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Beyond the Babble Leadership Communication That Drives Results

Bob Matha and Macy Boehm

Foreword by Marcia Silverman

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Beyond the Babble

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Beyond the Babble Leadership Communication That Drives Results

Bob Matha and Macy Boehm

Foreword by Marcia Silverman

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Published by Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Matha, Bob. Beyond the babble: leadership communication that drives results/Bob Matha and Macy Boehm; foreword by Marcia Silverman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-470-20048-3 (cloth) 1. Communication in management. 2. Leadership. I. Boehm, Macy. II. Title. HD30.3.M378 2008 658.4'5—dc22

2008009382 Printed in the United States of America FIRST EDITION HB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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www.josseybass.com

Contents

Foreword ix

The Authors xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

1. The Power of Communication 9

On Strategy Communication Cuts Through Babble 14 Effective Communication Gets Results 16 Why Communication Makes a Difference 19 Summary 23

2. On Strategy Communication: An Overview 25

The Action Equation 27 The People Channel 34 Summary 43

3. Do: What Do You Need Employees to Do? 45

The Elements of On Strategy Direction 47 Setting a Clear Path for the Land of Oz 57 Summary 61

4. Know: What Do Employees Need to Know to Take Action? 63

They Need to Know Why 64 Who Needs to Know? 70 The Land of Oz Knows 74 Summary 74

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vi CONTENTS

5. Feel: What Do Employees Need to Feel to Take Action? 77

Be an Organizational Psychologist 82 Getting the Insights You Need 83 The Land of Oz Gets Emotional 84 Summary 85

6. The “Why Nots”: What’s Getting in the Way? 87

The Behavior Chain 88 Addressing a “Why Not” 92 Be an Organizational Archeologist 95 The Land of Oz Confronts Its Demons 98 Summary 100

7. Package: Turn the Action Equation into a Conversation 101

Conversations Are “In the Moment” 103 The Memory Issue 104 The Conversation Platform 105 The Land of Oz Gets Ready to Roll 108 When Issues Are the Issue 108 Summary 114

8. Align: Make Sure All Leaders Are On Strategy 117

Don’t Be Fooled 118 Start at the Top and Work to the Front Line 120 Promote Open Discussion at Multiple Levels 122 Include Informal Leaders in the People Channel 125 Summary 126

9. Equip: Give Leaders the Tools They Need to Communicate On Strategy 129

Train Leaders as if Strategy Depended on It 130 Support Local Leaders and the People Channel 135 Recognize and Strengthen the Weak Links 139 Complementary Leader Assignments 141 Summary 143

10. Drive and Support: Orchestrate and Sustain On Strategy Conversation 145

Create a Drumbeat 146 To Raise the Volume, Run a Campaign 154

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Contents vii

How Communication (the Function) Can Help 158 Summary 165

11. You: The Top Leader’s Role 167

Expect a Lot 167 Measurement 169 Reward, Recognize, and Hold Accountable 174 Prioritize 175 Lead by Example 176

12. “How to” Resource Guide 179

Conducting Discussion Groups 179 The Memory Game 186 Alignment Interviews and Snapshot 187 The Consider-Dialogue-Solve Process 191 Conducting a “Red Face” Test 193 Identifying Informal Leaders 195 Selecting Vehicles: Opportunities Abound 196

Glossary of Terms 205

Notes 207

Index 209

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Foreword

Communication is the most natural thing in the world. At just a few months, babies show pleasure by laughing and unhappiness by fuss- ing. Most of us are saying simple words at one year of age. The fact is, humans are born to communicate. So why in the world is real com- munication so diffi cult, especially in the business arena?

That ’ s a question I have asked myself throughout a decades - long career in public relations. In that time, I have worked with dozens of corporate executives, government offi cials, and entrepreneurs to help them shape their messages and communicate clearly and dis- tinctly to the general public, investors, and employees.

Most of the time, I have succeeded. But if I had had a copy of Beyond the Babble throughout my career, I think my success rate with clients would have been 100 percent.

That doesn ’ t surprise me, because I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Bob Matha and Macy Boehm for a number of years. Bob and Macy have an unexcelled track record as communicators, both in the broader fi eld of public relations and, especially, in workplace communications.

Bob Matha developed the award - winning workplace communi- cations practice Ogilvy PR Inside for Ogilvy PR Worldwide (where I serve as CEO) and once headed our Chicago offi ce. He has focused on communications issues surrounding workplace performance for more than twenty years.

Macy Boehm is also an Ogilvy PR alum; she served there as a senior counselor and was coleader, along with her coauthor, of Ogilvy PR Inside. Macy has worked from the C - level suites to the front line, primarily for Fortune 150 companies, helping them align their employee communications with their strategic business direction.

Now Bob Matha and Macy Boehm have distilled their wisdom about — and experience in — employee communications to create

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x FOREWORD

Beyond the Babble. This is a book that should be read not just by PR and HR professionals, but by executives at the highest level of any corporation, because it clearly demonstrates that much of what passes for internal communications today is, in fact, babble.

If you have spent enough time in the business world, you will instantly recognize what Matha and Boehm mean by “ babble. ” It ’ s the videos, posters, newsletters, and “ vision and values ” statements that are churned out by the thousands in corporate America yearly. It ’ s that endless PowerPoint presentation on corporate goals that inspires only the desire for a nap. It ’ s that bulging three - ring binder on strategic objectives that, once produced, lives on the offi ce shelf for a few years until another bulging binder takes its place.

As the authors put it, “ Babble is a key reason behind employee antipathy toward management and apathy concerning strategy exe- cution. ” It ’ s a prime reason why Gallup fi nds, year after year, that more than 50 percent of U.S. employees are “ not engaged ” in their work and, even more ominously, some 15 percent are “ actively dis- engaged. ” Babble results in employees without a sense of direction or meaningful investment in their work — and that is a prescription for disaster in any organization.

So how does an organization get Beyond the Babble ? Matha and Boehm articulate the concept of On Strategy communication. And when it comes to not babbling, they practice what they preach, say- ing “ On Strategy communication focuses on answering one critical employee question: What do you want me to do? Then it motivates them to act. ”

As Matha and Boehm point out, answering that question in a way that motivates doesn ’ t require the charisma of a Jack Welch or the public speaking skills of a Bill Clinton. What it does require is “ . . . the ability for leaders to have a meaningful conversation with people. ” And a meaningful conversation isn ’ t about milestones and metrics; it ’ s about telling employees what you want them to do, and why, in as simple and concise a manner as possible.

Early on, the authors tell the story of “ the most extreme case of babble ” they ever encountered as consultants. It was a direct sales organization for whom tens of thousands of men and women around the globe sold products door - to - door. As you can imagine, this type of sales work requires tremendous self - confi dence, so man- agement made it a point to never share any bad news. The authors

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Foreword xi

write that “ The company always distributed good news and buried the bad. ”

The company became so dictatorial that, amazingly, corporate employees were forbidden to even talk about negative things — everyone was expected to be happy, smiling, and a “ team player. ” Of course, this meant critical operational issues went unaddressed and creative problem solving disappeared because, after all, there were no problems. After several years of disappointment in new product development and a failed attempt to alter its distribution system, the company saw sales and earnings trend dramatically downward. Finally, the parent company installed new management, which decided that, fi rst, there had to be a 20-percent reduction in corporate staff. The babble could have easily continued, but the new CEO recognized something had to change and it had to start with the way they talked with employees. You ’ ll learn just what happened in Chapter One , but suffi ce it to say that cutting the babble was an invaluable step in turning that business around.

Honest communication can bring about great rewards in busi- ness. Coauthor Bob Matha learned that early in his career, when he supported Johnson & Johnson in its crisis management effort dur- ing the tragic random poisoning of packages of Tylenol in Chicago in 1982. The company ’ s response to this horrifi c incident forever set a high benchmark for frank, open communication between a com- pany and the public. An event that might have otherwise destroyed a trusted brand instead made that brand a hallmark of integrity.

Fortunately, few CEOs will ever have to confront an internal com- munications issue that dramatic, but being open and honest — and asking basic, direct questions — can actually do wonders in preserv- ing a company ’ s advantage in the marketplace, or in orchestrating a turnaround. Matha and Boehm tell the story of a heavy manufac- turer that had fl oundered for years, seeing its stock price plunge by 90 percent over a decade. Cost cutting had been continual, consul- tants came and went, and the organizational structure was constantly fi ddled with.

Nothing helped until the CEO made communication an impor- tant part of his job description. In addition to bringing top man- agement into the communication process in formal and informal ways, this CEO went to visit employee groups at all levels. He asked them just two questions: What are we doing that makes you feel

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xii FOREWORD

proud? What could we do better? These weren ’ t just queries to make employees feel “ connected. ” The fi rst question let the CEO take the company ’ s emotional temperature; the second alerted him to busi- ness issues.

Within a few years, as new product development rebounded, the company ’ s stock went from $ 10 a share to $ 50. As the authors write, “ Employees became proud again and focused not on being victims, but on driving results. ”

Beyond the Babble would be worth reading simply for inspiring anecdotes like the two I have cited. But Matha and Boehm go well beyond storytelling, giving the reader a formula for implementing On Strategy communication in three steps.

Step One is devoted to ensuring that leadership ’ s message is on strategy and compelling. The authors start with the Action Equation, which focuses management thinking on “ what employees need to do in order to execute strategy or support the company ’ s position on an issue. ” That thinking then expands to “ . . . address what employ- ees need to know and feel so they take the right actions. ” The Action Equation, then, is Know + Feel = Do.

In Steps Two and Three, designated company leaders prepare for and bring to life a People Channel, talking to employees at all levels directly, “ to deliver direction, perspective, and information, and to pull feedback up from the ranks. ” Again, the emphasis is on talking to people, not talking at them with charts, posters, and faux inspira- tional slogans.

The beauty of Beyond the Babble, from a communicator ’ s per- spective, is that Bob Matha and Macy Boehm take a few simple, basic ideas learned from long experience, present them in a straight- forward manner, and then show the reader precisely how to imple- ment them. These are ideas that can — and should — be put into practice by any organization, whether a Fortune 50 fi rm, nonprofi t, or family - owned business with twenty employees.

Q — Marcia Silverman Chief Executive Offi cer, Worldwide Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

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xiii

The Authors

Bob Matha and Macy Boehm are partners in and cofounders of Basics 3, a leadership communications and employee engagement firm headquartered in Chicago. They also serve as senior internal communication advisors to clients of Ogilvy Public Relations World- wide. Bob and Macy have worked together for more than fifteen years to develop the philosophy, processes, and techniques outlined in Beyond the Babble. They have coauthored a number of white papers, including Reinventing Internal Communications to Get Busi- ness Results, which was published in Public Relations: The Complete Guide (with Joe Marconi, South - Western, 2004), and they have been featured speakers at the Arthur Page Society and the Advanced Learn- ing Institute.

Q Bob Matha has thirty years ’ experience in business communications as a consultant and as a function head in a major corporation. He is a recognized leader in his fi eld for his breakthrough thinking in how to motivate employees and improve the fl ow of critical information up, down, and across organizations. Bob began focusing on work- place performance in the mid - 1980s while at Premark International, a spin - off from Kraft, Inc. His role included developing and com- municating the company ’ s corporate vision, defi ning and articulat- ing roles and responsibilities between corporate and operating staffs, engaging the organization during a lengthy turnaround period, and integrating several acquisitions. Following his work at Premark, Bob launched an award - winning workplace communications practice at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, a top - ten global public relations fi rm, served on the fi rm ’ s management committee, and managed the Chicago offi ce. Earlier in his career, Bob focused on investor relations and crisis management, which included handling communications

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for Jewel Foods after some forty thousand customers were poisoned with tainted milk, and supporting Johnson & Johnson in its fi rst cri- sis involving poisoned Tylenol. Bob graduated from Northern Illinois University with a degree in journalism.

Q Macy Boehm has worked from the CEO suite to the front line. Her primary focus has been to help leaders drive employee behav- iors in support of company strategies. Working with Fortune 150 companies, she has helped executive leaders engage employees to deliver new sales strategies, facilitate major changes in compensa- tion and organizational structure, and respond to media and regula- tory attacks. For several years Macy led a cross - functional team at a major manufacturing company, served as advisor to the president of the company ’ s largest division, and counseled the CEO on leader- ship activities. Her work focused on aligning the company ’ s sixteen thousand employees behind its vision and driving successful execu- tion of cost, quality, brand, and union - relationship strategies. Macy also was a senior counselor and coleader at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. At the outset of her career, Macy served as a Governor ’ s Fellow under Indiana ’ s Governor Evan Bayh, who selected her to participate in a leadership development program designed to develop future leaders in state government. She has a bachelor of arts degree in government from Smith College and studied at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

xiv THE AUTHORS

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Acknowledgments

We want to acknowledge the many clients with whom we ’ ve worked over the past twenty years. They face daunting challenges, and we ’ ve been fortunate to be able to contribute to their success. Their intel- ligence, hard work, and dedication to achieving great things make our work, and this book, possible. We also want to acknowledge Kristi Posival and Mike Matha for their work in editing and producing Beyond the Babble .

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Introduction

A senior executive we know was trying to turn his business around. He knew communication was important to get- ting this done, and he was very confi dent in his leadership approach. He developed a vision, mission, values, priorities, and at least three pages of integrated metrics; he held multiple meetings with his man- agement group to review them; and he repeated his message as often as possible. But he felt like he was slogging through mud. “ They just don ’ t get it, ” he kept telling us.

His frustration came to a peak in an off - site meeting. In the middle of a discussion among several of his direct reports, he climbed up on his chair and said, “ I don ’ t think you all are hearing me. ” He went on to repeat his message, this time more loudly. If he ’ d had a mega- phone, he would have used it. The managers looked on with mouths gaping and nodded in agreement. “ We hear you, ” they said. “ We hear you. ” But they still didn ’ t get it.

Many business leaders — especially those at the top of the mountain — believe communication comes to them naturally. They fi gure they must be good communicators because they are very smart, hold positions of responsibility, and everybody nods when they talk. We deny none of this, but we have news for you. Just because leaders are smart doesn ’ t mean they communicate well. Greater responsibil- ity in fi nance, or engineering, or project management, or any other business discipline doesn ’ t automatically translate into like abilities in communication (remember, Michael Jordan ’ s ill - fated foray into baseball showed that though he could hit a jump shot, he could not

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2 BEYOND THE BABBLE

hit a curve ball — so even the greatest talent in one area doesn ’ t always translate to others). Moreover, just because a leader sounds good and has an impressive looking presentation doesn ’ t mean he or she com- municates well. In the end, it ’ s not what you say , but what your audi- ence hears — and, we argue, what your audience does — that counts. And the way employees nod at every word? It ’ s often a Pavlovian response to power or, even more likely, a fi ght against the urge to nap.

The fact is, communicating well is one of the most diffi cult chal- lenges business leaders face — especially as they get closer to the peak of power. It ’ s also hard for leaders to admit they have diffi culties with communicating — and to address those diffi culties. They often believe that what worked in their last job will work in a new one, despite an increase in responsibility, risk, and reach. Egos get in the way, along with the inherent complexity of business and the often overwhelming demands on an average employee ’ s time and atten- tion. We ’ ve written this book to help leaders learn how to use an important strategic tool — communication — to lead their organiza- tions and get results. It ’ s for management people at all levels, and for staff professionals in communications and human resources who help leaders in their organizations lead. Much of the material may appear targeted to the senior levels of an organization, but any- body who leads a group of people can benefi t. If your organization is like most — in which employees don ’ t understand strategy, par- ticipation is a minority endeavor, and improving communication often means barking more orders, writing more memos, and mak- ing more speeches to disengaged (and nodding) employees — then read on. On the other hand, if you lead a sophisticated, knowledge - based organization — in which nearly all employees understand and embrace strategy, communication is a dialogue, participation among all employees is dynamic, and you ’ re getting the results you need — you probably should consider writing a book yourself.

We call the principles we ’ ve outlined here On Strategy communi- cation. Although “ On Strategy ” isn ’ t a particularly euphonious name, it ’ s simple and clear — two essential characteristics of effective com- munication within an organization. On Strategy is a philosophy of internal communication that gets leaders, managers, supervisors, and employees focused on understanding and delivering strategy. That ’ s what we believe internal communication should be about (if it isn ’ t about strategy — doing the work of the business — why would a busi- ness leader focus on it?).

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Introduction 3

On Strategy communication involves three steps, shown in Figure I.1 .

The On Strategy approach doesn ’ t deal with external communi- cation, or the communication required simply to inform people of policies, benefi ts, news, and the like (although we contend that these communications should be strategic as well). It ’ s not “ feel - good ” communication dealing with “ warm and fuzzy ” emotions (although managers and employees we have worked with over the years have felt better about their work when communication improves). It ’ s about getting business results through communication. We know that ’ s what business leaders need more than anything else.

The On Strategy approach goes well beyond what most people view as “ communications. ” Much of it lives in the white space between human resources, operating management, executive leadership, and strategy development. One of the problems of living in a white space is that nobody claims it until somebody else starts doing it. We ’ ve managed to get around that problem by keeping focused on business objectives and giving the most credit to the people who deserve it — the leaders who actually make things happen.

At the same time, On Strategy communication isn ’ t the “ be all and end all ” of organizational effectiveness. Organizational development strategies — “ big fi xes ” such as culture change, information fl ow, orga- nizational redesign, leadership development, knowledge management, and frontline empowerment initiatives — provide long - term benefi ts that will go beyond the initial benefi ts of On Strategy communication. We ’ ve found, however, that many organizations are not in a position to successfully undertake these types of big fi xes without a sound

Figure I.1. On Strategy Steps.

On Strategy Communication (Focus an organization on

delivering strategy)

Communicate strategy, primarily through an

ongoing “conversation” with and among employees

Prepare leadership from top to bottom to deliver the direction

and engage employees

Clarify direction to the organization,

and make it relevant to employees

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4 BEYOND THE BABBLE

foundation of leadership communication. The On Strategy approach provides that foundation. At the same time, On Strategy communica- tion delivers results quickly, whereas the big fi xes take time. For exam- ple, the culture change initiatives with which we ’ ve been involved took up to two years to provide bottom - line benefi ts. The On Strategy communication surrounding them delivered results within months, while also contributing to executing the big fi xes.

Moreover, the On Strategy approach works with leaders as they are now, not as what one would hope they might be tomorrow. Face it: it ’ s unrealistic to expect a command - style manager to become Dr. Phil overnight, even if he or she takes leadership development seriously. Leaders need tools and a process to start their transformation — tools and process that the On Strategy approach provides. Moreover, they need help getting their jobs done — getting results — while they evolve as leaders. On Strategy communication helps them do that as well.

We ’ ve helped leaders apply the principles of On Strategy com- munication to a variety of organizations — from companies with a hundred thousand employees, to operations with fi ve thousand employees, to groups with six hundred or even just fi fty employees. Almost all the work involves profi t - making enterprise, although the principles apply just as well to not - for - profi ts. We hope someday to apply our skills to help schools, youth organizations, and govern- ments communicate better too.

