Leadership Communications

Employee Engagement Programs

Do you find value in being connected with your employees and hearing from them? You should.

A study shows that top executives like “CEOs can act as Chief Engagement Officers”, and through direct interactions – on social media or otherwise –  empower their people and shape the culture and climate of the organization. CEOs who make the effort to communicate consistently and effectively with their employees are perceived to be more credible and transformative leaders, and employees are willing to walk the extra mile for these trusted leaders.

If you want to engage and energize your people, I will architect employee engagement programs that keep you connected with your teams in meaningful ways.

True Story:

Situation:

A large company was in financial distress and their long-time CEO resigned. The incoming CEO wanted to eschew the staid All Hands / Townhall meetings and wanted some ideas on how to engage employees in an ongoing dialogue.

Ideas Proposed:

Skew the Dynamic – To make All Hands / Townhall participative, invite employees to answer questions, instead of asking these. Make a five-minute presentation about your biggest challenge, and ask the employees how they want to solve it. This can also be done as breakout groups

Time Turner – Instead of opening All Hands / Townhall meetings with presentations, start with Q&A session – 80% of the time focused on Q&A, 20% at the end on a presentation by the CEO

Challenge The Team – Have the CEO drop in to staff meetings of 40-50 people, make a five minute presentation on the strategic direction or the organization and how the stakeholders think the organization is performing, and then challenge the employees to solve 1-2 top care-abouts

Breakfast Meets – Once a week, CEO eats breakfast with a team (each week a different team). Can be scaled across sites/geographies if you have volunteers in different locations

CEO Hotline – This is a chaotic time, one in which employees hear tons of rumors and so, have questions. Set up an open hotline with the CEO to address these. This can be done one day in the month, for an hour long online chat. Employees can ask anything they desire. For this to be successful, you will need to publish a schedule in advance and follow up with emails + Internal TV reminders

 

Personal Branding for Leaders

Every leader has a personal brand, largely built on the strength of our communication style and skills. It is up to us to discover, define and sharpen our own brand by tweaking our communication. Do you need help to take control of your personal brand?

I provide comprehensive one-to-one coaching that will

• assist you in developing a suitable, unique, and consistent communication style compatible with your personality, and leadership style
• help you to discover and define your unique personal brand
• identify platforms and themes that enhance your personal brand
• ghostwrite articles and presentations on your behalf

True Story

Challenge

A CEO needed a story to help thread together a keynote speech for an industry conference. His theme was The Role of Ecosystems in Building the Internet of Things. The problem is that each of the other 12 speakers would pepper their talks with stories about technology and automation and robots transforming our lives. How could I help my speaker to stand out from the clutter?

Solution

I decided to go retro and use a story from India’s struggle for freedom. The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, aka India’s first revolt against British rule, may never have come to fruition if in 1851 the East India Company had not laid the foundation of a railway network in the country. For decades, there had been escalating unrest among various sections of Indian nationalists, but these uprisings had failed to capitalize on each other’s momentum — for lack of communication and coordination.

The 1857 Mutiny began in the barracks at Meerut. The railway network — which connected a few major cities in the northern and central parts of India — enabled news of the uprising to spread. It also allowed for congregation of the various mutiny leaders in a short period of time, and transformed a localized mutiny into India’s first war for independence. This is a perfect parallel for modern day networks and role of ecosystems.

Result

My speaker told the story brilliantly, and the audience related to it instantly. He was nominated the most interesting speaker at a conference that featured far more seasoned presenters. We have received requests to present the same speech on other platforms.

Related Reading:

3 Ways a Strong Personal Brand Propels Your Success