestones) with a convincing and appealing narrative. A good narrative can not only help you make facts more compelling and inspiring, but it can actually make them easier to understand. The more your narrative (as opposed to the facts) resonates with its intended audience, the more likely you are to have an impact and actually make an impression in people\u2019s heads.
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Last week I introduced the idea of the context of work in an essay titled \u201cThe Secret to Effective Employee Engagement<\/a>“. In that piece, I wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actual questions are: How can leaders motivate people? What\u2019s the actual driver for individual motivations? And what actually encourages alignment and enables the best individual work? The answer is clear and continuous communication about the context of the work to be done<\/strong>.\u200d In practice, this means telling people: “Here’s exactly where we are and here’s what we are trying to accomplish.” Employees at all levels want and need to understand not only the particular work they’re assigned but also the larger story of the way the business works, the challenges the company faces and the competitive landscape. People need context to really do their best work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While I explained in depth what the context of the work to be done is all about, I skipped the fact that great context is built through powerful narratives. Great leaders don\u2019t believe in casual context, they are able to create meaningful and pervasive context by leveraging narratives.
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As your business scales up (by way of hiring more people and expanding to new offices), so too does the scope of objectives, priorities, themes and eventually storylines that you end up communicating. This will inevitably lead to a larger number of narratives being shared with the team. Yet, people can only grasp so many things at once. Once you pass a certain threshold, try consolidating. Even more importantly, as communication has little to do with what you say, and more to do with what people understand \u2013 try taking things off the list. As people have a maximum cognitive capacity per day, be thoughtful about the signal\/noise ratio of your message. The fewer and more distilled the things you communicate, the more likely people will be able to successfully absorb the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The why always before the what<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your best people want to know the why<\/em> and understand the broader context beyond their individual responsibilities. Just because you said the what<\/em>, it won\u2019t magically make it happen unless you have a very convincing why<\/em>. To make things happen you need to spend a disproportionate amount of time on the why<\/em> than the what<\/em>.
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Your audience is already busy with their own work. In order to get them to take notice, and far more importantly, change behavior, it’s essential you provide the context behind your message. The deeper you get into the why the more they will buy into your message. Don\u2019t just limit yourself to the basic reasons. Why does this particular thing matter so much right now? Why does it have an even higher priority than what the team is currently working on? Are there any numbers to support this? What\u2019s the underlying strategy that ultimately justifies this? Why is this a better strategy than the one discussed last month?
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The goal is to get to the root of the matter and make sure nothing is left unsaid. While this exercise alone is paramount to setting the entire understanding of the team, it\u2019s also useful for clarifying your thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alignment is not one-way only<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

No matter how clear and profound your explanations, after explaining the facts and your narrative, it’s equally critical that the team feels heard on the subject. People have different perspectives and it\u2019s vital that communication goes both ways. People must be able to ask questions and offer critiques and ideas. Ideally, they should be able to do so with all managers, including the CEO. 
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Humans are naturally reluctant to change. The greater the impact of your decisions on their work, the more space you have to give them to ask for clarifications, whether it\u2019s about something new they expected to do or a decision made by management, for instance. Not only does this mean they will be better informed, but over time it will instill throughout the company a culture of curiosity and deeper commitment.
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Twoway communication won\u2019t happen automatically unless you plan for it. Pick a system that\u2019s designed from the ground up to support bi-directional (both top-down and bottom-up) communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repeat, repeat, repeat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

David Gergen, former advisor to several US presidents wrote:<\/p>History teaches that almost nothing a leader says is heard if spoken only once<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no doubt here: repetition is the mother of all learning. If you want to inculcate in people a specific message or a specific new set of behaviors, you have to repeat things. To make sure your message is really percolating down to every member of the organization, you have to repeat it so often that \u201cyou grow sick of hearing yourself say it\u201d as Jeff Winer former LinkedIn CEO simply put.