We occasionally include various points of communication theory in the text, but we try to keep those to a minimum. Our purpose here is not to wax philosophical about organizational communications but rather to provide leaders with concrete actions they can take to drive results, and to convince them that these actions will work and are worth the effort. We ’ ve left out discussions of how confi rmation bias blocks productive interpretation of new information, or how social networks affect knowledge creation and sharing, or how the holo- graphic paradigm can affect communication — among other theories. These might whet the appetite of the academic, but line managers needing results fi nd them tedious. Instead, we ’ ve focused on practical ways, relevant to most organizations, to drive employee behavior to get results — and to prepare for, and help deliver, large - scale organiza- tional transformation.

That said, we recognize that some aspects of On Strategy com- munication are detailed and can be a bit overwhelming, so we have structured the book to make it as accessible as possible. Beyond the

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Introduction 5

Babble is organized in eleven chapters that fi rst explain what On Strategy communication is and why it ’ s important, and then detail how to accomplish the three steps shown in Figure I.1 .

Each chapter concludes with a summary, so that busy leaders can jump around in the book and draw on information that is most relevant to them. We have also included a fi nal “ How to ” resource chapter that reviews some of the key processes we suggest, as well as a glossary of terms (some of which we ’ ve created).

In Chapters One and Two , we fi rst review the impact communi- cation can have on business results, then summarize the On Strategy processes. We believe communication has an impact on par with other management disciplines such as strategy development, process man- agement, and human resources. The facts support that contention.

Chapters Three through Seven detail how to clarify the direction leaders provide to an organization and how to make it relevant to employees. This includes a process to distill lengthy business plans — as well as the visions, values, themes, and other attempts at leadership communication — into simple, clear, motivational messages that work. The output enables leaders from the CEO to frontline supervisors to explain strategy in many settings — be they a fi ve - minute elevator ride or a three - day conference about strategy.

Chapters Eight and Nine review how to prepare leaders to com- municate to the organization. This includes ways to identify and resolve leadership alignment issues so employees receive a consistent message from different managers across organizational silos. We also review ways to train line managers to become effective in communi- cating about strategy as well as engaging employees in conversation about strategy.

Chapters Ten and Eleven show leaders how to orchestrate com- munication in the organization. We review the communication vehi- cles leaders have at their disposal, the events they can use to trigger strategy communication, how to design a communication campaign around strategy, and the role the communications department can play in On Strategy communication. We also establish the top lead- er ’ s role in communication.

We ’ ve personally worked on every case we mention in the book, except those mentioned by name from the public record, such as Ford Motor Company, BP, General Motors, Home Depot, and NASA. The results achieved in the cases are real. We have left out company names and changed some details to ensure confi dentiality, and we

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6 BEYOND THE BABBLE

have fi ddled with timelines and the sequence of events to make it easier for readers to digest the material, but each example is based in fact. When we quote people, the words are theirs, as we recollect them, not ours.

We fi nd considerable intrinsic motivation in doing this work (beyond the obvious need to make a living). We have the opportunity to make a difference in people ’ s lives by reducing the confusion, frus- tration, tension, and mistrust often found in the workplace. We make life better for leaders by making them more effective — helping them get results. And we help employees see the meaning in their work beyond a paycheck, which makes their work a lot more fulfi lling.

Our commitment to this work — and the philosophy outlined in this book — was sealed at a manufacturing plant in the middle of Pennsylvania. We remember fi rst walking through the employee entrance: the grit on the cement fl oor, the smell of oil used to lubri- cate the equipment, and the clanking sounds of metal. We heard few sounds of people, though, and it felt cold. We were used to offi ce buildings where, even in hushed tones, people interacted, treating each other with respect, if not warmth. There was none of that here.

It was as if we had walked into a Dickens novel. Men and women toiled on an assembly line, without energy, but with a robotic monot- ony that seemed almost inhuman. Most of the work was repetitive tasks — the kind that numbs the mind in the best of conditions. They were just going through the motions. Nobody smiled. None of the workers talked to each other. As we walked by, in our suits and shined shoes, they looked at us with contempt. When we approached people on the line to ask a question, they reluctantly paused to answer — even if they were just reading the newspaper. We didn ’ t have that much experience in manufacturing plants, but we knew this was not a very good place to work. Sure, it was safe. The pay was good. People could get as much overtime as they wanted. The union protected the jobs, so there was security. But the environment sucked the energy out of people in just a few minutes.

We felt for the people who worked there — the people on the line, the supervisors, and the management. We knew the plant manager. He was a fi ne young man, intelligent and energetic. He was very kind. You could see it in his eyes and in the genuine, boyish smile that spread across his face when he forgot where he was. He had a wife and kids and lived in the same town as everybody else. The fi rst day we met him, he told us about how his employees had slashed the

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Introduction 7

tires on his car during the last union negotiation. “ I couldn ’ t believe they would do that. These people work here, but they are my neigh- bors too. ”

We were able to make a difference in the lives of the people who worked at that plant, because we did our job well: helping people communicate with each other and getting results. We helped them understand each other better, put issues on the table and discuss them, and resolve problems. We helped make the work people did meaningful, so they felt good about it. The last time we visited the plant, it still smelled of oil, and metal still clanked. But the grit was gone. People talked with energy over the production noise. And although we still wore suits and shiny shoes, people from around the plant came up to us and shook our hands, told us about what they were up to, and said it was good seeing us again.

We ’ ve been fortunate to have quite a few of this kind of experi- ence. We ’ ve always empathized with leaders who face so many daunting challenges, and we believe it is a shame that far too often they are unable to use one of the most powerful tools available — communication — to its utmost potential. With this book, we hope leaders will be inspired to rediscover the power of communication from a whole new perspective and, with that insight, get the results they need and at the same time make the work life of their employ- ees better.

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C H A P T E R O N E

The Power of Communication

Babble is big in business today. It ’ s the tendency for executives to talk about important issues in convoluted, evasive, or empty terms, and it ’ s evident every day in the newspapers and on television. However, it ’ s much more insidious inside companies than outside them. It corrodes an organization ’ s ability to achieve results, derailing leader and employee alike.

Babble is the PowerPoint presentation fi lled with lists of priorities, confusing diagrams, and tables full of numbers. It ’ s the multitude of devices leadership trot out to drive action — the visions and values, goals and objectives, metrics and performance indicators, initiatives and priorities. Babble is the clever but empty phrases written to make strategy exciting, and the catchy but irrelevant slogans promoted to build morale and fi re up the troops. It ’ s the town hall meetings in which leaders babble through prepared scripts that numb readers and listeners. It ’ s the videos, posters, newsletters, and intranets fi lled with corporate buzz. In most organizations, there is enough babble to fi ll a shelf full of three - ring binders. Those binders seldom get off the shelf, and the strategic direction in them gathers dust.

Babble is a key reason behind employee antipathy toward manage- ment and apathy about strategy execution. More than half of employ- ees in the United States are “ not engaged ” in their work, according to Gallup Research. They take a wait - and - see attitude toward their jobs, and results suffer. Even more detrimental to performance is the approximately 15 percent of employees who are “ actively disengaged. ”

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10 BEYOND THE BABBLE

According to Gallup, “ These employees aren ’ t just unhappy at work; they ’ re busy acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish. ” 1 According to Gallup ’ s Curt Coffman, a key problem is a lack of clear communica- tion from leadership. 2

The most extreme case of babble we ’ ve encountered was also one of the fi rst we addressed as leadership consultants. That was nearly twenty years ago. It concerned a direct - sales company where every word leadership spoke was positive and every communication, hyperbole. Everything was always “ fantastic. ”

There was history behind the babble. As a direct - sales organization, leaders continually needed to energize tens of thousands of men and women around the globe to sell product door - to - door. The company ’ s performance depended greatly on their state of mind. If anything spooked them — anything — sales would plummet. A rumor spread that a new product was going to be late; sales went down. The com- pany reported lower earnings; sales went down further. There was a heat wave in Europe, and sales went down again.

So management bent over backward to avoid communicating any bad news. The company always hyped good news and buried the bad. Internally, stories of success and achievement fi lled the com pany ’ s newsletters and reports, but everyone knew the grapevine was the real

source of reliable infor- mation (and according to the grapevine, everything wasn ’ t always fantastic). Leadership tried to stamp that out as well, by putting a gag order on its entire employee population. It

got to the point where employees were fi rst discouraged, then pro- hibited, from talking about negative things — even in meetings called to discuss performance.

The CEO expected everybody to have a “ positive attitude. ” If you raised negative views, you were not a team player — and if you kept it up you were off the team, permanently.

Eventually, all of this babble affected results more than the mar- ketplace, the economy, or competitors. Management left serious issues unaddressed, and the organization ’ s creativity was stifl ed by the lack of real dialogue. The company experienced continuous

Babble obscures critical issues from management and employees alike. Results suffer.

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The Power of Communication 11

failures in new product development and marketing and in its efforts to revitalize its tired distribution approach. Sales and earn- ings steadily declined over a number of years. Finally, the company ’ s parent replaced top management, and they decided things had to change — starting with a 20 - percent reduction in the corporate staff.

For this company, which never talked about anything negative, it was the mother of bad news, and the new CEO knew exactly what he had to do. “ We had to turn the company around, ” he said, “ and that started with everybody understanding how bad things were, and how we were going to get out of the mess. ”

The CEO brought together the company ’ s six hundred corporate employees in a large auditorium, stood alone on a stage in front of them, and explained the situation. He used just a few slides to show some numbers, and he had no notes. He was an average public speaker — nobody would have mistaken him for Winston Churchill. But he told employees the truth, and explained in simple, concise terms where the company was heading and why. He told them they had to reduce costs, and to do so they had to reduce staff. He said they would be working together differently; that all employ- ees needed to surface issues, discuss them, and take action. He out- lined a process they would use to reprioritize work, understanding that with 20 percent less staff the organization could not continue to perform as it had in the past. He painted a new picture of the future, saying they would revitalize the company and make it strong again — a vibrant, exciting place to work where leadership valued honesty, creativity, and teamwork. At the end of the presentation, after he answered the last question, employees stood and applauded. For the employees, the prospect of tackling the problems they saw every day was not only a relief, but also energizing.

We encountered babble of a different sort at a major consumer products company, where a senior executive approached us following cutbacks and a reorganization. “ We need some morale - building pro- grams to help employees through this, ” she said. “ People are depressed because they don ’ t trust management ’ s judgment, and they are task saturated. ” We asked what “ task saturated ” meant, and learned it ’ s a term for when people have too much to do. We asked why people don ’ t trust management, and learned that employees believed man- agement was out of touch with the real issues facing them and the business (just as you would expect of managers who use terms like “ task saturated ” ).

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12 BEYOND THE BABBLE

Some of the leadership communication approaches she was considering were monthly talks by a counselor about work - life bal- ance, celebrations about achieving big goals, and a poster campaign recognizing high - performing employees. This was babble.

The executive wanted to put some counterpro- ductive Band - Aids on very deep wounds. They would have created less trust in management, not more, because the proposed

solutions to the problems were divorced from the reality employees faced. And they would have exacerbated “ task saturation ” as employ- ees attended meaningless meetings while work piled up on their desks.

Effective leadership communication could, however, address the root of the problem. Leaders needed to explain to employees that they understood their diffi culties, then outline processes to over- come them. These could have included ways to reprioritize work to eliminate nonessential tasks, cross - functional collaboration designed to remove time - consuming obstacles, and processes to improve team communication (which saves time and reduces stress). By distracting leadership from real issues with babble around “ morale, ” the execu- tive was doing the employees and her company a disservice.

Babble doesn ’ t make problems go away; it makes them worse. It doesn ’ t hide problems from employees, because employees live the problems every day. It doesn ’ t help people understand reality; it confuses them. It doesn ’ t make leaders look competent or confi dent; it makes them look unrealistic and out of touch. It does nothing but confuse, misdirect, and discourage.

Babble isn ’ t a challenge just for senior executives. Functional lead- ers, middle managers, team leaders, frontline supervisors — anybody who needs to lead people to get things done can be sidelined by babble.

And babble affects every employee on the receiving end — the people who ultimately do the work to execute strategy. Consider Greg, a vet- eran hourly worker in a manufacturing plant. He ’ s union to the bone, and would be our fi rst pick in a bar fi ght. We fi rst met him years ago when his plant manager asked us to help improve communication.

Babble in the plant came from confl icting metrics and from differences between what management said and what they did.

Leaders who babble often lose the trust and respect of employees.

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The Power of Communication 13

For example, the plant tracked performance by counting the number of products that came off the assembly line; there was a celebration when they hit record numbers. It didn ’ t matter that the products were of poor quality and many didn ’ t work at all — management still posted the rising volume numbers as the measure of success. Meanwhile, management talked on and on about quality and cus- tomer satisfaction. It was on posters and in the company newsletter. When the company ’ s CEO visited the plant, he told employees in a speech that “ our fi rst commitment is to our customers. ” But that was all babble. Cost and volume production were the only priori- ties stressed by leadership actions. First time quality ( “ building it right the fi rst time ” ) dropped as low as 12 percent as management made layoffs to hit cost targets. A faulty product that took too long to fi x might sit for months, while a customer waited for it, because employees had to hit volume numbers. In time, the plant became one of the worst - performing operations in the company. For employees, this was a slap in the face. They wanted to be proud of their plant and the products they built, and they resented management for screwing it all up.

Over a two - year period, with our help, the plant manager, Jack, transformed the operation. Jack had been at the plant for a num- ber of years, and it was the only place he ’ d worked. As a result, he was a product of a culture of “ command - and - control ” management, and initially did not embrace open communication as an effective leadership tool. New employee research conducted at his operation, however, showed causal connections between communication and operating metrics. Also, several pilot communication programs at his plant showed that a new approach to communication improved results. As a result, Jack changed his thinking about communica- tion and embraced it as a powerful leadership tool. And he had the character, vision, and passion to change how people communicated throughout the plant.

He stopped the babble and started listening to employees. He implemented new communication processes that tapped the knowl- edge of people up and down the line, management and hourly alike.

Babble is a habit that affects senior leaders, managers, and frontline supervisors alike. All must fi ght it.

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14 BEYOND THE BABBLE

They had an ongoing conversation — as an organization — on how to improve performance. He learned that employees were proud of the products they built, but angry with management because quality was so bad. They listened to him as he outlined, in simple, straight- forward terms, management ’ s plans (which included signifi cant contributions from supervisors and line employees).

Two years after these efforts took hold, we had the opportunity to visit the plant again. The plant manager asked Greg to tell us what he was up to, and he was very candid. “ See this list of jobs? ” he asked in a commanding way, and pointed to a quarter - inch stack of papers with lists printed on them. “ These are the jobs we used to screw up all the time. It ’ s my job to work with the departments so they don ’ t screw them up any more. See the green marks through the lines? Those are the ones we ’ ve fi xed. We don ’ t make those mistakes any more. That ’ s what my department used to do — fi x those mistakes. We used to have 220 people in my department. Now we have six. I ’ m almost through with the list. ”

Then he made a comment that we ’ ll never forget, one that speaks to the power of effective leadership communication: “ When the list is done, I ’ ll have to take a new job in the plant. I ’ m not sure what that will be. I know I won ’ t be making the money I used to. Last year I made more than $ 100,000. This year I ’ ll make less because we don ’ t have the overtime we did. But we ’ re fi nally doing the job right. ” Then he looked the plant manager in the eye and said, “ We ’ ll never go back to the way it was. Right? ” He was making a statement, not asking a question. When work has meaning to people — when it ’ s more than a paycheck — they take it very seriously.

When Greg was able to cut through the babble, his work was meaningful to him again. He understood what he had to do to build a good product, and he was proud of the product he built. He wouldn ’ t have it any other way. When you embrace real leadership communi- cation as a fundamental business practice, and see the results it can deliver, you won ’ t have it any other way either.

ON STRATEGY COMMUNICATION CUTS THROUGH BABBLE

On Strategy is our term for effective leadership communication. It explains where the company is headed and how it will get there, what employees need to do to make it happen, and why it ’ s important to

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The Power of Communication 15

the business and to them. It ’ s about the business and the realities that affect it. In short, it ’ s On Strategy. More than that, On Strategy com- munication frames complex business direction in simple, straightfor- ward, motivational terms, so everybody, from the CEO to frontline supervisors, can understand and discuss it. As a result, On Strategy communication makes strategy the topic of conversation in an orga- nization, as employees and managers alike engage in an ongoing con- versation about how to execute plans to achieve common goals.

On Strategy communication isn ’ t a speech, a town hall meeting, videos, publications, or pages on the intranet, although these can be useful. The heart of On Strategy communi- cation is in leaders and employees talking to each other — every day — about strategic information and perspective that help them do their jobs and do them well. It depends on not only senior executives, but also leaders up and down management ranks — including frontline supervisors. Local leaders are critical because they have continuous and direct interaction with employ- ees. They also are the people best equipped to translate strategy into actionable terms for employees.

Indeed, the managers and supervisors up and down an orga- nization are the single most important communication channel available to any leader or organization. CEOs make speeches, and organizations spend millions of dollars on fancy communication vehicles, but a manager or supervisor can confi rm or nullify all these efforts through a single conversation around the water cooler. That ’ s why even frontline supervisors must not only be on board, but also be active in delivering strategic communication. Therefore, when we say leadership, we mean it in the largest sense. Leaders are people who have followers. That might be the CEO, frontline supervisors, or Greg, the hourly worker who led his coworkers to improve qual- ity across their manufacturing plant.

Moreover, On Strategy communication isn ’ t about charisma and style, or refi ned public speaking skills or showmanship. It does require leaders up and down the organization to be able to have a meaningful conversation with people. In our experience, that ’ s not

The On Strategy approach is the babble antidote. It frames complex business communication in simple, straightforward, motivational terms.

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16 BEYOND THE BABBLE

too much to ask. People have good conversations all the time with their families, friends, and neighbors. They conduct complex busi- ness transactions through conversations every day. They buy and sell houses, contract for services, run school boards and churches — the list is long and diverse. They can have effective conversations on strategy as well. They just need the right tools to do so.

On Strategy communication thrives on simplicity. People focus well on a handful of priorities, but they lose their way if the list is too long. When faced with the compendium of visions, missions, values, strategies, priorities, goals, objectives, metrics, and mile- stones that many business plans throw at them, employees often just shut down. On Strategy communication focuses on answering one critical employee question: What do you want me to do? Then it motivates them to act.

On Strategy communication is emotional. People talk about — and execute — what they care about. Employees in every organization — from a seventeen - year - old kid fl ipping burgers to a nurse helping terminally ill patients — have some sort of motivational connection to their work. Good leaders tap that connection to drive action. It ’ s what gives work a special meaning. That meaning goes well beyond the rewards and recognition factors to which many leaders limit their focus, and it extends to the intrinsic self - motivations that make people tick. Indeed, these are the most powerful motivators a leader can leverage.

