Do you really know what your boss wants?

I think I know what my boss wants. But every now and then I have a meeting or a "catch-up" and realise that I may have got a little off track. Which is fine, I think, provided I haven't had time to stray too far from the original plan or objective...

Unless we hear differently, I think most of us assume we have a pretty good idea of what's expected from us from the "top" – whoever that happens to be. But what happens if we've got it wrong? How often do you get a chance to hear directly from your CEO about whether or not he or she believes you're doing a good job?

A new study initiated by Melcrum in conjunction with leadership communication experts The Company Agency is investigating what CEOs really think about the internal communication function and what they expect from it. Some of the early findings suggests that we may not always be getting it right.

One of the reoccurring themes emerging from a series of interviews with company leaders from across the globe is how, at the end of the day, they have one primary concern: how well employees understand the business strategy and how effectively they're able to execute it.

Unfortunately, they don't always see how the communication function in their own organization is delivering on this.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts and experiences. How confident are you about knowing what your CEO expects from you and your team?  Do you have a process or forum in place to get regular updates on whether or not you're on track?

In the meantime, to give you a flavour of the views, opinions and perceptions that we expect our CEO study to reveal, here's some of the questions we've put to our interviewees:

1. What are the objectives of CEOs when it comes to communication? What are their priorities?
2. How are CEOs currently working with internal communication and other functions in the organisation to realise these objectives? How would they like to be working with these functions?
3. What does "good" look like in internal communication from a CEO's perspective?
4. What are the skills and competencies that CEOs and communicators will need to succeed in the future?

In my opinion, question 3 is going to lift the lid on some interesting and unexpected views.

What do you think?

P.S. The final report is due to be published in June 2007. Let me know if you're interested in receiving preliminary findings before then.

Mandy