Employees Want to be Led by Leaders Who Lead
By Shel Holtz, ABC
Virtually every employee in an organization performs a
discrete set of tasks. Only the leader sees the big picture
-- unless the leader does a good job of conveying that
big picture to his workforce. Of course, there's more
to leadership than getting people to buy into your vision.
We know from years of research that building employee
commitment to organizational goals and objectives involves
building trust between management and employees, involving
employees in decisions that affect them, and helping
employees understand where they (and the work they do)
fit into the big picture.
Your company intranet can help your CEO or president
play a major role in earning that commitment. CEO's
or president's sites are having a profound impact on
many of the organizations that maintain them. According
to the study "Factors Affecting the Adoption of
Intranets and Extranets by SMEs: a UK Study" conducted
by the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School,
top management/CEO support is essential for establishing
goals and identifying critical business information
needs.
We're not talking about the usual rhetoric that characterizes
most of those CEO letters that appeared on the inside
front cover of monthly or quarterly employee magazines.
You know the type: "I'm counting on all employees
to position their efforts on leveraging our core competencies
so that we may shift our paradigm and become a world-class
producer…"
CEO sites -- which generally are among the most visited
sites on intranets that host them -- share several elements
that make them more compelling, credible and useful
to employees.
- The CEO actually writes his own weekly letter. It's
short but focused on very current issues that are
on the CEO's mind.
- The site houses information about the company's
strategic plan. After all, the CEO is accountable
for that plan.
- Employees can learn about the CEO on the site, as
well as the people who report to him or her. Some
CEO sites even explain what the CEO expects from each
of his direct reports.
- The CEO's speeches are archived here.
- Employees can interact with the CEO.
That last point is particularly important. At Sears,
Roebuck and Company, for example, CEO Alan Lacey offers
multiple channels for interaction with employees through
his site, "Alan Online." These include:
- Alan's "Listening Channel" -- Employees
submit their ideas (along with questions and other
feedback). Lacey receives a copy, along with the employee
communication department, which forwards each query
to an appropriate senior executive for a response.
Responses are posted in the "Response Archive"
on Lacey's site. While he doesn't reply personally
to many, he reads them all.
- Live chat - Lacey conducts regular live chats with
employees, then posts the transcripts on the intranet
so employees who weren't able to participate can read
the questions and answers.
Lacey's predecessor, Arthur Martinez, inaugurated the
idea of a CEO's site at Sears with Arthur's Idea Exchange,
which included all of the tools Lacey uses, along with
an asynchronous message board where he engaged with
employees on a daily basis.
"Alan Online" also includes sections titled
"Four Priorities" and "Personal Commitments."
The site is a treasure trove of information directed
at employees that supports the notion that Lacey is
not just the CEO, but the leader of the company.
(Sears is hardly the only company with a CEO site.
During a recent intranet-focused seminar series in five
cities, a good five or six people raised their hand
in each city when I asked who had CEO sites on their
intranets.)
Some complain that most CEO's won't buy into the idea
of such a site because of the time commitment. In reality,
it doesn't take that much time. A weekly column would
take 20 or 30 minutes, and a monthly chat takes an hour.
Reviewing incoming messages adds another hour or so
each month.
From that, the payoff can be remarkable. The CEOGO
team of Burson-Marseteller reports how after September
11, 2001, the Burson-Marseteller intranet became a channel
in which management was able to be a supportive presence
for employees. The intranet also served as a forum where
colleagues worldwide were able to communicate concerns
and solutions to client challenges. According to one
colleague, "All this communication from our CEO
is like surround-sound. It just makes me feel less alone."
Employees want to follow their leader, so work is aligned
with top-level organizational objectives. Trust between
employees and managers increases. Lacey claims that
ideas have been generated from his "Listening Channel"
that he otherwise never would have been able to implement.
You just never know which employee has the answer to
a question or the solution to a problem.
According to Sears communicators, Lacey would never
give up "Alan Online," despite the time commitment.
He just gets too much out of it.
Here are some guidelines for making sure your CEO site
is an effective channel for linking your senior leader
to your rank and file:
- Promote the CEO's site on the home page. This is
a key link. Even if all other content falls under
intuitive categories, make this one stand out. The
home page of EDS's intranet always has a link to CEO
Dick Brown's page in exactly the same place, ensuring
employees never forget it's there.
- Make sure the CEO's letter sounds like the CEO and
not like a release from the corporate communication
department approved by a team of lawyers. If your
CEO doesn't actually write it, have him dictate it
and make sure you retain his personal style.
- Don't scrimp on the content covering the company's
strategy. Some companies don't explain their strategies
at all, so anything is better than nothing. But concentrate
on translating the strategy so it's meaningful to
front-line workers, and they can figure out how their
work contributes to achieving the strategy.
- Make sure answers to questions employees submit
are posted within a day or two. On the web, consumers
expect replies in 24 hours, and employees don't draw
too much of a distinction between a web site and an
intranet site.
- If you decide to conduct live chats (which have
incredible value when done right), counsel your CEO
to be as candid as possible in his replies. Don't
take only the easy questions; make sure he tackles
some tough ones, too.
- Keep the site current. Personnel changes, adjustments
to the strategic plan, new speeches and presentations,
and other changes need to be reflected immediately
on the site. Don't skip a weekly letter, either, even
if it's only one or two paragraphs.
Shel Holtz, ABC, is principal of Holtz Communication
+ Technology, which counsels organizations on effective
online communication. He is the author of "Corporate
Conversations" and "Public Relations on the
Net," published by AMACOM, and "The Intranet
Advantage," published by IABC, among other books
and manuals. He can be reached at shel@holtz.com.
Discuss this topic with other IABC members at: www.iabc.com/memberspeak.
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