The On Strategy approach requires leadership commitment, pro- cess, and discipline. Leaders should no more leave communication to chance than they do strategy development, fi nance, or process improvement. Moreover, the On Strategy approach is a specifi c lead- ership activity. The communication and human resources depart- ments can help orchestrate leadership communication, but the ultimate accountability lies with the leaders themselves. And it ’ s well worth the effort.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION GETS RESULTS

Communication is as effective a tool in improving performance as many of the other disciplines on which leaders spend time and resources. In 2004, in conjunction with the research fi rm Employee Motivation & Performance Assessment, Inc. (EMPA), we conducted research of twenty - seven major companies, including IBM Global

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The Power of Communication 17

Services, General Motors, Prudential Financial, Navistar, and other major U.S. corporations. 3 The research identifi ed fi ve communi- cation profi les among the companies: Open, Command, Rumor, Reporting, and Discussion. These profi les were then combined with norms from the National Benchmark Study (run by EMPA in col- laboration with the University of Michigan) so that we could mea- sure the impact of employee motivation on business performance over time. Without exception, companies where communication is defi ned as Open outperform others in key performance categories including growth, profi t, and stock prices, as indicated in Table 1.1 . Moreover, the correlations indicate that communication is a mean- ingful driver of that performance. In short, companies that commu- nicate well perform better, and companies perform better because they communicate well.

Profi le Positive Results Correlations

Negative Results Correlations

Open — Information moves up, down, and across the organization in a very fl uid, open, inclusive, disciplined fashion

3 - , 5 - , 10 - year stock returns

Sales

EBITDA

IACS

Profi t margins

ROA

ROE

None

Command — Information moves from the top down in a tell - and - respond style

5 - to 10 - year stock returns

Profi t margins

ROA

ROE

IACS

Rumor — Information moves from peer to peer as they try to anticipate what the boss wants

Sales

EBITDA

3 - year stock return

Reporting — Information moves up, as employees cater to the boss

1 - , 5 - , 10 - year stock returns

None

Discussion — People continually discuss, and discuss, and discuss information

3 - year stock return

None

Table 1.1. Impact of Communication on Financial Results.

Note: IACS � income available for common shareholders.

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18 BEYOND THE BABBLE

In the highest - performing companies, communication is open, candid, and fl owing. It ’ s as if people in the organization say to each other, “ Talk to me, I ’ m listening. ” With that kind of attitude toward communication, there is no need for babble. People share, and they keep their focus on strategy.

Contrast this with each of the four other profi les and it ’ s clear that communication makes a difference. Companies with Command communication profi les perform the worst as a group. In these orga- nizations, it ’ s as if leaders say to employees, “ Do this and don ’ t ask why. It ’ s none of your business. ” Employees don ’ t ask why, there is little communication on strategy, and their companies don ’ t perform at peak levels. Companies exhibiting the Rumor profi le — in which employees depend largely on the peer - to - peer grapevine — perform better than Command companies, but well behind Open profi le companies. The same is true for the last two profi les, Reporting and Discussion, which are troubled by a lack of communication down organizational ranks or effi ciency in delivering and considering information.

The research matches our experience. Throughout this book, we will demonstrate the impact effective leadership communication can have on results in case after case. Consider the following:

A division president of an equipment manufacturer used communication to win support for a new supply chain strategy and process. Historically, functional managers resisted integration because they had to sublimate their local objectives to the interests of the overall supply chain. Leadership overcame these hurdles, however, through use of a cross - functional communication approach, and the company saved millions.

A plant manager of a 4,500 - employee manufacturing operation used communication to turn his plant from one of the worst - performing operations in his company to the best. Communication helped improve fi rst time quality from less than 15 percent to more than 85 percent, achieving record delivery credibility and exceeding cost - reduction targets by more than 150 percent. The plant manager, who became vice president of manufacturing, said of the operation: “ We made this plant the diamond of our organization, and it all started with communication. ”

•

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The Power of Communication 19

A vice president of engineering jump - started innovation in new product development with communication. He refocused and reenergized his staff, and they developed a breakthrough product design that wowed customers and captured market share within weeks of its introduction.

The executive team of a major airline used communication to win employee support for a controversial acquisition of another airline. Resistance stemmed from seniority issues that put the acquiring airline ’ s employees at a severe disadvantage. After intensive leadership communication, however, employee mindsets shifted.

A vice president of labor turned the tide of a unionization drive at one of its major operations with effective communication. Facing diffi cult odds, top leadership communicated to employees primarily through frontline supervisors and won the vote by a 3 - to - 1 margin. The same company won employee support at another operation for controversial changes to their union contract. Employees, local bargaining representatives, and international union offi cials fi rst rejected the company ’ s position. With effective communication, however, leadership convinced employees and their union that the changes were essential to make the plant more productive and economically viable, making jobs safer.

WHY COMMUNICATION MAKES A DIFFERENCE

Right about now, you may be saying that communication can ’ t do all that — and in some respects you would be right. Communication is one of a number of performance drivers. Good performance begins, obviously, with an effective strategy (communication doesn ’ t make a seriously fl awed strategy brilliant, though it may make it sound a lot better). Good performance also requires smart leaders, resources, hard work, and luck. Communication optimizes all of these (except, perhaps, luck — we ’ re not really sure how that works). Indeed, good communication drives improvement in strategy itself, as employ- ees deeper in the organization contribute their thinking. It makes leaders smarter as communication provides them with more infor- mation on which to base decisions. It stretches resources further

•

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20 BEYOND THE BABBLE

because it reduces waste caused by actions and energy expended on nonstrategic activities. And it makes hard work pay off, as commu- nication begets results.

At the end of the day, strategy is only as good as its implementation. In fact, many good business leaders ascribe to the axiom “ I ’ d rather have a mediocre strategy well implemented than a great strategy poorly implemented. ” Great strategy that never is implemented is worthless. Moreover, even the best strategies require midstream corrections, and unless the organization can “ change the wheel while you ’ re driving the truck, ” the strategy won ’ t deliver on its full promise. Communication translates strategic planning into action. Moreover, it engages employ- ees in the organization to make strategy work, so you keep driving on the road to results and not over a cliff.

Communication plays a powerful role in the success of an organi- zation at many levels.

Communication is the face of leadership . Leadership and communi- cation are one and the same. This doesn ’ t mean good communication alone can make a lousy leader great. Moving a large organization in the right direction takes leaders with intelligence, humility, perseverance — any number of traits. Without communication, though, much of this goes unnoticed. Communication shapes employee perceptions of a leader ’ s abilities, commitment, and character.

Communication is a key to collective action . A survey by the American Management Association listed “ getting people to work together who have different agendas or goals ” as the number - one challenge leaders believed they faced. 4 In most organizations, that ’ s a communication issue. More often than not, people are work- ing at cross - purposes because they lack clarity around direction. Communication gets everybody on the same page, working together to achieve common goals.

Communication enables people to contribute . A plant manager once told us, “ If you want to fi gure out how to run a punch press better, ask the guy who runs it eight hours a day. ” Employees across every organization possess knowledge the company must have to execute its strategies and achieve results. It doesn ’ t do the company any good if that knowledge is never shared and applied. Leadership communication creates the foundation for employee contributions by providing the perspective employees require to recognize that the information they have is valuable. It also provides a way for employ- ees to share their knowledge with the organization.

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The Power of Communication 21

Communication is a key to motivation and action . Question: “ How many people work at your company? ” Answer: “ About half. ” It ’ s an old joke, but all too true in many companies, despite the attention paid to rewards, recognition, job security, working conditions, and the like. Granted, these are important, but intrinsic motivations such as a connection to the substance of work, pride in accomplishment, and belonging to an organization greater than oneself play a criti- cal role as well. Effective leadership communication connects these motivations to strategy and drives action.

In short, leadership communication tells people what they are supposed to do and motivates them to act. It is a key ingredient in every action leaders might take to mobilize employees and make them more effective in strategy execution.

Leaders reorganize their employees into matrix structures and back again. They downsize their organizations and add resources and pro- cesses. They change compensation and performance measurement approaches. They immerse their managers in interper- sonal skills training. They launch culture - change ini- tiatives. All of these tactics have merit, but commu- nication is critical to all. Communication enables leaders to tap the benefi ts of reorganization and even of mergers and acquisitions. It leverages compensation and performance management tools. It drives the engaged culture needed to achieve results. In short, although all of these activities can add value, for each of them commu- nication either is fundamental or mitigates the problems the activity addresses. So it makes sense for leaders to address performance issues by improving leadership communication as a fi rst and last resort.

We found this to be true as we worked on one of the more dra- matic turnarounds in corporate history. For more than a decade this company, a heavy manufacturer, was a perennial headliner on the Wall Street Journal ’ s list of worst - performing companies. The stock price hovered around $ 10 per share — down from more than $ 100 a decade earlier. Market share continually declined along with prod- uct quality and customer satisfaction.

Employees said they were victims of events out of their control. Senior leaders and line workers alike believed they were in a “ spiral

On Strategy communication tells employees what they need to do and why they should take action.

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22 BEYOND THE BABBLE

of doom, ” in which every year they would outline new, aggressive goals and plans but never achieve them. People focused on survival, not success — on assigning blame, not fi nding solutions. They cut costs to the bone and then cut further, until cost reduction was the only strategy anybody talked about. Then they hired consultants to plot new strategy. They hired new managers to breathe new life and thinking into the organization. They changed bonus structures and organizational designs. All of these efforts fl oundered until they improved communication.

The CEO began to use leadership communication as a strategic tool to get employees marching in the same direction, excited about where they were going, and taking action . In addition to making communication a more important part of their jobs, the members of the company ’ s senior executive team were also given communi- cation responsibilities. The CEO formed a team of informal leaders drawn from up and down management ranks and integrated them into the company ’ s communication approach. He brought together the company ’ s top fi ve hundred leaders every six months to review strategy, progress, and issues, and he required them to commu- nicate to their employees in turn. He reduced complex business planning documents to a short list of critical strategies that people could understand and remember. And he connected execution of those strategies to an outcome that employees throughout the orga- nization all wanted: to again feel proud of their company and the products they built.

When the CEO went to visit employee groups — whether man- agers or frontline employees — he engaged them in conversations. He would ask two simple questions: “ What are we doing that makes you feel proud, and what could we do better? ” The conversations con- nected employee emotions to strategies, but also informed the CEO of business issues. Indeed, those conversations changed the dialogue he had with his own leadership team as well as the communication delivered by the company ’ s publications and other internal commu- nications channels.

Finally, he employed process (as he was an engineer by training, process was his nature). All the executive visits to the operations, the company ’ s publications, the leadership meetings, the messages, and other communication activities were part of a process managed by staff responsible for not only facilitating communication, but also delivering business results.

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The Power of Communication 23

Strategy became the topic of conversation for employees across the company. They were engaged in their work and achieving results. They knew what to do and did it, and the results followed. Within two years, manufacturing plants increased productivity, effi - ciency, and quality, and customers saw the difference. The company launched its fi rst major new product line in twenty - fi ve years, and market share jumped. Employees became proud again and focused not on being victims but on driving results. The stock passed $ 50 per share, Business Week named the company one of its “ Top Fifty, ” and the company made the list of the Wall Street Journal ’ s top ten best performers.

In the fi nal analysis, the CEO pointed to communication — to get- ting employees to understand and act on strategy — as the key to suc- cess. “ You can have plans and strategies and goals and visions and all that stuff, ” he said. “ But until people believe they ’ re winners and believe they can make a difference every day, all that other stuff is not going to get done. ” He went beyond the babble, led his company with communication that was on strategy, and got results.

SUMMARY Far too often leadership communication is, in reality, babble. Whether it is long lists of priorities and initiatives or the motiva- tional slogan of the month, in many organizations leadership com- munication does more harm than good, adding to the confusion and clutter rather than inspiring clarity, focus, and action. It doesn ’ t have to be that way.

The On Strategy philosophy of leadership communication gets rid of the babble and focuses on providing employees with the direc- tion and motivation they need to take action in support of strategy. The On Strategy approach brings simplicity, clarity, and meaning to strategic direction and leverages everyday conversations among man- agers and employees, when the real work is getting done, to commu- nicate, discuss, and reinforce what needs to be accomplished, how, and why.

Time and time again On Strategy communication has delivered bottom - line results. We ’ ve seen fi rsthand as leaders used On Strategy communication to secure favorable labor contracts, implement an integrated supply chain process, reduce costs, and improve quality. Although communication on its own couldn ’ t have achieved those

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24 BEYOND THE BABBLE

results, the leaders themselves will attest it was critical to progress — nearly as critical as the strategies and plans themselves. In short, On Strategy communication tells people what they are supposed to do and motivates them to act. It is a key ingredient in every action lead- ers may take to mobilize employees and make them more effective in strategy execution.

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C H A P T E R T W O

On Strategy Communication: An Overview

Imagine this scene. A group of people are in a con- ference room talking with each other about sports, politics, or the latest gossip. The discussion is animated. People share information and perspectives. They laugh and sometimes get a bit tense. But the conversation continues, no matter what — until the meeting starts.

A manager dims the lights and starts a PowerPoint presentation. Conversation stops. Some people pay attention, but eyes begin to glaze over. One person stares out the window; another looks at his shoes. People fl ip through paperwork brought for the occasion. Another emails on her BlackBerry. The presenter begins to resem- ble Charlie Brown ’ s teacher in the Peanuts cartoon — “ Whah, whah, whah, whah. ”

Somebody asks a challenging question. The tension in the room rises for a moment. The manager defl ects the question. People glance at each other with knowing looks, and the presentation continues. They repeat this routine a few times until the presenta- tion ends. The manager turns up the lights and asks if there are any more questions. People shrug their shoulders, nod, and say, “ No — it was all very clear. ” They stand up and start fi ling out of the room. The animated conversations start again — about everything but the presentation.

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26 BEYOND THE BABBLE

It ’ s a scene repeated in meetings in companies small and large, among senior leaders and frontline employees, in offi ces and manu-

facturing plants — most everywhere. You have probably experienced it yourself. The lack of com- munication and its impact on results is problem enough. The most trou- bling aspect of the scene,

however, is that leaders and employees consider it an acceptable way to operate.

It ’ s not. It ’ s babble, and it ’ s a waste of time and resources. We refer to it as babble because little communication really happened. The leader spoke, but few if any employees were really listening (and if they aren ’ t listening to you, you are babbling). As a result, there was little conversation about the material, no exchange of ideas, and no motivation to take action. There are a number of possible reasons for the employee apathy: perhaps the presentation was confusing and full of jargon, or employees perceived it as irrelevant or at odds with the realities they face, or the presenter ’ s style stifl ed discussion (as suggested by the increase in tension caused by questions) — the list goes on. Regardless of the reason, the leader ’ s effort to com- municate, and the time employees took to attend the meeting, was wasted. If managers and employees were as ineffi cient at planning, budgeting, or process management as they were at communication, leadership would do something about it.

The On Strategy philosophy, process, and tools provide leaders with a way to improve com- munication (and avoid lame meetings like the one we just described). It not only delivers leadership ’ s message to the organiza- tion so it is inescapable, but it also makes strat-

egy the topic of conversation from the meeting room to the water cooler to the assembly line. The On Strategy approach organizes and articulates leadership ’ s direction so employees can hear it and under- stand what they are supposed to do. It makes strategy accessible and tangible for employees and connects it to employees ’ motivations so

If employees discussed strategy as intensely as politics or last night’s baseball game, would results change? You bet they would.

When leaders communicate effec- tively, strategy becomes the topic of conversation across the company.

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On Strategy Communication: An Overview 27

they take action. Finally, it orchestrates communication as a business process and management discipline.

Leaders implement On Strategy communication in three steps. Step One ensures that leadership ’ s message is about strategy, under- standable, relevant, and motivational. We drive On Strategy content with what we call the Action Equation : Know � Feel � Do. We ’ re no mathematical savants, so this equation is simple: what people know, plus what they feel, inspires them to take the right actions to execute strategy. With this in mind, On Strategy communication fi rst deter- mines what employees have to know and feel in order to act. Then Steps Two and Three prepare for and orchestrate how leaders actu- ally communicate. Through a discipline we call the People Channel, leaders from the CEO to frontline supervisors engage employees in conversations to deliver direction, perspective and information, and to pull feedback up from the ranks. In this way, On Strategy communication helps leaders lead.

THE ACTION EQUATION The Action Equation organizes what leaders need to communicate to employees. It begins by focusing a leader ’ s thinking on what employees need to do to execute strategy or support the compa- ny ’ s position on an issue. Then it expands that thinking to address what employees need to know and feel so they take the right actions. Moreover, it helps identify what is critical to communicate, and it fi lters out communication that wastes time or, worse, could be coun- terproductive to driving action and results.

The Action Equation is homework (and believe it or not, we fi nd it almost as challenging to get leaders to do their homework as it is to get seventh graders to do theirs). It ’ s research and analysis done before communication begins. The Action Equation can take some time, but if you skip the work required to adequately inform all three parts of the equation, your communication will be less effective, and you will miss a valuable opportunity to drive execution and results.

Communication on Strategy Begins with Do

Informing the Action Equation starts with a leader determining exactly what he or she wants the organization to accomplish and, just as important, what employees need to do to make it happen. These insights are usually found in a company ’ s business plan, but

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28 BEYOND THE BABBLE

business plans are notoriously poor communication devices. They usually outline all the long - term and intermediate goals, every task, all the numbers everybody has to follow — this is overwhelm ing to most employees. On Strategy communication focuses leaders on communicating the big goals, the signifi cant activities that will achieve those goals, and how it all works together.

At the outset, On Strategy communication seeks a simple, clear answer to the two key questions every employee is really asking: What are we trying to accomplish, and what do you want me to do? If a leader can ’ t answer those questions in two or three pages of written direction and in a short conversation, he or she isn ’ t ready to communicate (and probably isn ’ t ready to lead).

A CEO of a consumer products company, for example, asked us to communicate his plan to improve company performance to the eight thousand employees his organization comprises. When we

asked him to outline the plan, he said he didn ’ t have time to explain it to us, and referred us to a binder that was two inches thick. At that point, the CEO didn ’ t need to communicate. He needed

clarity in his own mind about just what he needed his organization and employees to do. If the best direction a leader can give is to send an employee to the library, strategy doesn ’ t have a chance.

Lists of goals and metrics don ’ t defi ne what employees are sup- posed to do either. We worked with an underperforming manufactur- ing operation that made bath and kitchen fi xtures (they called them “ after - dinner china ” ). The plant manager established a list of forty specifi c metrics for the operation and posted them in every depart- ment on white boards that were updated twice a shift. Although his intentions were good, the only outcome of that communication effort was a less - productive work group. The data overwhelmed employees, and the metrics slid downward, along with the morale.

The “ vision ” (and its sidekick — the “ values ” ) isn ’ t necessarily the place to start leadership communication either. Most corporate visions are abstract, well removed from what employees encoun- ter every day, and leave a lot to the imagination. They may be inspirational (we ’ ll get to that later), and they may be good copy for

The purpose of On Strategy com- munication is to get employees to Do something. Isn’t that what leadership is about?

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On Strategy Communication: An Overview 29

speeches and brochures, but usually they don ’ t tell employees what leaders want them to do.

Leaders must reduce direction to a handful of key objectives and strategies that tell people — the organization — what they are supposed to accomplish and how they should move forward to make it happen. This does not confl ict with the school of thought that suggests leaders should provide goals and allow subordinates to determine how to best achieve them (unless that school of thought says “ give them a number and let them run ” ).

On Strategy communication supports the idea that people closest to a job are well suited to making local decisions. At the same time, leaders must provide boundary conditions that keep the organiza- tion on track. Leaders also must provide perspective on the choices employees face in decision making so they know which way to turn when seemingly unsolvable confl icts arise. Finally, good leadership direction — what leaders ask employees to do — should match the leaders ’ own actions. As they say, if you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.

