Fitz N8.1. Working with senior leaders. Trusted advisor

The role of the IC team in supporting the most senior managers is vital to the health and well-being of the organization. They need support and that support should cover practicalities, providing honest feedback, keeping their message clear and ensuring people hear what is really important. 

When we are trusted we get the space to try out new ideas, to challenge when we see how our messages are undermined by business practice and to build a team that can do all the things we know need doing.

Getting alongside the boss – some core relationship principles -
#See yourself as part of the CEO’s home team.
#Know the business and industry as well as them.
#Know agendas and calendars.
#Never let them down.
#Never let her or him go out unbriefed.
#No one should have better information about your audiences, their likes and issues than you.
#Fiercely protect their executiveness.
#Use your interactions properly:
     & come with data but use it to tell a story;
     & it’s always about them – if your agenda doesn’t match theirs don’t waste everyone’s time;
     & be ready to grab thechances when they come.

Keep it brief – or keep a summary version handy!

The leader needs to be:
1. clear and compelling;
2. connected;
3. consistent;
4. committed.

Figure 8.1

1.CLEAR & COMPELLING
People want to know that their organization has a clear reason for being: one that they can discuss with their family and friends with pride. They want to know that their leaders share their vision and that there is a plan for taking the organization forward.

Mercer Communication Consulting found that 40 per cent of employees they surveyed in the United States and United Kingdom said they would consider leaving if their leadership failed to communicate a clear vision of the future. Nearly as many said the failure would make them dissatisfied with the organization.

In his book on leadership communication, Kevin Murray says that employees want:
> to be inspired;
> an enduring purpose –something they should get out of bed for –something more than profits;
> not to hear about numeric goals that make no difference to them;
> a reminder of why the organization exists and how individuals within it contribute;
> a sense that they are making a difference to humankind;
> not to be patronized by slogans like ‘Thinking About Tomorrow’ simple, grab-able ideas like NASA’s aim in 1961 to land a man on the moon within a decade.

2.CONNECTED
If a senior leader wants to make an impact they need to understand how their people think and be ready to listen as part of a dialogue. Without a sense of the audience, the senior leader can at best seem remote and at worst appear uncaring or even untrustworthy.

There is a direct relationship between business success and the sense that the top boss knows what is going on, understands how people see things and is seen as willing to listen.

3. CONSISTENT

The job of the communicator is to make sure that the CEO is consistent in their message and that employees can see the unifying thread running through all senior leadership communications.

1). A message has to be repeated multiple times before it registers.


Source: Internal Communications: A Manual for Practicioners (2014) by Liam FitzPatrick, Klavs Valskov