Leadership 2.0: 10 ways a CEO should communicate to employees

By James Bennett, Managing Online Editor, Melcrum

Stephen Martin, CEO of Clugston Group and star of hit Channel four television program 'Undercover Boss', delivered an inspirational speech at last week's Melcrum Strategic Communication Management Summit in London, Europe’s largest annual gathering of senior communication professionals.

"The tough times are far from over and we must react now by communicating far more effectively with our employees,” said Martin. Now is the time for leadership 2.0!

Here are his 10 tips on how CEO’s should communicate to employees during and after a recession:

1. Communicate, communicate, communicate: Communicate more regularly then ever before.
2. Always be seen by employees – leave your ivory tower and listen to what frontline employees have to say.
3. Inform widely and get large-scale opinion form employees.
4. Eliminate the culture of executives in suits and workers in overalls/uniform – this puts employees off and communication is immediately lost.
5. Brown bag lunches – my door is always open and I regularly have lunch with my employees but only when it suits them.
6. Refresh your communications as often as possible.
7. Ask and consult your employees at all times – go around the office/construction site/shop floor and ask all of them what they think.
8. Demonstrate you have listened and stick to your promises.
9. Talk to them at a time that suits them.
10. Invest in training of frontline supervisors and managers – if you don’t nothing will change.

Comments

[Russell Pearson]

I agree with the sentiments, but wouldn't it be interesting to have comparative data from companies with communicative CEOs and those without them, with a view to comparing their economic performance? I wonder what the differences might be and if a clear pattern actually emerged...

[James Bennett]

That would be fascinating. I'll suggest that we look into that.

Thanks Russell.

James

[Manju Ramanan]

Hi
I understand that communication is important. For many people it gives emotional support during work, for, this is a time, people aren't really feeling on top of the world. Positive reinforcement works majorly. But are CEOS themselves this motivated enough?

[Great Post]

Great post!

[Inger]

Very good points.

Here's my two cents worth: I work for a company that recently got a new CEO. The new guy has started a blog and is good at updating it regularly. Reading his posts gives me better insight into what the company is doing. But I also think it is important that the CEO encourages all managers of the company to ensure that communication trickles through all the layers of the company, if it is a large one. As much as the CEO is an important communicator, employees also need to get the message from their immediate leaders.