On Strategy communication also supports greater engagement and knowledge sharing among employees and leaders, if that ’ s what leaders want employees to do (and we suggest to leaders that ’ s a good idea). For example, one manufacturing executive we worked with gave his direct reports the following direction (what he wanted them to do to reach their goals): work together more collaboratively, put issues on the table for everyone to see and help solve, challenge each other (including the executive), and share knowledge and resources across functions and operations. The On Strategy philoso- phy says that if you want to create a knowledge - based organization and increase collaboration, you must begin by explaining to people that ’ s what you want in simple, motivational terms.

The Do portion of the equation extends beyond strategy to include issues. In today ’ s world, more than ever before, leaders ask their employees to support the company in its relationships with the gen- eral public, regulators, political activists, and others. Pharmaceutical companies, for example, ask their employees to publicly support

A leader must distill direction to a handful of top priorities. If that’s not possible, he or she isn’t ready to lead.

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30 BEYOND THE BABBLE

the company when the media scrutinize drug prices, availability, testing, and advertising. Oil companies ask their employees to support company efforts to open new drilling sites and protect against demands for price controls and windfall tax measures. Closer to the business, leaders ask employees for support on issues involving their unions, in reorganizations and during downsizings. In all these instances, leadership is asking employees to Do something, whether that ’ s simply staying focused on work or becoming ambassadors for the company among the external publics.

Know Creates Understanding

Leaders inform the Know portion of the Action Equation as they determine what they want employees to Do. When they frame this direction in the context of the overall organization, they also “ connect the dots ” for employees between what individuals are doing, what the larger organization is doing, and what ’ s happening outside the organization. These connections enable employees to evaluate activities against overall goals and ensure that they focus on the right activities. It also helps them coordinate with other depart- ments, thereby reducing duplication and confl icting work.

Employees need to know more than what to do and how, though. They need to know the whys behind direction — why the selected course of action is the best alternative, and why it benefi ts them. The

fi rst why — understanding the rationale behind strategy — boosts confi - dence and makes deci- sions appear less arbi trary. It also reduces the static around strategy execution

by changing the conversation employees have about strategy from trying to fi gure out whether it makes sense, to how they can best execute. That ’ s far more productive. The value of addressing the sec- ond why — how strategy benefi ts employees — is a no - brainer. When employees see a connection between strategy and their self - interests, they pursue it with more intensity, energy, and dedication.

Finally, some employees need to know more than others do, although those employees are not always at the top of the organiza- tional chart. For example, although everybody should understand a

Employees need to know what to do and why it’s important. That’s what On Strategy communication does.

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On Strategy Communication: An Overview 31

company ’ s brand strategy, employees who touch the customer need to know it in the most concrete terms. These people might be senior managers, but they also might be people on the front line, such as a cashier who talks to customers every day (or snarls at them), or an assembly worker who builds in product quality (or doesn ’ t). If you are executing a new sales strategy, the sales force needs to know more detail about it. If it involves sales mix, production and dis- tribution employees may need to know more, as they will have to adjust to meet changing demands for product. On Strategy com- munication delivers the depth of information employees need to do their jobs, which differs depending on the strategy and employees involved.

Feel Drives Action

“ I ’ d do this even if they didn ’ t pay me. ” A mechanical engineer told us this as he was working on a CAD

drawing that looked to us a lot like a pile of spaghetti mixed with lit- tle black boxes. An inveterate gearhead, he lived the advice of many self - help books — fi nd what you love to do, then make a living doing it. Leaders must tap into those kinds of intrinsic emotions — what draws people to their jobs besides external rewards — to drive action. And although it may be hard to imagine in many cases, there is something to love in just about every job.

Employees in nearly every situation can have a connection to their work that gives it special meaning. It ’ s about more than pay, recog- nition, or opportunity (although those things are important). It involves what people do because they want to do it, not just because they are paid to do it. These intrinsic motivations include an affi n- ity for customers and products, energy around the substance of the work itself, and the relationships employees have with their teams. Employees at one health care company, for example, are motivated by helping people and saving lives. Product is the motivating factor at another company, which builds trains — there we saw people actu- ally take less - than - desirable jobs at the old Pullman railcar company so they could have access to mechanical drawings of the original Pullman sleeping cars. The substance of the work motivates employ- ees at a technology company — they are self - described geeks who love solving problems with technology. At many organizations the motivational connections aren ’ t obvious (not everybody can save

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32 BEYOND THE BABBLE

lives or work on things they are passionate about). Take workers at a fast - food restaurant chain. The motivational connection between an employee, a burger joint, and a $ 7.50 - per - hour job may not be obvi- ous at fi rst. A deeper look reveals more. We worked with one fast - food chain that learned that many employees develop friendships with workmates and feel the positive and negative aspects of peer association. They liked their jobs because they liked the people they worked with. To engage them, the best managers appealed to employ- ees ’ sense of team. In this situation, the employees didn ’ t give a hoot about whether the burgers were made right or whether customers enjoyed the “ brand experience, ” but they would deliver higher quality or faster service to beat the performance of another crew shift, or so their team could win tickets to a weekend movie opening.

These motivational connections can become much more power- ful than incentives such as pay — even in low - paying line jobs. In the course of identifying the team connection that motivated the fast - food workers, we talked to employees at other, local independent fast - food providers, such as mom - and - pop pizza places. Employees at these businesses turned down as much as 15 percent more in pay and better working conditions to avoid joining a McDonald ’ s, Burger King, or KFC outlet — largely because of the team dynamic. One nineteen - year - old worker summarized it for the group. “ I work where I do because of the people I work with, ” he said. “ Look, my job sucks. I work at a pizza place, and it gets so hot by the ovens we have a big bowl of ice water we stick our heads into to cool off. But the owner of the business is right there. He goes and gets ice to fi ll up the bowl. I could get a job at McDonald ’ s or Burger King for a buck more an hour. But I know people who work there. Nobody works together. They all say you ’ re just a body they order around. ”

Let ’ s not be naive. If these fast - food workers could fi nd better work, they would. We doubt if many would refuse a position that offered more stimulating, cleaner, less stressful work. And quite a few of the employees we interviewed were college kids heading to management careers. But intrinsic factors kept them from jumping to other fast - food jobs for more money. Moreover, the team moti- vation drove them to work harder and meet goals they otherwise wouldn ’ t think about twice.

On Strategy communication connects strategy to intrinsic employee motivations. Leaders identify what makes their employ- ees tick, then tie strategy to it. That connection results in a more

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On Strategy Communication: An Overview 33

motivated, dedicated work force. The lack of that connection — or worse, a disconnect — is debilitating to an organization. If strategy is at odds with the motivational connections people have with their work and company, they will not support it and they may under- mine it. They may oppose it overtly by challenging management, disobeying direction, or pursuing work - arounds that end - run strat- egy. They may also derail strategy in more subtle ways — by execut- ing a pocket veto of sorts that puts strategic actions low on their list of priorities, allowing simple challenges to become more diffi cult, and undercutting individual leaders who try to drive strategy.

Finally, just as there are motivational reasons people take action, there are reasons they won ’ t. These “ why nots ” often involve trust, confi dence, commitment, or the organization ’ s cul- ture. They can be rooted in any number of sources, even in the long - past his- tory of an organization. With this in mind, lead- ers must become “ organi- zational archeologists ” of sorts, digging deep into employee experiences to determine why peo- ple do what they do — or don ’ t.

We worked with a new vice president of production for a beverage company who was trying to change work practices at one of his operations but was meeting stiff resistance among hourly employ- ees. Working with local managers, we identifi ed the root cause of the problem. Employees charged that ten years earlier, when the operation was acquired from another company, management had lied to them. “ They promised us that when we became part of the new company, our health benefi ts would stay the same, ” employees said. “ In six months, everything changed. We don ’ t trust them. ”

When we related this to the new VP, his response was: “ That was ten years ago. I didn ’ t have anything to do with that. I wasn ’ t even with the company. ” In reality, their issue was with “ management, ” not him personally. But as a member of management he had to address this trust issue. He visited the operation, gathered employ- ees together in a group, and addressed it head on. “ I understand that you believe you were lied to and treated unfairly when the company fi rst acquired this operation. After ten years, I will never be able to

Just as there are reasons people do things, there are reasons they don’t. Identify the root causes of inaction and resistance.

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34 BEYOND THE BABBLE

get to the bottom of this. Also, I won ’ t be able to turn the clock back and fi x those problems. We operate in today ’ s environment, and it ’ s a new ball game. What I will do is believe you and apologize for what the company might have done wrong. And going forward, you can count on one thing: I will say what I ’ m going to do, and then I ’ ll do what I say, every time. ” He did, and within a few months employ- ees were ready to support strategy.

“ Why nots ” can come from any direction, from current issues to times past. Issues may be real or perceived, but their impact is tangible. Leaders must address them in their communication and actions.

The Action Equation (Know � Feel � Do) will take a leader a long way in preparing communication to lead an organization. Well - constructed and articulated communication is meaningless, however, if it doesn ’ t see the light of day. To that end, we ’ ve created a process to take the information developed for the Action Equation and deliver it to the organization in an ongoing conversation — in the context of every - day activities, by everyday leaders, every day.

THE PEOPLE CHANNEL Face it. People take direction from their boss. And people look to their bosses to get answers, perspective, and clarity. If the direction an employee hears from his or her supervisor is different from the direc- tion heard from a manager three levels up — even if it ’ s the CEO — the local boss usually wins. Likewise, if support for strategy is lukewarm among managers and supervisors, it is extremely diffi cult to generate support at the front line where the rubber meets the road on perfor- mance around quality, customer satisfaction, brand delivery, process improvement, and most key metrics. This is nothing new. Research consistently confi rms that employees prefer to get information fi rst from their supervisor, and employees tell us this again and again. Therefore, people are the most important communication channel available.

On Strategy communication aligns leaders up and down an organization — the People Channel — to deliver a consistent, strate- gic message to employees (see Figure 2.1 ). More than that, it equips them to deliver information in conversation, in the context of local work issues, and “ in the moment ” when employees ask questions and are making decisions about their work (as opposed to venues

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On Strategy Communication: An Overview 35

where leaders talk while employees simply wait to get back to doing whatever they were doing before the meeting).

In their role as the primary communication channel, leaders receive training about strategy and how to communicate it. They also are privy to strategic information before the overall organiza- tion gets it, so they can deepen their understanding of material and prepare to communicate. Traditional communication channels — the newsletters, conferences, intranet, video systems, satellite broad- cast, and other means traditionally associated with leadership communication — play a role, but not center stage. These vehicles exist to support leaders — executives, managers, and supervisors — in how they communicate to employees. They distribute a base line of information to the larger organization, helping leaders with the heavy lifting of information dissemination. More than that, how- ever, the traditional channels spark conversations among employ- ees and their bosses; in short, they act as “ conversation starters ” that help engage leaders and employees in discussions about strategy.

The People Channel isn ’ t about “ cascading ” information down the management ladder in a rote manner. In this often - referenced approach, man- agers deliver direction through relatively passive communication. The com- munication department,

Senior Leadership

Managers

Frontline Supervisor

Frontline Employees

Inform and Drive Conversation

Through Vehicles

Influence Strategy Conversations Through People

Figure 2.1. The People Channel Dynamic.

People—executives, managers, and supervisors in a company—are the most potent communication channel. Period.

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36 BEYOND THE BABBLE

for example, develops well - packaged presentations and meeting support tools — a “ meeting in a box. ” They provide the materials to managers and supervisors, or make them available on the intranet, and top leaders direct them to communicate. Many times, the canned meetings include videos of senior leaders delivering the message, and local leaders simply play a supporting role.

The weakness of this approach was amplifi ed for us when we heard of the recent experience of one communication executive, as her organization tried to cascade information in the typical manner. As the executive observed, a local manager dutifully played a video, prepared by the communication department, that described the fi ve corporate strategies. Then she asked for questions (there were none). Then the manager pulled up a separate presentation, unre- lated to the video, and remarked, “ Now, we can talk about what I want to talk about. ” Although managers ’ unenthusiastic responses to these “ canned ” approaches are not always that blatant, it ’ s clear that they don ’ t adequately engage local managers and rarely gener- ate good discussion among employees and leaders, which is critical to effective communication.

The People Channel generates an active interchange of knowledge and ideas among employees and leaders, rather than a passive cas- cade of information. It provides processes and tools to help engage leaders and employees in an ongoing conversation about strategy, so people have an opportunity to increase their understanding of strat- egy and offer their ideas and perspectives on how to improve it and execute better. Although the People Channel begins with top leader- ship, it is ultimately a method to engage managers and supervisors deep in the organization in communication and strategy execu- tion. The People Channel is a process that demands the same kind of discipline required of other strategic endeavors such as planning, budgeting, and process implementation. It is built on the homework conducted through informing the Action Equation and is executed through the following fi ve steps.

Package the Action Equation into a Conversation

When it comes to messages, packaging is critical. Although all of the information and perspective that informs the Action Equation is important, and will be communicated to the organization, it must be organized to promote conversation. That ’ s the purpose of

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On Strategy Communication: An Overview 37

a tool called the Conversation Platform. The Conversation Platform packages the most salient parts of the Action Equation so they are accessible and usable by leaders — all the way to the front line — to drive conversation on strategy. Some call this an “ elevator speech. ” We call it simple clarity.

The Conversation Platform explains strategy in a very short, fi ve - point story. The story starts with where the organization is going, which we call “ the cause, ” because it identifi es an outcome that employees want to achieve. Then it articulates no more than four themes that outline how the organization will get there — what employees need to do to achieve the cause. Infused throughout is why all of it is important — to employees and the company. The story is told in words people actually use — not slogans, tag lines, or hyperbole that make communication trite and irrelevant, or the corporate - speak that makes it confusing.

Although the Conversation Platform itself is a very short story, it connects to all of the objectives and activities an organization undertakes to achieve its goals. It provides a context to interpret, evaluate, and understand all of those actions so employees can make sense of and “ connect the dots ” between where the organization is headed and the activities they see and hear about.

The Conversation Platform is not a list of strategies or a series of PowerPoint bullet points. As a story, it has to hang together. That ’ s because people — leaders and employees — can remember a story, but have trouble remembering lists. A chef can remem- ber a well - planned seven - course din ner, because the menu tells a story: “ We ’ ll start with smoked salmon scones and move to a classic Capri salad; then to tournedos portabella, ” and so on. The same chef will have trouble remembering more than fi ve or six unrelated items on a grocery list without referring to notes (or the story of his menu). Because we want leaders and employees to have conversations “ in the moment, ” it ’ s important for them to be able to remember what we want them to have a conversation about: strategy. Moreover, people readily have conversations about stories, but don ’ t usually get very excited about lists of things (just as a fi nely

People communicate through conver- sation. On Strategy communication orchestrates those con versations so they drive results.

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38 BEYOND THE BABBLE

planned meal could spark many conversations, but a grocery list isn ’ t all that compelling).

The Conversation Platform is one of the most potent leadership communication tools in the On Strategy portfolio. In addition to making information more accessible and usable, it helps align senior executive teams and other leaders around a single direction, forms the basis for training leaders up and down the organization, and brings discipline to everyday communication efforts.

Align Leaders Up and Down the Organization

Strategy execution depends on leaders pulling (and pushing) in the same direction. Alignment among leaders can be elusive. The chal lenges include a lack of information, differing perspectives, misper ceptions or misunderstandings about priorities, and varied expectations. On Strat- egy communication, through the People Channel, helps a top leader align his or her leadership team by simplifying direction, thereby mak- ing it understandable and undeniable.

Simplicity is critical to achieving alignment. Simplicity begets clarity, and clarity promotes alignment by making differences among people apparent and actionable. When leaders see that they disagree, they can do something about it. People can ’ t hide behind complex- ity, feigning agreement while continuing to disagree. They also can ’ t cherry - pick from a long list of strategies and priorities, then pursue those they prefer and ignore the rest. Simplicity brings alignment — or the lack thereof — into the open where leaders can address it.

The Action Equation and Conversation Platform, both of which simplify strategy, are tools that leaders can use to drive alignment at two levels. At senior levels, creating and reviewing the Action Equation focuses leaders on the most important elements of strategy and its rationale, and it promotes robust discussion around strategy. It also considers the mindset of the employee population. Discussions centered on the Action Equation make it more likely leaders will put issues on the table and address them. With simple strategy staring them in the face, it ’ s harder for managers to nod assent to ideas they really disagree with, or to pretend alignment to avoid confl ict with superiors, only to “ pocket veto ” strategy during implementation.

The Conversation Platform provides a tool to align the entire lead- ership group — down to frontline supervisors. Leaders who are less familiar with strategy fi nd its simplicity refreshing and manageable.

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On Strategy Communication: An Overview 39

It helps them put all the elements of the Action Equation into terms they can talk about. They can agree with the platform and its under- lying assumptions or raise issues. The simplicity and direct nature of the Platform enables them to point out real or perceived inconsisten- cies with the realities they face.

When coupled with facilitated discussion, the tools of the Action Equation and Conversation Platform become even more powerful. By facilitating discussion, leaders can mitigate some of the deeper challenges that get in the way of alignment. These include internal politics and confl icting agendas, cultural barriers to open and hon- est discussion, management styles that suppress alternative view- points, and real, philosophical differences concerning strategy.

Equip Leaders to Have Conversations On Strategy

One of our clients revamped its internal company university (their learning and training approach). They did a fi ne job, as evidenced by the extensive course catalogue, the quality of the instructors, and the frequency of offerings. There was, however, one glaring omis- sion. There were no courses on the company ’ s current strategy and how to communicate it to employees responsible for execution.

When leadership decides to launch a new operating process, such as lean manufacturing, they deem learning and training to be essen- tial. The same goes for activities around performance management, budgeting, safety — you name it. Leadership communication on strategy, however, gets meager attention. Unfortunately, many orga- nizations have a blind spot for training executives, managers, and supervisors to communicate strategy, even though strategy execu- tion is probably the single most important endeavor an organization undertakes. One reason for this is a tendency to confuse commu- nication skills training with training on communicating strategy. Training for public speaking, making presentations, writing memos, and other communication skills is not the same as training to enable communication about strategy.

Leaders up and down the organization must be trained on strat- egy and how to communicate it. They should be briefed on the background information developed from the Action Equation. This enables leaders to understand the basis of strategy and connect it to employee information and motivational needs. Leaders also must be trained to use the Conversation Platform — through a review of

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40 BEYOND THE BABBLE

the platform and by role - playing — so they can hone their skills in explaining strategy, infl uencing conversations with employees about strategy, and engaging employees to provide their knowledge and perspective.

Beyond the strategy - specifi c training just mentioned, the most effective training related to the People Channel is that which builds interpersonal skills. As we ’ ve said, effective leadership communica- tion involves a conversation with the organization, which ultimately

translates into conver- sations between leaders and their employees. The more adept leaders are at having conversations, the better equipped they will be to engage in strategy - related communication.

Finally, the People Channel must keep leaders abreast of strategic information ahead of the employee population to ensure that lead- ers have the opportunity to ask questions and clarify issues before engaging directly with employees. This shouldn ’ t be an expensive or complex undertaking. As always, simplicity is key. Leaders can be informed through memos, telephone calls, a dedicated intranet page, and other means that don ’ t require long production times or expense. Communication to them must be continuous and topical, however, and they must be able to ask questions.