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Being a great CEO means you have to enjoy telling certain stories over and over again. If done correctly and concisely this will end up creating what I call the \u201cinner voice\u201d. If the outer voice concerns what you tell people, the inner voice concerns what they tell themselves.
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The best leaders are able to determine the inner voice i.e. what people say to themselves in the back of their minds. There are no shortcuts to this, it just takes time and effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Communicate as a Founder CEO<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In this section we will tackle some practical examples of recurring internal communication that you as a Founder CEO can easily embed in your own internal communication framework, making it part of your weekly, monthly or quarterly routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weekly Team Update<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the best communication strategies for entrepreneurs is a weekly update email to employees, advisors, mentors, and investors. The email gives an overview of tactical updates from the previous week and for the week ahead. Initially, the email should be pretty simple, expanding as the company grows and its departments formalize. The basic macro elements that you should always include are: revenues, recruiting, product and customers.
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Here\u2019s a structure that you should follow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Premise<\/strong>: write a quick paragraph summary about what happened last week<\/li>
  2. Yearly Goals<\/strong>: current metrics for annual goals and how you\u2019re measuring up against them<\/li>
  3. Quarterly Goals<\/strong>: current metrics for quarterly goals and how you\u2019re measuring up against them<\/li>
  4. Quarterly Priority<\/strong>: percentage complete and any updates to the most important projects<\/li>
  5. Revenue<\/strong>: The top three weekly metrics for the sales team, or for smaller teams, the top three metrics for every person on the sales team (e.g. calls, appointments, deals won, new recurring revenue, etc). By having every sales rep listed with their -metrics, it provides transparency and peer-pressure to hit their numbers. Comments or highlights from last week (e.g. the name of a big customer win or customer stories in general)<\/li>
  6. Product<\/strong>: (1) Features that went live in the last week and (2) features that are going to go live in the next five days<\/li>
  7. Marketing, Customer Service & Customer Service<\/strong>: The top three weekly metrics, plus comments or highlights from the week<\/li>
  8. Operations<\/strong>: new processes or procedures (eg. a new Slack etiquette, a new remote work policy, new room procedure or new habits that you are trying to inculcate generally)<\/li>
  9. Culture Highlight<\/strong>: share topos, stories or examples from the week that project the company culture<\/li>
  10. People spotlights<\/strong>: give exposure to members of the team and expose their work to the entire org<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Mathilde Collin<\/a>, Front CEO, has disclosed the template that she used to send over the years to all Front employees. As you know, consistency is key here. She\u2019s never missed one in 4 years \u2014 and the format remains largely unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    This email takes about 15 minutes maximum to compile each week and can have a profound effect on your organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Metrics Weekly Round-Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Peter Thiel, back in his days as Founder\/CEO at PayPal, used to run internal weekly and monthly staff meetings to discuss every single metric behind the company\u2019s progress.
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    Unlike software companies in the \u201890s (telemetry systems were far from accurate back then), today\u2019s organizations tend to track everything. The problem is that not everything we track is actually important, and as a leader it\u2019s part of your job to translate all those numbers into chunks of information that are easy to understand and digest. In a world of abundant information, your ability to create signals by quickly zeroing in on the most valuable and relevant content creates a competitive advantage.
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    You can aggregate the top three most important company-wide metrics in a single digest that gets delivered to everyone. This ensures everyone is on the same page and that you are all executing towards one common goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Beyond the Obvious Weekly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    As a Founder CEO there are certain things about your company that only you can see. How does your product fit into the big picture? How is your product going to change your industry category? What is your company actually about? What\u2019s the underlying secret upon which your company is predicated?
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    Just because you shared your vision once in the onboarding camp, doesn\u2019t mean people actually understand and believe in it. That\u2019s why sharing your thoughts in internal memos is so critical to helping the people around you understand the broader context of your vision and how your organization fits it.
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    You want to communicate the broader picture and go beyond the obvious. Use these types of communication to give employees the broader picture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n