Drive Communication and Conversations

The People Channel is most effective when it is coordinated with the other communication vehicles and tactics employed by an orga- nization. These include typical internal communication vehicles, such as the company newsletter, intranet, town hall meetings, and the like. They also include the communication channels integral to operations: the operating meetings, team meetings, reporting docu- ments, budgeting templates, and the other communication vehicles used in the course of conducting business. These communication vehicles support the People Channel in two ways: fi rst, they fl ood the employee environment with information on strategy, and sec- ond, they stimulate conversation on strategy.

Leaders up and down the organi- zation must be aligned, equipped, supported, and expected to drive communication about strategy.

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On Strategy Communication: An Overview 41

Every article, video, meeting, and other vehicle produced to communicate to employees is an opportunity to explain where the company is headed, how it is going to get there, and what employees need to do. This includes routine communication such as personnel announcements, benefi ts communication, training, and other venues. The individuals creating the material can use the Action Equation and Conversation Platform as prompts to help identify opportunities for communication on strategy, and as fi lters to determine whether information is relevant to employees.

At the same time, internal communication must be designed to generate conversations. In most organizations, communication is much too bland and safe. It becomes part of the corporate wallpa- per; it doesn ’ t make waves, raise an eyebrow, or challenge the norm. Instead, workplace communication should be out - of - the - ordinary and compelling — even controversial and provocative — so people talk about it. Once people are talking, leaders can join in and infl u- ence the conversation to support strategy. In this regard, leaders should assess the vehicles used in formal internal communication against their ability to generate conversation. Posters, tent cards, LED signs, and other environmental communication can be very effective at generating conversations. Whatever the vehicle, though, it must be designed with conversation as its purpose, not to look pretty or spout vanilla corporate babble.

The communication department in most companies is an excellent resource for leaders to establish, manage, develop, and support the People Channel. Communication departments usually have writers, producers, and other people to help with the tactics. Some have excel- lent leadership communication coaches who can be an invaluable resource to the People Channel. It ’ s important, however, to ensure that the communication staff is connected to the business — that they work to drive strategy, not just report on it.

Expect a Lot

We worked with a division president who was frustrated when members of his team didn ’ t follow his example in On Strategy communications — they didn ’ t pick up the ball and run with it. We said to him, “ You ’ re the president of this organization for a reason. You understand that communication is a key part of your

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42 BEYOND THE BABBLE

job. Although there are many great people in this organization, you can ’ t expect them all to act just like you by nature. You need to set expectations for communication. ”

Expectations around communication, though, are a dime a dozen. Performance management tools raise communication expectations. Communication is often among the list of organizational “ values ” all employees are supposed to exhibit. There usually is a section in the employee survey on communication. People talk about com- munication all the time, but communication is usually a second- ary consideration in project management and one of the fi rst things managers put on the back burner. Moreover, it ’ s often overlooked as a key requirement in leadership selection and development.

Leaders should expect their subordinates to communicate. Period. The People Channel approach helps set and manage expec- tations by creating a process and observable steps leaders can man- age and monitor. Expectations around communication are clear and measurable. Moreover, at its best the People Channel helps line managers do their jobs by informing and motivating employees to act on strategy and therefore to achieve local objectives. It ’ s part of the job, not another job to do. Every leader should be an active member of the People Channel.

Senior leaders also must set expectations for themselves. On Strategy is a collective effort, but it begins with individuals — the most important being you. Where should you focus your time and effort as it relates to leadership communication? First, manage the People Channel. Set expectations as just outlined, and make sure things happen. Second, prioritize your efforts in terms of the company ’ s strategic communication needs. Review the landscape of the orga- nization and determine which projects and initiatives are the most important to performance. Spend the most time on communication with the employees associated with those priorities. Third, conduct communication activities with a specifi c purpose in mind — one that supports driving strategy execution. Don ’ t waste time on communi- cation that does not support strategy.

We worked with a company ’ s internal communication team that wanted their executive team to spend more time talking with frontline employees — unskilled laborers who were responsible for moving boxes around warehouses and onto trucks. The company ’ s employee survey revealed that these frontline employees did not understand strategy as well as other groups in the company, and

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On Strategy Communication: An Overview 43

they believed the reason for that was a lack of attention by senior leaders. That made sense, because historically senior leaders were the primary carriers of strategic messages in the company.

We asked two questions:

1. How important is it that the frontline employees understand strategy?

2. If it is important for these specifi c employees to understand strategy, why don ’ t their frontline supervisors explain it to them? Is there some reason these employees need to hear directly from senior leadership?

The answers to these questions forced the communications staff to consider a different approach. Leadership time is always tight and in demand; it must be used wisely.

At the same time, leaders need to be ready to devote the time nec- essary to effectively communicate to their organization. Sometimes, On Strategy communication depends entirely on the CEO or other top leaders. This is especially the case when trust issues are involved, or when leaders ask employees to make sacrifi ces. Effective leaders understand this and make communication a priority even when leadership pressures and time constraints are at their most intense.

SUMMARY The On Strategy approach to leadership communications ensures that strategy gets out of the binder and becomes a topic of conver- sation and basis for daily decision making at all levels of the organi- zation. No longer is strategy discussed only at top leadership levels. With On Strategy communication, all employees are engaged in a process to understand strategy, how it affects their work, and why they should take action.

Leaders implement On Strategy communication in three steps. Step One ensures leadership ’ s message is about strategy, under- standable, relevant, and motivational. On Strategy content is built with what we call the Action Equation: Know � Feel � Do. This is a thought process leaders use to clearly defi ne where their organiza- tions are headed, what they need employees to do in order to execute strategy, and why all employees should be motivated to take action.

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44 BEYOND THE BABBLE

Once built, the Action Equation becomes the directional guide for all leadership communication content.

Steps Two and Three of On Strategy communication prepare for and orchestrate how leaders actually communicate. Through a discipline we call the People Channel, leaders from the CEO to frontline supervisors engage employees in conversations to deliver direction, perspective, and information, and to pull feedback up from the ranks. This involves packaging direction into a very simple Conversation Platform, aligning all leaders around direction, setting clear expectations of all managers and supervisors about their role in communication, and providing training, tools, and support.

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C H A P T E R T H R E E

Do: What Do You Need Employees to Do?

What do you need employees to do? It ’ s a simple question, but many leaders fi nd it very hard to answer. We recently met with the executive team at a mid - sized company that was launching a new strategy. For illustrative purposes, we ’ ll refer to the company as the Land of Oz. They presented the business plan they intended to share with employees. The presentation — only thirteen slides — was short by business plan standards, but was a typical review. There were fi ve goals, such as increase sales to $ 5.5 billion, achieve 98 - percent customer satisfaction, and improve productivity by 7 percent. Those goals resulted in six business outcomes, such as becoming the “ most valued supplier of our customers and gaining market share and improving Return on Assets (ROA) to 17 percent. ” The presentation posed and answered the question “ How will we get there? ” (The answer: sales growth by market, acquisitions, new prod- ucts, geographic expansion, product mix — twenty - two activities in total.) Then came the Key Performance Indicators — measures such as net sales, on - time delivery, accident frequency, sales per employee — ten in all. These fed into four value drivers: growth, EBIT, working capital improvement, and ROA improvement. The presentation fi nished with a discussion of the com pany ’ s newly developed Lean Strategy, which focused on the customer, develop- ing employees, eliminating nonvalue work, and being a “ journey of continuous improvement. ”

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46 BEYOND THE BABBLE

It took about forty - fi ve minutes for the executives to deliver the presentation, and when they were fi nished, we asked: “ Now that we ’ ve gone through all that, tell us, what do you need people to do? ” There was no answer — just quizzical looks. “ We just told you, ” they said. “ Tell us again, ” we responded. “ And do it without slides. Make it simple so we can have a conversation about it. ” Four hours later, after cutting away the complexity and driving to the heart of their strategy, we fi nally understood what leadership needed employ- ees to do. They wanted employees to increase effi ciency and reduce waste, expand the Land of Oz ’ s customer base and share of spend- ing with each customer, and help integrate new acquisitions into the organization — while always attending to customer satisfaction. All of this would achieve their overall business goals of increasing return on assets and growth.

Why didn ’ t they say so in the fi rst place? Because they hadn ’ t moved from the complexity of their business planning process (which is indeed necessary) to the simplicity required to communi- cate effectively.

Similarly, we worked at a manufacturing plant where the business plan called for the organization to meet a multitude of metrics. The plant was underperforming in almost every measure, and manage- ment needed action, fast. When presented with all the metrics, employees became overwhelmed. They were confused and dis- couraged; they were not equipped to process all that information. Plant management then winnowed the set of metrics down to fi ve. Discussions with supervisors, however, revealed that even fi ve were too many for the workforce to handle. In the end, management communicated two metrics — one around waste and one around safety. If the plant made progress on these two measures, manage- ment decided, it would begin to improve performance across the board. And once performance started to improve, and employees built up their confi dence and understanding about how they could affect results, leadership could provide additional direction to refi ne the progress. It worked.

Good leadership direction tells employees what to do without burdening them with too much detail, while providing enough context to enable employees to make decisions when they run into uncertainty and confl icts. Good direction answers three simple questions: At the end of the day, what are the really important things

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Do: What Do You Need Employees to Do? 47

we need to achieve? How are we going to achieve them? And what do you need me to do? Business plans and lists of metrics usually do not provide good direction. Most business plans are too detailed, and most lists of metrics don ’ t provide context. This may seem to confl ict with common understandings of communication that dic- tate that more is better — that leaders should tell employees every- thing they can. But simply dumping information on people isn ’ t direction; it ’ s information overload.

Moreover, as we discuss direction, we don ’ t mean to imply that the On Strategy process is a top - down, command approach to strat- egy development, execution, and communication. As leaders develop their plans, it ’ s clearly in their best interest to enable employees to participate in strategy development and decisions about execution. (We will discuss how to improve participation levels among employ- ees in later chapters.) Once strategy is set, however, it ’ s important that leadership actually lead the organization — that ’ s why leaders are called leaders and get paid more than the rank and fi le. And clarity in direction and communication is one of the most important ele- ments of effective leadership.

THE ELEMENTS OF ON STRATEGY DIRECTION

On Strategy direction isn ’ t about what you say, it ’ s about what employees hear and do. For employees to be able to hear direction and do something about it, that direction must exhibit four char- acteristics: it must be simple, actionable, make choices, and match words with actions.

Simplicity Drives Clarity

Try the following test: Write out in fi ve hundred words or less — in the form of a narrative, not a list — what you want your organization to achieve, and how. (Most managers get stuck here.) Then, so you don ’ t fool yourself, sit down with some of your employees — those who will tell it to you like it is. Ask them two questions:

1. Does this make sense?

2. What actions would you take based on this direction?

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48 BEYOND THE BABBLE

If they hold confl icting views, don ’ t understand the direction, or can ’ t have a productive conversation about the actions they would take, you have work to do.

An unfair test? Your business is too complex to simplify it that much? Hogwash. The Ten Commandments from start to fi nish take 309 words — and what ’ s more diffi cult than morality and humanity? John F. Kennedy outlined his direction to NASA to put a man on the moon in about fi ve hundred words. Is your business more challeng- ing than that? Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan put it well in their book Execution : “ A leader who says ‘ I ’ ve got ten priorities ’ doesn ’ t know what he ’ s talking about — he doesn ’ t know himself what the most important things are. You ’ ve got to have these few, clearly real- istic goals and priorities, which will infl uence the overall perfor- mance of the company. ” 1 A strategy, they continue, “ should be easy

to understand. Its essence should be describable in one page . . . If you can ’ t describe your strategy in twenty minutes, simply and in plain language, you haven ’ t got a plan. ” In response to those who

protest that strategy is too complex to reduce to a page, Bossidy and Charan say, “ That ’ s nonsense. That ’ s not a complex strategy. It ’ s a complex thought about the strategy. The strategy itself isn ’ t com- plex. Every strategy ultimately boils down to a few simple building blocks. ” 2

Simplicity has always been an important goal, but it has become more pressing as matrix organizational designs replace traditional hierarchies. When employees worked for one boss and orders came down the chain of command, there was continuity and consistency — the list of priorities could be somewhat longer because there was a single boss maintaining focus and balancing the efforts of employees against the priorities. But in a matrix organization, where spans of control are broad and people have multiple reporting relationships, direction can get confusing fast. In fact, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner pointed to organizational complexity as one reason for GM ’ s many missteps. In addition to geographic units, the company is divided along functional lines, with global groups overseeing areas such as marketing, product development, and human resources.

To have an effective conversation about strategy, it must be simple enough to explain on an elevator ride.

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Do: What Do You Need Employees to Do? 49

The system is confusing to most employees and especially so for midlevel employees who have two or more bosses. Wagoner admitted it ’ s diffi cult: “ People really have trouble because they want to know who ’ s in charge, ” he said. “ And the answer is going to be, increasingly: It depends. ” 3

With that kind of ambiguity, it ’ s understandable how employees might get confused. That confusion leads to decisions and actions that are off strategy or in confl ict, which in turn wastes time, energy, and resources. Employees can only focus on a short list of goals and strategies at any given time. If leaders try to put too many items on their employees ’ plate, some of those items may fall off. It ’ s inevi- table. And if you allow various subgroups of your organization to pick which goals get attention and which take a back seat, you are in for trouble. You can tell if you are engaging in complexity creep by repeating the fi ve - hundred - word test. If you can ’ t tell people what the organization has to achieve, how it will achieve it, and what you want the general employee population to do in fi ve hundred words or less, your “ Do ” message needs work.

The What and the How

As leaders construct direction, they often focus on the “ what ” to the exclusion of the “ how. ” The action that leaders require is implied or ambiguous, and therefore less actionable. On Strategy direction not only sets goals, but also explains how employees can achieve the goals in very concrete, physical, actionable terms. In fact, people can watch good direction manifest itself in real, observable action — something that isn ’ t possible by metrics alone. You can ’ t watch reve- nues increase by $ 3 billion, but you can watch management acquire a new company, build a new plant, launch a new product, or take any number of actions to generate the revenues. You can ’ t watch sales increase by 10 percent, but you can watch sales people make two hundred additional sales calls to achieve that goal.

If you lead a large organization, it may not be you who is respon- sible for identifying this kind of actionable direction. (After all, that ’ s why you have a VP of sales, right?) But you are accountable for ensuring that the direction ultimately given to the sales team is, in fact, actionable. If, for example, the goal is set to increase sales by 10 percent, you should expect more from your VP of sales than just to regurgitate that goal to the sales team and hope for the best.

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50 BEYOND THE BABBLE

You should expect your senior players to work with their teams and defi ne, with clarity and simplicity, how they ’ re going to achieve the goal that ’ s been set. The result is a robust and collaborative plan with far greater chances of success.

The plant manager we mentioned earlier changed his direction to include the “ how ” in a very physical way. He directed his managers:

“ Look at your work pro- cesses and identify why people are injured and how products are bro- ken. Hold group meet- ings where employees can contribute their ideas on how to fi x the problems. Take action on those ideas

within the next thirty days. ” That ’ s physical direction that you can see people doing. Within weeks, every one of the metrics showed an upward trend.

The concept of physical versus abstract direction goes beyond numbers. We worked with an executive who was pursuing a strategy to move manufacturing from one location to another. The project was critical, and he was worried about it because the organization had failed in a similar move several years before. A key reason for the failure was that the various functions involved had not coordinated their actions well and had even worked at cross - purposes. When we asked how employees were going to do better this time, he said, “ With fl awless execution. ” This phrase seems to be a staple among operations people, along with “ working with renewed focus; work- ing smarter, not just harder ” . . . the list goes on. These phrases aren ’ t leadership communication; they are an easy substitute for a lack of clarity and decisive direction. If you use these kinds of phrases in your direction, replace them with concrete, physical direction. In this case, the executive replaced “ fl awless execution ” with “ Communicate across functions through a defi ned process. Then measure employee confi dence that critical issues are being surfaced and addressed to ensure you ’ re on track. ”

This approach to direction contrasts to some extent, but not entirely, with those that recommend leaders provide employees with broad goals and then let them fi gure out for themselves how to achieve them. We believe fully in the concept that those closest

On Strategy direction is more than lists of priorities and numbers. It provides boundaries and insights about how to get things done.

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Do: What Do You Need Employees to Do? 51

to work are best suited to make decisions about it. However, leaders must provide boundary conditions to enable those decisions, and they need to provide direction to empower people. That involves an ongoing conversation with employees about direction — not just dictating orders, returning to the corner offi ce, and closing the door. The conversation starts not with a blank sheet of paper, but with a strategic framework of where the organization is headed and how leadership plans to get it there. With such a framework, employees can more constructively and effectively contribute to the plans and eventual success of the organization.

At a minimum, if leaders want employees to make decisions entirely on their own, they need to say so. We ’ ve seen situations in which leaders weren ’ t specifi c about this, and the leaders and their employees were each waiting for the other to make a decision. Beyond that, however, decisions are better informed when leaders provide their knowledge and perspective to the mix. Leaders provide a broader context that local or functional employees don ’ t always have. Leaders often have experience that can improve decisions and avoid mistakes. And by providing well - constructed boundary condi- tions, leaders actually provide greater empowerment to employees and increase their creativity in decision making. Those boundary conditions could be fi nancial, such as working within budget param- eters or against return on asset or margin requirements. They also could include certain fundamentals that are nonnegotiable.

Remember the Nonnegotiables

Sometimes leadership just has to state the obvious, especially when it involves the nonnegotiables. These are tenets and activities funda- mental to the company ’ s philosophy of doing business. They govern the organization ’ s decision making, operating approach, and culture. They involve ethics, safety, maintenance, legal process, fairness to customers, respect for employees, and other factors that keep a com- pany on track over the long term. They are often found in a compa- ny ’ s vision and values statements. Others simply call them common sense and the right thing to do. In any event, leaders must make them integral to leadership communication and direction, or orga- nizations can overlook, neglect, or ignore them.

The direction Ford Motor Company gave employees when they designed and launched the Pinto compact car in the 1970s ignored

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52 BEYOND THE BABBLE

the obvious. The story has been well known for years (it ’ s hard for MBA students to avoid it), but the fact that a good part of the company ’ s failure in this instance stemmed from incomplete direc- tion is worth revisiting. Ford CEO Lee Iacocca ’ s direction was clear and simple: the Pinto was not to weigh an ounce over two thousand pounds and not to cost a cent over $ 2,000. Because of time con- straints, tooling for production began before the design and testing phase was complete. As the project unfolded, Ford engineers dis- covered a major design fl aw. Rear - end crash tests revealed that the Pinto ’ s fuel system would rupture easily and cause a fi re. The safety implications were clear — people would burn to death (an outcome predicted by Ford risk managers). Engineers considered various alternatives, but the weight and cost of safety didn ’ t fi t in, and Ford built the Pinto with the gas - tank fl aw. The result: hundreds of peo- ple died or were burned badly, the company lost hundreds of mil- lions from lawsuits, and its reputation was irreparably damaged. 4

Refl ecting on the Pinto, Iacocca said, “ There is absolutely no truth to the charge that we tried to save a few bucks and knowingly made

a dangerous car. The auto industry has often been arrogant, but it ’ s not that callous. The guys who built the Pinto had kids in college who were driv- ing that car. Believe me, nobody sits down and

thinks: ‘ I ’ m deliberately going to make this car unsafe. ’ ” 5 Tragically, they did build an unsafe car, because the direction Iacocca gave them ignored a nonnegotiable — safety.

BP appears to have ignored some of its nonnegotiables — commitments to safety and maintenance — as managers sacrifi ced the long term for short - term gains. The company was investigated in 2006 following an explosion in a Texas refi nery that cost a number of employee lives. According to reports, BP leaders pressured oper- ating managers to boost margins, but did not explore safety impli- cations with vigor. “ The prevailing culture . . . was to accept cost reductions without challenge and not to raise concerns when opera- tional integrity was compromised. ” 6 During the same period, BP failed to maintain its oil pipeline in Prudhoe Bay, and 250,000 gal- lons of crude oil spilled onto the Alaskan landscape. According to

Some things must not be sacrifi ced. Let employees know what those nonnegotiables are.

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Do: What Do You Need Employees to Do? 53

reports, the company had reduced inspection personnel and ignored warnings by contractors about corrosion. Local managers went so far as to intimidate employees who raised concerns about the pipe- line. 7 Nonnegotiables around safety and maintenance are certainly visible in BP general communication such as the company ’ s vision and values, but apparently leadership at the company did not stress them in their specifi c direction, or through their actions, to the extent necessary.

NASA experienced a similar deterioration of its nonnegotiable around safety, which resulted in the crash of the Space Shuttle Columbia. According to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) Report, “ Streamlining and downsizing, which scarcely go unnoticed by employees, convey a message that effi ciency is an important goal . . . . When paired with the faster, better, cheaper NASA motto of the 1990s and cuts that dramatically decreased safety personnel, effi ciency becomes a strong signal and safety a weak one. This kind of doublespeak by top administrators affects people ’ s decisions and actions without them even realizing it. ” 8 Contrast that to the direction President Kennedy gave to NASA at the outset of the Apollo program: “ I believe this nation should com- mit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth ” [our emphasis]. A safe return from a mission may seem too obvious to mention in a presidential address, but as it turns out, Kennedy was prescient in his direction. In short, unlike Kennedy in his fi rst direction, NASA lead- ership did not provide direction to the organization that put safety as high a priority as other objectives. Over time, a drift in direction made it a secondary consideration, not by design but by default. In the end, the Space Shuttle Columbia crashed despite warnings about safety and last - minute protests by engineers on the scene.

As you provide direction to your organization, it ’ s important to consider how execution against that direction will affect the nonne- gotiables. This doesn ’ t mean leaders must list all the company values, operating mandates, and other nonnegotiables in every communi- cation. Besides being tedious, that approach wouldn ’ t work anyway. When repeated in rote fashion, even the most compelling of the nonnegotiables becomes babble. Leaders, however, must ensure that they adequately represent the nonnegotiables in the body of commu- nication they deliver. They also must emphasize the nonnegotiables at times when they are relevant to the work at hand. For example,

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54 BEYOND THE BABBLE

designing an automobile would probably not put nonnegotiables such as maintenance at the factory or the meeting of accounting standards at risk. However, automobile design and safety are insepa- rable, so it ’ s not only relevant but also necessary to address that non- negotiable in leadership direction and communication about that design. Ford ’ s Iacocca should have said: “ The Pinto must not weigh an ounce over two thousand pounds, must not cost a cent over $ 2,000, and must achieve a safety standard you would want for your own daughter. ” This would have saved a lot of lives and problems for his company. The same would undoubtedly hold true for BP and NASA if leadership had put greater stress on the nonnegotiables in their business.

Make the Courageous Choices

Much of the direction leadership provides to employees is cowardly. This may seem a harsh judgment, but we ’ ve found it to be true. Essentially, leaders tell employees to simultaneously achieve two goals that come into confl ict — say, volume production and quality, or increased revenues and increased margins, or higher prices and higher market share. Giving this kind of direction is like asking employees to turn left and right at the same time: it just isn ’ t pos- sible. But leaders ask it anyway. “ Both are important, ” they say, and cede the decision to employees.

As a result, the company gets what line employees determine is more important (usually by trying to fi gure out what management wants), and this causes problems. For example, when managers say quality and volume are both important, and don ’ t say which is ulti- mately more important, employees aren ’ t sure what to do when they see a quality issue. They must decide whether they should address it despite the fact that it would reduce production volume. Because

management has avoided this confl ict by deciding to both ensure quality and increase production vol- ume, employees, not man- agement, make the choice between the two priorities.

They usually do this not by thoughtful deliberation but by interpre- tation of what they think management wants. In essence, they try to

Leaders should make the critical choices, not every individual employee.

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Do: What Do You Need Employees to Do? 55

read their leaders ’ minds. Unless you have a large team of astrologists, tarot card readers, and psychic supervisors, that ’ s no way to run a business.

We witnessed this in an engineering function for which leaders stressed both process and speed in product development. They told engineers that the new development processes, which were designed to eliminate a history of design fl aws, were inviolate. At the same time, the leaders were pressuring the engineers to produce designs faster: “ We need a greater sense of urgency, and we must hit our schedules. ” In time, the engineers inevitably faced a choice: maintain process discipline and deliver designs late, or shortcut the process to meet schedules. That ’ s not a decision that three hundred engineers should be making independently.

It ’ s likely that employees at BP, Ford, and NASA faced diffi cult choices when they considered short - term objectives and longer - term needs of the business. Do I make my cost - reduction target and reduce the pipeline maintenance budget, or do I miss the fi nancial target and continue high standards of maintenance? Certainly, top leadership wants both. But at some point that wasn ’ t going to happen, so which action takes priority? Most of the time, employees make that deter- mination by selecting either the path of least resistance (and least criticism by management), or the path they ’ ve taken before, or the path that will delay the day of reckoning. Good leadership makes the tough strategic choices instead of leaving them to such chance.

Match Words and Actions

Effective leadership direction is consistent with the realities employ- ees face every day. All too often, we hear about situations in which leadership ’ s words and actions are at odds. Managers say, “ Customer service is our most important priority, ” for example, but then they lay off customer service employees. They say, “ Cost reduction is non- negotiable, ” but then they give themselves hefty raises and bonuses. When words and actions don ’ t match, employees follow the actions. An effective leader makes sure actions and words match.

One way to do this is to deconstruct your strategic planning documents and budgets across functional silos. This is a process in which you list all of the budget and resource allocations, as well as all of the initiatives, against each of the goals and strategies you are communicating. For example, you may have cost reduction and

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56 BEYOND THE BABBLE

quality strategies. List everything your organization is doing across all functions about cost in one column, and likewise everything that ’ s supporting quality in another column. The resulting lists will show whether your strategy is more talk than action.

We did this for one consumer products organization, for exam- ple, and found enough activities under cost to fi ll several pages. By comparison, quality and customer satisfaction strategies specifi ed scant few activities. This exercise prompted management to reevalu- ate some of its activities. From a leadership communication stand-

point, we did less talking about quality and cus- tomer satisfaction until actions caught up to the words. This avoided com- munication that would have hurt employee trust and confi dence in leader-

ship. Leadership also revisited its programs and resource allocations concerning quality and customer satisfaction in order to ensure that they were adequate (they weren ’ t).

Sometimes the disconnect that employees perceive between leadership ’ s words and actions really is only a matter of perception. We worked with one company, for example, whose employees were complaining that management was cutting back on training, and that these cutbacks were affecting their ability to do their jobs right. In reality, training was as robust as it always had been, but the com- pany was delivering it in a less visible way. They had discontinued outmoded training approaches, for example, and replaced them with alternatives such as on - line training. Employees didn ’ t see peo- ple fi ling in and out of training rooms, so they thought there was less training going on. Leaders corrected this misperception through more concerted communication and were able to mitigate employee dissatisfaction about training.

Being more disciplined about matching actions to words leads to a simple but effective communication approach that helps leaders build credibility and trust: words - actions - words. In this approach, leaders tell employees what they or the organization will do, point out the actions as they are under way, and then remind employees that the completed action was the one the leader spoke of in the fi rst place. This “ bookend ” approach to leadership communication

Actions speak louder than words. Their impact on communication can ’ t be ignored.

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Do: What Do You Need Employees to Do? 57

is very effective in making sure employees know how elements of strategy fi t together and that words and actions match.

SETTING A CLEAR PATH FOR THE LAND OF OZ

Translating a thick binder that houses strategic direction into a brief document that refl ects the elements of good direction is a chal- lenge. To help leaders to meet this challenge, we ’ ve developed four key questions that will organize your thinking and focus communi- cation on key direction.

What are the “ critical few ” goals we need to achieve?

What are the nonnegotiables we need to protect?

How will we as an organization achieve these goals?

Do our words and actions match?

If leaders answer these four questions in simple, clear terms, they can create direction that employees and the entire organization can follow. The executives at the Land of Oz found the exercise reveal- ing. (The review represents the actual case, but we ’ ve disguised it to protect confi dentiality, and we ’ ve taken a few liberties to clarify it as an example.)

What Are the “ Critical Few ” Goals We Need to Achieve?

These are the goals that will make or break you; the ones that, when achieved, will infl uence the rest. Answering this question requires leaders to raise their perspective from ten thousand feet to thirty thousand feet, so they can see how the pieces fi t together and can determine the overarching requirements of strategy execution. The executive team at the Land of Oz started with fi ve goals. We asked the four questions listed in Table 3.1 to raise their thinking to the thirty - thousand - foot level and better focus their goal setting. As we said earlier, simplicity is critical to good direction, so fewer goals are better than more. And although all the goals are important, and leadership may want to monitor them to enable midstream course corrections, it isn ’ t necessarily effective to make all the goals

•

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58 BEYOND THE BABBLE

the focus of communication — just the ones that really count. The executive team settled on two: sales and return on assets. Moreover, they decided that if they had to choose between the two, the ROA goal would take priority. They had to grow, but they had to grow profi tably. In addition, a signifi cant part of the growth would come from acquisitions, which top leadership would monitor closely, so they wanted to make sure the rest of the organization delivered prof- itable growth. These were the goals that would make or break the company over the long term.

What Are the Long - Term Nonnegotiables We Need to Protect?

The Land of Oz executives revisited their initial direction to the organization and added reinforcement to the nonnegotiables that were important to the company ’ s health. There are always tradeoffs, and it ’ s a leader ’ s job in the direction he or she provides to enable employees to make the right choices in those tradeoffs. For the Land of Oz, the top nonnegotiable was ensuring that it maintained its strong relationships with customers by continuing to deliver high levels of service.

The executives believed that the focus on growth and returns posed risks to long - standing and productive relationships with the compa- ny ’ s current customers, which was one of the company ’ s nonnegotia- bles from its inception. They also considered the impact of their goals

Full Set of Goals Focusing Questions Critical Few

$ 5.5 billion in sales

Improve operating margins by 20 to 25%

Accumulate $ 250 million of capital

17% ROA

Improve inventory turnover by 15%

Improve productivity by 5%

Which goals will be the result of your efforts?

Which goals aren ’ t up for debate? (If you don ’ t hit them, you will not be successful.)

Which goals will be achieved as part of the effort to achieve the results? (These are not the critical few.)

Which are the critical goals you need to achieve?

17% ROA

$ 5.5 billion in sales

Table 3.1. Finding the “ Critical Few. ”

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Do: What Do You Need Employees to Do? 59

on other nonnegotiables, including safety and ethical behavior. The executives believed that ethical operating practices were well estab- lished and monitored by current systems and that these issues did not have to be a focus of leadership communication at the time. One of the company ’ s strategies, Lean Manufacturing, was very oriented toward safety, so that nonnegotiable would be integral to leadership communication going forward. However, distractions relating to the acquisition could threaten customer relationships. Also, as employees pushed for higher returns on sales, there was a risk that they could sacrifi ce customer satisfaction. To mitigate these risks, the leadership group made customer satisfaction one of the cornerstones of their communication approach, as depicted in Table 3.2 .

How Will We as an Organization Achieve These Goals?

The answer to this question outlines the strategic actions the organi- zation is pursuing to achieve the goals. By strategic actions, we mean the physical steps the organization must take, not another set of goals. (We ’ ve been in meetings where executive teams spent hours debating the difference between a goal and a strategy. Our recommendation — at least from a communication standpoint — is to forget the debate and simply answer the question, how are we going to achieve our goal? And do it by identifying actions you can observe people doing.)

Again, the answer has to be simple — the handful of key actions the organization will take to achieve the critical few goals. These should be the large - scale activities that outline strategy. If it isn ’ t a critical driver, leave it off the list. For the Land of Oz, the actions unfolded as outlined in Table 3.3 .

Note that each of these “ hows ” is an observable action. Instead of listing more metrics that people had to achieve, leadership cited actions the organization needed to take to deliver on the goals.

What are the “ critical few ” goals we need to achieve?

17% ROA $

$5.5 billion in sales

What are the nonnegotiables we need to consider?

Maintain high levels of customer satisfaction

Table 3.2. Remembering the Nonnegotiables.

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60 BEYOND THE BABBLE

Do Specifi c Activities Support the Strategic Actions, or Not?

The executives then drilled one step deeper. They made certain the specifi c local initiatives, resource allocations, and functional activ- ities the organization pursued actually supported the actions they outlined. This was a revealing part of the exercise, as the executives saw they did not have enough emphasis on their nonnegotiable of customer satisfaction. Indeed, as a result of this exercise, manage- ment decided to add another metric to their list of key metrics that would be monitored: a customer satisfaction index. Previously the company had measured customer satisfaction by on - time delivery. This was inadequate to the job, so they decided to include other factors and compile them into an index. The types of activities the executives outlined for three of the twelve strategic actions are listed in Table 3.4 as an example.

What are the “ critical few ” goals we need to achieve?

17% ROA

$5.5 billion in sales

What are nonnegotiables we need to consider?

Maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction

How will the organization achieve these goals?

Implement lean manufacturing systems

Introduce new training that focuses on cost reduction

Trim non - value - add staff

Extend lean manufacturing ideas to nonmanufacturing workers to cut costs

Expand capacity

Grow geographically

Add new customers

Introduce new product lines to existing customers

Shift the product mix for builders in key markets

Add new product lines

Acquire companies in new areas with customers we don ’ t have

Monitor a small set of key metrics and connect them to performance management and bonuses

Table 3.3. Bringing the How to the Do of the Equation.

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Do: What Do You Need Employees to Do? 61

With this work, the executives were able to identify, in simple, concrete terms, what the organization needed to accomplish and how it was going to get there — what employees had to Do. Now they had to give them reasons why they should.

SUMMARY Effective direction begins with telling employees what the organi- zation needs to accomplish and how, and what the employee popu- lation is supposed to Do, which is one part of the Action Equation: Know � Feel � Do. It ’ s very actionable — the difference, for exam- ple, between telling the sales force they need to increase revenues by 10 percent (an outcome) and telling them they each need to make

Strategic Actions Specifi c Activities

Implement lean manufacturing systems

Acquire a suite of new tools (including 5S, TPM, visual management, SMED, batch size reduction, cellular manufacturing, standardized work, work balancing, production leveling/smoothing, and point - of - use systems)

Train employees on these new tools

Reward employees for participation in the training

Add new customers Implement new marketing initiatives

Add a senior position in the organization to coordinate sales and marketing activities

Add seventy - fi ve sales people

Implement new sales management training programs

Monitor a small set of key metrics and connect them to performance management and bonuses

Net sales

Customer satisfaction index

Accident frequency

Sales per employees

AR percent current

Days sales outstanding

Velocity of inventory

Days payable outstanding

PBOP per employee

Table 3.4. Linking Strategy to Activities.

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62 BEYOND THE BABBLE

two hundred additional sales calls (an action). Good direction also makes the tough decisions between priorities, as opposed to putting them all on an equal footing and making employees decide, when they come into unavoidable confl ict, which is more important. For example, good direction tells employees that ultimately quality is more important than volume, customer satisfaction is more impor- tant than cost reduction, and growth is more important than mar- gins (or vice versa), so they make the right decisions when they have to. Finally, good direction also includes specifi cs around critical out- comes of nonnegotiables such as safety, maintenance, customer satisfaction, and ethics. These are the kinds of things that leaders may assume they can take for granted but can be compromised as employees pursue other goals — sales, returns, effi ciency, and the like — that are more dominant in communications (and in perfor- mance management tools, recognition, advancement, and so on).

Effective direction is simple. To quote the old adage, it ’ s more like telling employees what time it is than telling them how the watch works. Business plans usually outline all the goals, objectives, strate- gies, initiatives, and resource allocation — the workings of the whole watch. Because of their complexity and length, they are not good communication documents (even though they may be great plan- ning tools). Therefore, leaders must simplify direction into a hand- ful of key concepts they must communicate. In fact, good direction usually can be distilled into a message of fi ve hundred words or less that simply tells employees what the organization needs to accom- plish and how, and what the employee population is supposed to do.

Finally, yet important, good leadership direction is about what leadership does, not just what it says. Words and actions have to match. This means the objectives leadership stresses in communica- tion must be backed up by resource allocation, initiatives, attention, and compensation — the concrete actions employees see that make the talk walk.

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C H A P T E R F O U R

Know: What Do Employees Need to Know to Take Action?

“ If you just told me that crooked labels were no good, I could have saved us a lot of money. ”

That ’ s what an employee told her supervisor when technicians started to install an expensive new camera system on her beer bot- tling line. The camera would spot crooked labels and sort them out of production.

“ I stand here all day and watch them go by, ” she said. “ It wouldn ’ t be hard to pull them. ”

She just hadn ’ t known that crooked labels were a problem — or at least that they were her problem. A manager might think it ’ s obvious — a crooked label is a crooked label. The employee had a different perspective, though. “ The beer is still good, ” she said. “ Who would throw out perfectly good beer because of a label? ”

She has a point. She didn ’ t know that distributors objected to bot- tles with crooked labels, or that they were outside quality standards ( “ You can ’ t tell a good beer by its label, ” she ’ d say.) Nobody had told her it had to be done — or why it was important.

Ensuring that employees know what they are supposed to do is a fundamental purpose of leadership communication. That process begins, as we described in Chapter Three , with identifying where the organization is headed and how it ’ s going to get there. In the

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64 BEYOND THE BABBLE

example just introduced, quality production would have been on the list of what employees must Do. If leaders communicate

this alone, they will be ahead of many companies. But there ’ s more to leadership communication than that.

Employees need to know the reasoning behind goals and strat- egies. Without it, they strive to fi nd answers themselves — from each other, in chat rooms, by reading the newspapers, by talking to neighbors — you name it. This haphazard approach wastes a lot of time (much of it on the job) and often results in misunderstandings and misdirection — and even wasted beer.

Moreover, some employees need to know more than others do. Although the whole organization must be devoted to strategy exe- cution, there are groups of employees that have a disproportionate impact on specifi c strategies. These could be small groups of special- ists such as engineers, marketers, or operations people. They might be the level of the organization that sets strategy or the employees deep in the organization who implement it. Leaders need to priori- tize their employee audiences based on their relative importance to successful strategy execution.

THEY NEED TO KNOW WHY The days when people just did what you told them to are long gone (actually, was it ever that way?). Before employees truly commit to action, they ask the “ why ” questions:

Why are we headed in this direction?

Why is it important to the business?

What ’ s in it for me?

Why did we pick that strategy instead of another?

Why must we change? or Why don ’ t we change?

Are we still on course?

The list goes on.

•

Strategy has to make sense to employ- ees and intersect with their interests.

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Know: What Do Employees Need to Know to Take Action? 65

Answering the “ why ” questions is worth the extra work it takes. A full understanding of the “ whys ” provides context that helps employees set priorities and communicate knowledge they have that could help others in the organization do their jobs. An understand- ing of the “ whys ” helps employees connect their jobs to enterprise - wide activity — creating a “ line of sight ” between their work and that of the larger organization. And conversations driven by the “ why ” questions inform leadership as well as employees about substan- tial issues and nuances of execution. They force deeper evaluation of goals and strategy, and they generate healthy dialogue that chal- lenges assumptions and drives creativity.

Employees often pose questions around fi nancial targets. For example, the Land of Oz set its goals at $ 5.5 billion and a 17 - percent ROA. Employees will ask, “ Why did leadership pick those numbers? Why $ 5.5 billion? Why not $ 7 billion? Or $ 3.5 billion? ” These are fair questions. The numbers have to make sense to employees, and people need to understand the consequences of success and failure. Conversely, if the numbers appear to be arbitrary or to serve only management, employees will not believe they are important or pur- sue them with intensity.

The leadership at one manufacturing company, for example, wanted to implement a number of effi ciency programs but met stiff resistance among employees. Employees believed management ’ s decisions were arbitrary and even counterproductive to effi ciency issues they experienced. For example, employees in the fi nishing department told management, “ If you want to improve effi ciency, why don ’ t you buy new equipment? The equipment we are using is older than we are. ” The answer to that question revolved around the need to achieve ROA hurdles, which new equipment would not deliver. In response, leaders included discussions of ROA in their regular communication. They explained why it was important to achieve that particular fi nancial metric (the cost of capital needed to operate the business), and why it was important to employees (hitting that target keeps the plant viable). They presented the infor- mation in terms that employees could relate to their personal expe- riences, such as managing their checkbooks, going to the bank to get a mortgage, and the like. The company also created a training pro- gram that showed employees — from plant management to assembly line workers — how to calculate ROA for investments and activities undertaken at the plant (and, yes, line employees can understand

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66 BEYOND THE BABBLE

fi nance). As employees understood the reasons behind the numbers, they embraced leadership ’ s efforts to control costs.

Knowing Goes Both Ways

The person closest to a job usually knows the most about it, whether it ’ s frontline work or managerial tasks like planning, process man- agement, and budgeting. Because of that, leaders can learn a great deal from the people working in their organizations. Conversations revolving around the “ why ” questions create the dialogue necessary to challenge bad decisions, and to stimulate new, creative thinking at all levels of an organization.

We worked with a manufacturing company whose senior VP of operations decided to cut costs by reducing the workforce by about 20 percent. He believed the company ’ s manufacturing operation was

overstaffed; he wanted an immediate reduction in force. The managers below him knew that a force reduction that aggressive would shut operations down — they just couldn ’ t

handle it. The senior VP and operations management never had that conversation. The senior VP held a Ph.D. and wasn ’ t one to listen to mere mortals. They made the cuts, and operations fell apart. It took months to repair the damage, the company lost millions, customers were incensed, and the Ph.D. was out of a job.

This is an extreme example, but the lesson is clear. Employees know something about their work, and listening to them can pre- vent nasty mistakes and create breakthrough levels of performance. Conversations, based on an informed workforce, are the most effec- tive means of making this happen. This may seem to be an obvious statement, but such productive conversations — in which manager and employee actually exchange ideas — are more the exception than the rule. On Strategy communication addresses this issue.

Questions Go Beyond Goals and Strategy

“ I don ’ t tell people I work for a chemical company. It ’ s too embar- rassing. ” That ’ s what some employees who work for some major

Employees know their work better than most leaders. Listen to them.

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Know: What Do Employees Need to Know to Take Action? 67

chemical companies say about their jobs. They fear the skeptical looks of neighbors and the endless questions about whether a Love Canal or Bhopal - type disaster is possible in their community. Diffi cult questions also plague big oil and pharmaceuticals. It gets particularly challenging when Hollywood gets involved. After the release of the fi lm The Constant Gardener, a fi ctional account of drug testing in third - world companies, the questions fi elded by employ- ees at pharma companies were all too real. Nobody likes to answer a question like, “ Does your company use poor people in African villages as guinea pigs? ” And as oil prices continue to rise, oil com- pany employees feel like they are the people over a barrel.

Issues of public concern can affect any industry. People fi rst snubbed U.S. auto companies for their long slide in competitiveness, and now vilify them for poor mileage standards and their contribu- tion to global warming. Employees at utilities are considered fair game. Does anybody give the local telephone or cable company a break? Even the local retailer is in the line of fi re as people in com- munities ask about their hiring of illegal immigrant workers, the absence of health care benefi ts, and low wages.

Besides these public issues, companies must deal with issues spe- cifi c to their operations. Employees consider whether to unionize or not. They challenge man- agement about diversity in the workplace. When the CEO makes as much as fi ve hundred times the pay of the average line worker, people question the ethics and fairness of leadership — especially in the wake of scandals like those of Enron and Tyco. They fear for their future security when they see pensions at other companies evaporate because of corporate mistakes or mal- feasance. Employees can ’ t be blamed for questioning the judgment or motives of their leadership team when they read about a CEO who allegedly had his company purchase a $ 30 million apartment with $ 6,000 shower curtains, or pay a million dollars for his wife ’ s birthday party — complete with an ice sculpture of Michelangelo ’ s David. All of a sudden the company ’ s corporate jet, the spacious exec utive offi ces, and the salaries listed in the proxy statement become much more sus- picious, and employees want to know much more about them.

On Strategy communication deals with issues that affect strategy, not just the strategies themselves.

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68 BEYOND THE BABBLE

Such issues have serious consequences. When the public turns against a company or industry, government watchdogs and regu- lators usually aren ’ t far behind. (To counteract this, employees can play a role in supporting the company if they are well informed and on the company ’ s side.) Moreover, public scrutiny and attacks can have a demoralizing effect on employees, which has implications for attracting and retaining talent and productivity. Because of this, lead- ers must be prepared to go beyond business as usual in their com- munication and to tackle controversial issues as they arise. Bottom line, if leadership wants employees to support the company with the various external publics that might infl uence the company ’ s abil ity to pursue strategies, they must answer “ why ” questions that extend beyond the strategies themselves.

Answering the “ Why ” Questions

Employees want answers to the “ why ” questions at two levels. The answers not only must make sense from a business standpoint but also must relate to employee interests. Leadership must be able to explain the business rational for goals and strategies and then relate how achieving progress on them benefi ts employees.

Business leaders often connect strategy and fi nancial goals to shareholders or to the company ’ s share price. We ’ ve yet to see an employee jump out of bed for the sake of the shareholders. Generally, this is not a relevant or powerful connection for employees, even if they own stock. In fact, studies show that employee stock ownership affects company performance not so much because of employees ’ equity connection to their companies, but because employees in com- panies with stock ownership plans are better informed about how the company operates. 1 Essentially, companies with large, stock - owning employee populations do a better job communicating to them. The major factors that employees usually want to understand (or that leadership must get them to understand) include the following:

COMPETITIVE FACTORS. Employees readily understand the pres- sures of competition. They see it in their own lives and can transfer that experience to that of their company. Leadership, however, must make the connection between competition and the strategies they have selected. One company pursued a cost - reduction strategy as a defensive measure. Competitors were undercutting them on price,

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Know: What Do Employees Need to Know to Take Action? 69

and leadership needed fl exibility to meet the threat. Employees were lackluster in their support when leaders fi rst outlined the strategy as a cost - reduction measure alone. When the leaders reframed it as a competitive move, however, employees embraced the strategy and executed it with intensity. They could relate to the threat to the busi- ness posed by lower - cost competitors, but not to cost reduction as an end in itself (cost reduction often seems to translate into fewer jobs for line employees and higher bonuses for top leaders — a bad combination for motivation).

SOCIETAL ISSUES. Technology, globalization, demographics, geopol- itics, the price of oil, government actions — even the weather. If these trends affect your business, and in turn drive strategy develop- ment, employees need and want to know about them. They provide a power ful rationale for leadership ’ s direction that relates to issues employees care about. We worked with an insurance company, for example, that based its new strategy on the changing demograph- ics of its market. The baby boom generation was aging, and fi nancial planning was of greater importance to them than buying life insur- ance. Therefore, the company wanted to transform its sales force from one that focused just on selling insurance to one that provided comprehensive fi nancial advice and products. This required signif- icant new training and the will among sales people to change their relationship with their customers. They wouldn ’ t do it unless they had a good reason why, and that reason was based in the business environment — demographics.

INDUSTRY TRENDS. Each industry has its own set of opportunities and challenges, and those can provide powerful reasons for the goals and strategy leaders select for their companies. These go beyond just competition to involve industry - wide trends. Industries undergoing consolidation present a specifi c challenge to the companies in that industry. The same holds true for industries as they change distribu- tion from bricks - and - mortar to web - based channels or from direct - to - customer to resellers. Some industries go global, some stay local. Whatever the trends, they can provide powerful reasons for strategy decisions. Leaders must share that perspective with employees.

CUSTOMER FACTORS. Demands, preferences, whims — whatever the motivational factors that infl uence customer decisions to do business

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70 BEYOND THE BABBLE

with your company, these can be key to strategy. A computer sup- plier, for example, realized that customers wanted to buy more than a computer; they wanted to buy a solution to a business problem. Thus the company needed to shift its business strategy from deliv- ering equipment to providing solutions to technology problems. To transform itself from an equipment supplier to a solutions pro- vider, the company started acquiring new businesses with that capa- bility and began placing less emphasis on traditional, transactional sales. This resulted in discontent among longer - tenured employees. Leadership had to provide a strong business rationale for the move: they explained that customers were demanding this capability and would go elsewhere if they didn ’ t have it. Employees understood this to be a threat to the company ’ s future; once they knew this, they sup- ported the new strategy.

The list of “ whys ” can be quite lengthy. As you plan and execute leadership communication, articulate the answers around why the goals and strategies you are pursuing make sense. Employees will want to know.

WHO NEEDS TO KNOW? Leaders throughout the company — from executives to frontline supervisors — should know strategy. Period. When leaders up and down the organization all have an aligned, solid understanding of goals and strategies, they can translate that knowledge into action throughout the organization. Moreover, they are in a position to listen to employees at a local level and incorporate that knowledge into decision making and execution.

Yet most leaders beyond the top echelons are in the dark. We worked with a company that was trying to grow by more than 30 percent in two years. Management set seven strategies to accom- plish the goal, including a shift in sales mix and the pursuit of new customer segments. They conducted typical communication activities to mobilize employees behind the strategies, including town hall meet- ings; a special brochure that outlined the company ’ s vision, values, and strategies; coverage in the company magazine; posters in every lobby and hallway; and the like. As a person in the Communication Department put it, “ If you don ’ t know the strategies by now, you ’ ve been asleep. ”

Well, the snoring was deafening. According to employee surveys, 35 percent of the employees didn ’ t know what the strategies were.

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Know: What Do Employees Need to Know to Take Action? 71

That might not have been a big problem if those employees were the janitorial staff, but that wasn ’ t the case. In fact, the people most directly charged with managing strategy execution day - to - day — the director level of the organization — formed the group least informed about strategy. More than 40 percent of that group said they were uninformed about strategy, according to the survey. Making the sit- uation even worse, the most ill - informed group resided in the sales organi- zation, which was charged with executing the most critical elements of the company ’ s growth strat- egy. If fewer than six out of ten of your key people don ’ t know what the orga- nization is supposed to do, what is the chance it will happen? If four of the players on the fi eld in a football game didn ’ t know the play, would it work? (We live in Chicago, and from watching the Bears in the year they went 1 – 13, we can attest to the fact that it doesn ’ t.)

The lack of understanding of goals and strategies at manage- ment levels of a company surprises many leaders. But it ’ s not hard to uncover it. Employee surveys usually track understanding of strate- gies. However, it ’ s very important to look at how well specifi c groups scored in the survey, because some groups are more important than others. Certainly, if leadership levels at the top of the organization are uninformed about strategy, it ’ s less likely employees further down the line will know what they are supposed to do to make strategy reality.

If questions about strategy are not in an employee survey, simply ask managers what they think the strategies are. Gather the top twenty to fi fty people in your organization, pass out index cards, and ask them to answer the question, “ What are our business goals and how do we expect to achieve them? ” Make sure you ask about not just fi nancial goals (people often get that right) but also strategy — how the organization expects to achieve its goals. Make the process anony- mous, so it is not threatening and so people write down what they believe, not what ’ s written in some corporate pamphlet. Moreover, this is not a test for employees; it ’ s a test for leadership — to determine how well they have communicated on strategy. Collect the cards and see what they reveal. In most organizations, the wild variations in the answers will be startling.

Every employee should have a base- line understanding of strategy. You never know who will contribute the breakthrough idea or the critical piece of information.

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72 BEYOND THE BABBLE

Some employee groups need to know more than others, even within leadership ranks. Certain groups of employees have a dis- proportionate impact on strategy execution, and leadership must consider this as they communicate about strategy. Research and development people, for example, have a signifi cant impact on strat- egies involving innovation and product leadership. Employees in manufacturing have a signifi cant impact on quality and cost strate- gies. Employees who interface directly with customers are often the primary drivers of customer satisfaction and brand delivery strate- gies. Leaders must identify these groups and communicate more aggressively with them.

For example, we worked with a heavy vehicle company to deliver a new brand strategy, and we identifi ed engineers responsible for new product development as a group key to strategy execution. We found the engineers understood the “ top line ” of the brand strategy — products had to be “ dependable ” and “ comfortable. ”

But the engineers really didn ’ t know what these terms meant — they needed to know more in order to do their jobs. “ Is dependable fi ve hundred thousand miles? ” they asked, “ or a million miles without a major break down that takes it out of service? And what constitutes operator com- fort? A nice seat? A nice ride? And how nice? ” The entire organization didn ’ t need to know these details, but the engi- neers did. Without that kind of direction, they couldn ’ t do their jobs.

Answering these questions took a bit of creativity. The mar- keting people came up with an answer to the dependability issue: “ More dependable than any other competitor product at a com- petitive price. ” That gave the engineers a boundary condition they could work with, and it put parameters around the relationship between dependability and cost (they said they could build a prod- uct that lasted a million miles, but it would cost an awful lot). The “ customer comfort ” direction was a bit more diffi cult. “ It was kind of like explaining what the color red looks like, ” said one of the mar- keting consultants. “ You know it when you see it. ” To see it, engi- neering leadership took the direction in their own hands — literally. They used the trucks they had designed as their day - to - day personal

Some employees are more important to strategy than others. Communicate accordingly.

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Know: What Do Employees Need to Know to Take Action? 73

vehicles, and they learned what operator comfort was all about. Design changes fl owed. And when the company launched the new products, customer reaction was very favorable, the product set the standard for innovation in the industry, and the company realized an immediate increase in market share.

Everybody in an organization should know where the company is headed and how it ’ s going to get there. Some employees, however, need to know more in order to do their jobs. Leadership must communicate on strategy to those groups in deeper, more actionable terms.

Do Know

17% ROA.

$5.5 billion in sales.

Maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.

Implement lean manufacturing systems.

Introduce new training that focuses on cost reduction.

Trim non-value-add staff.

Extend lean manufacturing ideas to nonmanufacturing workers to cut costs.

Expand capacity.

Grow geographically.

Add new customers.

Introduce new product lines to existing customers.

Shift the product mix for builders in key markets.

Add new product lines.

Acquire companies in new areas with customers we don’t have.

Monitor a small set of key metrics and connect them to performance management and bonuses.

Know what to do, plus why.

The company needs to grow to keep costs low and to accumulate the cash we need to keep investing in ourselves. It also will provide an appropriate return to our shareholders. We have an obligation to them, and a high share price helps us when we want to acquire other companies with stock.

We are in a commodity-type business—if competitors beat us on price they will eventually get our business. So we need to be effi cient so we can keep our prices competitive.

One part of being effi cient is having scale, or size. That allows us to spread our costs over more operations. It also improves our purchasing power—if we buy more we can get better prices from our suppliers. Achieving $5.5 billion in sales will keep us among the top three in size in our industry. That’s where we need to be.

We can get size by getting more customers and selling more to them, but that alone won’t get us to where we need to be. So to do that we will acquire companies.

All of these factors are considered in the metrics we’ve established for the business. If we achieve each of those, we’ll get to where we need to be.

Table 4.1. Bringing the Know into the Equation.

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74 BEYOND THE BABBLE

THE LAND OF OZ KNOWS Leadership at the Land of Oz, the company we introduced in Chapter Three , set goals of $ 5.5 billion and a 17 - percent ROA. They identifi ed a set of strategies that would achieve those goals. They then described in simple terms why those goals and those strategies made sense. Certainly, a driving factor behind their decisions was building share- holder value, which they did not ignore. They also related goals and strategies to competitive factors and trends in the industry. Although the underlying drivers behind strategy might have been complex, the leaders reduced them to very simple terms every employee could understand as illustrated in Table 4.1 .

When combined with the information developed in determining the Do in the Action Equation, the Know provides a strong foun- dation for leadership communication about strategy. It ’ s an expla- nation employees understood and accepted.

SUMMARY Ensuring that employees know what they are supposed to do is an essential role of leadership communication. If leaders communi- cate this alone, they will be ahead of many companies. But there ’ s more to leadership communication than that. Employees need to know the reasons behind goals and strategies. Answering their “ why ” questions helps reduce the distractions caused when they try to fi gure it out themselves — and we guarantee they will try. Employees want to understand not only why certain strategies were chosen by leadership and how those strategies are intended to benefi t the business, but also how execution against the strategies will benefi t them personally — the eternal “ What ’ s in it for me? ” The reasons could be fi nancial require- ments, competitive factors, societal issues, industry trends, or cus- tomer trends. Relevant answers to the “ why ” questions can build confi dence in leadership in the minds of employees and give a context to strategy that helps employees make decisions and trade - offs when they ’ re needed.

Who needs to know the strategy? That ’ s easy. Every leader in an organization should know the organization ’ s strategy. In addition, certain groups of employees have a disproportionate impact on the execution of certain strategies, and leaders must consider this as they communicate. Some people need to know more detail than others.

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Know: What Do Employees Need to Know to Take Action? 75

Research and development people, for example, have a signifi cant impact on strategies involving innovation and product leadership. Employees in manufacturing have a signifi cant impact on quality and cost strategies. Leaders must consider this in developing their communication to ensure that specifi c groups have the opportu- nity to understand strategy at the level appropriate for their roles. Conversations about strategy among leaders and employees not only help the employees be more effective in their jobs, but also bring insight and information on strategy and its execution to leaders.

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C H A P T E R F I V E

Feel: What Do Employees Need to Feel to Take Action?

“These new routes will give us the geographic coverage we need to fuel growth, increase market share, and deliver higher returns to our shareholders. ” The airline CEO was address- ing a group of employees, trying to gain their support for a con- troversial new acquisition. They responded with silence and an occasional smirk. You might have had a similar response, given the circumstances.

The airline ’ s employees didn ’ t want to go there. For them, the acquisition meant lost seniority and greater competition for the best assignments. Moreover, the employees hated the airline that the CEO intended to acquire. After years of talking about that competitor as the dregs of the industry, it was unthinkable to contemplate working side by side with its employees (let alone giving up your seat to one of them as well).

After this less - than - stellar start, the CEO changed his message. He shifted from a rational explanation of why the acquisition made sense to an emotional appeal. In essence, he said, “ This acquisition will establish us once again in our rightful position as the most elite airline in the industry. That ’ s who we are. That ’ s what we deserve. We need to do what ’ s necessary to make it happen. ” Within six weeks, a majority of employees were on the road to not only accepting the acquisition, but also supporting it. “ This might be hard to swallow, ” they said. “ But it will be worth the gulp. ”

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78 BEYOND THE BABBLE

The CEO won support for his strategy because he connected it to a destination that was important to employees — the feeling asso- ciated with being elite. Most of the employees loved their company (although they didn ’ t care for management). They were proud of the airline ’ s history and its long - time premier status in the industry. It gave them bragging rights to anybody who would listen. Indeed, they wore their elitism on their sleeves. Boasted one employee, “ I fl y to Paris once a month to visit a shop on the Champs Elys é es to buy my favorite soap. I like to tell that to people at cocktail parties. ” Another said, “ It ’ s one thing to work in the airline business — like at Southwest. It ’ s another thing to work at an airline that caters to CEOs, celebrities, and the international jet set. I ’ ve rubbed elbows with everybody from Bill Gates to Tom Cruise to Michael Jordan. ”

This elite position was where employees wanted to be. The merger was one of the key building blocks in the strategy of how the air- line was going to get there. Business reality forced the acquisition: it was the only way the airline could get the routes it needed to grow. Employees, though, looked at the acquisition through a different lens. It was palatable because it provided a way the airline could regain the elite status they valued so much. When management framed the opportunity in terms that reached not only their heads but also their hearts, employees began to listen.

Information creates understanding; emotion drives action. People work for a paycheck; they die for a cause. People will show up and

give some reasonable level of effort to get paid (and perhaps a bit more to get paid more), to have a sense of job security and opportunity, to avoid get- ting fi red or criticized for poor performance and

the like. Effective leaders go beyond these rational motivations to create an emotional connection to the work they want employees to do — the Feel part of the Action Equation. They give meaning to work, to reach the deeper levels of motivation that drive the kind of action that separates high - performing organizations from the rest.

A study published in 1999 by Kenneth Kovach of George Mason University confi rmed the power of emotion to affect employee behavior. In that study, he asked a thousand employees and one

There are intrinsic motivations in every work situation. Find and lever- age them.

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Feel: What Do Employees Need to Feel to Take Action? 79

hundred of their bosses to list the things that they believe motivate employees. 1 Employees ranked factors such as participating in inter- esting work, feeling appreciated at work, and “ being in on things ” high on their lists. They ranked job security and good wages as important but lower on the list. Bosses, on the other hand, thought employees would be motivated by good wages and job security.

This discrepancy is nothing new. Back in 1959 Frederick Herzberg, the late professor of management and psychology, distinguished between “ hygiene ” factors and true motivators. Hygiene factors are the external elements that affect staff, including supervision, policies, working conditions, salary, and security. Motivators, on the other hand, are the intrinsic elements that affect staff, such as achievement, recognition, growth, responsibility, and the work itself. Herzberg found that the hygiene issues do not actually motivate staff, but are necessary to prevent dissatisfaction. The motivators inspire employ- ees to improve their level of performance. 2

On Strategy communication can be instrumental in tapping into the intrinsic motivations that make employees tick and are therefore essential to strategy execution and achieving results. Identifying and leverag- ing what ’ s emotionally meaningful to employees requires a leader to think beyond business as usual. Achieving “ bold goals ” may be nirvana to a CEO, but it ’ s often just a bunch of numbers to employees. Strategies revolving around acquisitions, a new sales model, or other business imperatives may be important to the company but not that compelling to employees. To motivate employees to the highest levels of action, a leader must fi nd out where company objectives and strategies intersect with employee emotions. Note that these motivations don ’ t necessarily refl ect what management wants employees to care about; rather, what actually motivates employees intrinsically.

In our work with many different companies, we ’ ve encountered a number of motivational triggers that surface repeatedly. There are certainly others, but the following list provides a good starting point in identifying what motivates different employees in most companies.

Leaders must fi nd out where objec- tives and strategies intersect with employee motivations.

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80 BEYOND THE BABBLE

The company ’ s purpose. These employees connect to what a company does — in effect, saying, “ I ’ m here because our company does something special. ”

The company ’ s products. The product is king for these employees. Their feeling is, “ I love the products — that ’ s what I get up for in the morning. ”

The customer. These employees have a special connection to the customer. “ I ’ m here for them, ” they might say.

The company ’ s stature. These employees are motivated by what being at their company says about them: “ My company makes me special. ”

Their team. This could be their immediate team, but they often connect to the larger company as “ their ” team as well. These employees feel, “ I ’ m here for my mates. I ’ ll do whatever I need to for them. ”

Their contribution. The opportunity to contribute their skills is the key motivational connection for some employees. Their feeling is, “ I ’ m here because I have the opportunity to contribute what I have to offer. ”

The substance of the work. The work itself is the turn - on for many employees. These employees might say, “ I ’ m here because I get to do the coolest work. ” We actually heard one employee at a technology consulting fi rm say, “ We got to work on the Internet before it was the Internet. There aren ’ t many places that could give me that kind of opportunity. ”

The accomplishment. These employees like the feeling of collective accomplishment: “ We get things done here. It feels good. ”

The sense of belonging. “ I feel comfortable here. I ’ m at home. ”

Contribution to community. This motivation is similar to the connection to the company ’ s purpose, but its focus is on community. These employees might say, “ We ’ re making the world (or our neighborhood) a better place. ”

When leaders consider these motivations, it changes the tone and content of their communication. For example, we worked with one company whose leaders continually emphasized customers in their communication. To improve customer service, their mantra

•

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Feel: What Do Employees Need to Feel to Take Action? 81

was, “ We need to do this for our customers. The customer is king. ” In reality, the employees didn ’ t really care that much about cus- tomers; they cared about the substance of the work. “ I ’ d do this even if they didn ’ t pay me, ” said one employee. When asked whether the customer fi gured into his motivations, he said, “ No. I do it because of the intellectual challenge involved. I love fi guring out problems. It doesn ’ t matter to me whether I do it for customers, or my boss, or my aunt in Minnesota. ” The customer is often the default focus of leader- ship communication, and sometimes it ’ s the right one. But often the intrin- sic motivation of employ- ees is something quite different. In this example, instead of saying “ The customer is king, ” leadership should have said something like, “ We are about innovative solutions that work. And they work only if customers are happy. ” That ’ s one way you can con- nect employee motivation — the substance of the work — with lead- ership ’ s strategy around customer satisfaction.

The motivational connections employees have with their com- pany generally apply to the entire employee group of a company, if the experiences of those employees are similar. This is true in com- panies that have grown organically over time. Companies that have grown through acquisition, however, may include employees with very different motivational connections. For example, a technology company we worked with had acquired a smaller fi rm that oper- ated in the same industry, doing an extension of the same work. However, the difference between the motivational connections in the two employee groups couldn ’ t have been greater. Employees at the acquired company were in love with the substance of the work and what they could do for customers. Employees at the acquir- ing company, however, seldom mentioned the customer as they talked about what motivated them about work, and few employees cared about technology at all. They were there to sell, build business, and get ahead. If leadership hadn ’ t recognized this difference at the outset and throughout the acquisition integration process, they eas- ily could have alienated the new employees and destroyed the value of the company they had bought.

Sometimes what really motivates employees is different from what management would like it to be.

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82 BEYOND THE BABBLE

BE AN ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST

A psychologist explores the inner workings of a person ’ s emotional psyche. A leader must do the same thing concerning his or her orga- nization to fi nd out what really makes people tick. Often, when we suggest this to business leaders we get the “ this is soft and fuzzy ” eye roll — the sarcastic look that says this isn ’ t really business. Many leaders don ’ t like to talk about employee emotion, and they don ’ t like to spend time or money on it. Moreover, even if they accept emotion as a legitimate leadership concern, many managers think they know what makes their employees tick, so they don ’ t do the homework necessary to know for certain.

First, emotional communication is anything but soft and fuzzy. Take the Marines (and for that matter every branch of the military). As a matter of doctrine, they build in their “ employees ” an emotional commitment to their teams — the frontline squads that form the backbone of the fi ghting force. From the time a Marine fi rst puts on a uniform, his or her drill sergeant begins to instill that commitment to team, along with other emotional connections to the organization such as pride in the Corps and elitism. That commitment goes well beyond the “ rational ” reasons why a soldier should walk into harm ’ s way — to achieve mission objectives, to protect the country, and

others. Actually, the fun- damental reason men and women risk their lives in battle is because of the men and women that surround them. They do it for each other, for the team. If emotion isn ’ t soft and fuzzy to the Marines,

surely every business leader can embrace emotion as a legitimate part of leadership communication.

Moreover, the process of identifying and leveraging employee emotion isn ’ t soft and fuzzy either. Employee emotion can be iden- tifi ed, infl uenced, and measured just like productivity, quality, and cost. Marketers — and for that matter, politicians — live and die by the processes they use to identify customer and voter emotions, as well as the numbers they track about them. The same is true for

Employees ’ emotional connections to work and company are anything but “ soft and fuzzy. ” They drive action that gets results.

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Feel: What Do Employees Need to Feel to Take Action? 83

employee emotions and leadership communication. We often track what employees know by asking them if they understand goals, objectives, and strategies. The same should be true concerning employee motivational connections.

Finally, when we talk about embracing emotion and suggest becom- ing an organizational psychologist, we don ’ t mean you should be a pop psychologist or cheerleader. If leaders believe that employees will be motivated simply by clever sayings and posters, they will be disap- pointed. And if leaders believe they can get up in front of an audience of employees and cheer them on with a song - and - dance routine that isn ’ t backed up by concrete communication and action, they will fail in embarrassing fashion. Take emotion seriously, and do the home- work necessary to make it an effective part of On Strategy leadership communication.

GETTING THE INSIGHTS YOU NEED Developing On Strategy communication, which includes identifying employee motivational connections, requires listening to employees in a way many leaders don ’ t regularly do. In large, complex organi- zations, real listening requires some level of formality or process to ensure that the information uncovered is valid. Leaders also must listen at various levels, silos, and other subgroups within the orga- nization to make sure all are represented as communication is developed.

The employee surveys most companies use don ’ t provide much insight into employee motivational connections to the company and work. It takes a survey specifi cally designed for that purpose to uncover motivational insights. We ’ re most familiar with the product provided by Senn Delaney Leadership, a leadership consulting fi rm, and have used their approach in our work. The research is quantita- tive, so it provides an excellent snapshot of the entire organization and also differentiates among various employee groups and levels. This is particularly helpful for organizations that may have multiple motivational connections (sort of like multiple personalities) — a sit- uation that, again, is often the case when acquisitions are part of the equation. In addition, the quantitative research provides an excel- lent benchmark that helps evaluate progress and shifts in employee motivations.

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84 BEYOND THE BABBLE

However, formal research can take time and can be expensive. As an alternative, we ’ ve found qualitative research to be effective in iden- tifying employee motivational connections. Discussion groups held with employees can identify motivations as well as other issues that affect On Strategy communication. Moreover, the qualitative research can be conducted quickly and primarily with internal resources. Guidance on how to create and facilitate effective employee discussion groups is in the “ How to ” Resource Guide (Chapter Twelve ) at the end of this book.

Now let ’ s see what the leaders of the Land of Oz found when they began exploring the intrinsic motivations of their employees.

THE LAND OF OZ GETS EMOTIONAL At the Land of Oz — the company we have used as an ongoing case — we held an extensive discussion with the leadership team about their motivational connections, and we tested their feelings with those deeper in the organization. As is true in most cases, the connection was consistent.

Employees at the Land of Oz connected to their company through a sense of belonging. They felt they had “ found a home. ” That sense of belonging was rooted in specifi c experiences in which the com- pany and its leadership offered employees opportunity where little existed. For some, geography limited their opportunity. The com- pany was located in a small town and there weren ’ t many options. For others, leadership offered opportunities unavailable elsewhere because of a lack of education or experience, or other personal fac- tors. The senior legal counsel, for example, had joined the com- pany without a college degree. While at the company, he went to night school to earn a bachelor ’ s degree and later a law degree. He was a self - starter, and the company had supported him every step of the way. When we talked with people deeper in the organization, the same kind of stories dominated discussions about what made the company special to them. They all had a story about how leadership at the company invited them to join and encouraged them to take advantage of opportunities. This became the collective experience of employees across the organization and, in essence, the dominant motivational connection. It was as if employees said, “ The company opened its arms to me and enabled me to fulfi ll my aspirations. ”

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Feel: What Do Employees Need to Feel to Take Action? 85

This connection became very important for leaders to recognize. The company was undergoing exceptional growth, primarily through acquisitions. Growth could become a threat to employees if it appeared they were going to lose opportunities because of the infl ux of new employees, or if leadership became much less accessi- ble. This fear was being exacerbated by the fact that the headquarters had outgrown its original building and employees were now spread over several locations. The company ’ s acquisition spree also created fears that the company itself would be acquired. Stories of industry consolidation fi lled the newspapers. This was particularly troubling to this employee group. If another company purchased their “ home, ” they believed it would certainly change for the worse.

Recognizing these insights, leadership was better prepared to communicate to employees. They could show that strategy execu- tion would make their company stronger, create more opportunities, and protect the emotion that employees had invested in their com- pany. The motivational connection informed the Action Equation ( Know � Feel � Do ) by fi lling in what employees needed to feel in order to support strategy: a sense of belonging — that they had found a home — and a belief that the company valued self - starters and provided them with opportunities unavailable elsewhere. At the Land of Oz, therefore, the Action Equation unfolded as depicted in Table 5.1 .

SUMMARY The rational elements of leadership communication are just one piece of the puzzle. Truly effective leaders also seek to understand and leverage the intrinsic emotional connections employees have with the company and their work. People will work for a paycheck, but they ’ ll die for a cause — and every organization can fi nd a cause. Nearly every job — even assembly line work and fl ipping burgers at a fast - food restaurant — has a motivational connection to employees. It might involve being part of a team, making cool products, or sav- ing lives, but something can motivate an employee to do more than just clock in. It ’ s a leader ’ s job to fi nd out what that is and tap into it by connecting strategy execution to that intrinsic motivation. That intersection between strategy and employee motivation is a key to performance. Communication can leverage it to drive results.

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C H A P T E R S I X

The “ Why Nots ” : What ’ s Getting in the Way?

Just as people do things for a reason, there are reasons why they won ’ t do certain things.

“ We ’ re paying them. We ’ re training them. We ’ re giving them all the support they need. Why won ’ t they make it happen? ” That ’ s what a frustrated division president said about his sales organiza- tion when his “ value pricing ” strategy began to falter. The strategy called for sales people to sell product on its lifetime value rather than its initial price, and it seemed to have everything going for it. It made good business sense because the product cost less for cus- tomers to operate over time, which justifi ed a higher price at the outset. Leadership aligned compensation behind the strategy, pay- ing much higher commissions on value - based sales. They trained the sales force in every facet of the concept and provided a high - tech tool that calculated the lifecycle value benefi t for each customer based on their product usage. And fi nally, the strategy appealed to a key employee motivational trigger: pride in the product and how it served customers. Despite this, the new value - pricing strategy couldn ’ t get off the ground.

There was something getting in the way, and leadership held a series of discussion groups to fi nd out what it was. They discovered that sales people thought the concept had merit — it was good for customers. They also wanted the commissions and loved the training. But they didn ’ t believe customers would actually buy product at a

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88 BEYOND THE BABBLE

higher price. Their experience in the industry was that everybody sold on price. Even worse, the sales people didn ’ t believe manage- ment would follow through and stick to the strategy. Over the years, they had been burned by a “ program du jour ” approach; they had seen new programs, incentives, and other initiatives come and go. They didn ’ t want to be burned again, so they nodded affi rmatively in meetings where leadership discussed the new value - pricing strategy, but out in the fi eld they sold on price.

THE BEHAVIOR CHAIN The sales force ’ s actions were a result of what we call the Behavior Chain (see Figure 6.1 ). The Behavior Chain begins with a person ’ s experiences, which shape their beliefs, which shape their behaviors, which drive results. Leadership must consider the Behavior Chain in developing On Strategy communication. It provides the insights necessary to address the reasons why people don ’ t take action — the “ why nots. ”

Figure 6.1. The Behavior Chain.

Specific experience employees have had or heard about

Experience

What employees do based on their belief

Behavior

Result The business outcomes resulting

from employee behavior

The belief employees have that is shaped by their experience

Belief

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The “Why Nots”: What’s Getting in the Way? 89

In our work, we ’ ve encountered a number of “ why nots ” revealed through analysis of the Behavior Chain. Employees cite experiences that shape beliefs that make it diffi cult for them to change their behavior in order to follow leadership ’ s direction to management. Some prevalent beliefs are as follows:

“ This will pass, just like the last program of the month. ” We hear a lot of that, just as we did in the opening example. It strikes at employee confi dence in management ’ s commitment to strategy. Because of past experiences, they don ’ t believe they can trust that leadership will follow through with plans and strategies, and they fear they will be left holding the bag. This belief blocks leadership ’ s attempts to drive new behaviors, as employees continue past practices while waiting for new strategies to die on the vine.

“ They lied to us. ” We hear this a lot too. It involves leadership candor and motives. It ’ s an experience, either real or perceived, that leadership isn ’ t telling the truth, or that there are ulterior motives behind leadership ’ s words. Management at one company, for exam- ple, needed greater effi ciency from one of its production facilities and approached employees and their union with work rule changes. Employees would hear none of it because they said management had misled them in the last negotiation. Management replied, “ We did not lie. ” We looked at their statements, and it was true: man- agement had not lied in the literal sense. However, they had com- municated in terms so convoluted and full of babble that employees could not see the truth. Many believed that was management ’ s intent. “ If they weren ’ t trying to cover something up, ” one employee said, “ why would we need a lawyer to fi gure out what they were talk- ing about? ”

“ They didn ’ t ask me, so why would it work? ” This is what employ- ees often say about strategies developed for their work areas without their input. Experience tells them that the programs don ’ t work well (or at least employees think they don ’ t) when they have not been involved in developing them. Even if they might work, employees often undermine them because they were not included in the process, and the expectation of failure becomes a self - fulfi lling prophecy. The lack of inclusion fuels two sets of beliefs: (1) management doesn ’ t care what employees think, and (2) management didn ’ t do the home- work to make sure the new way of doing things would really work. Both beliefs lead to the same behavior — resistance — and the same result: poor strategy execution.

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90 BEYOND THE BABBLE

We witnessed this “ why not ” in action recently when we were checking into one of the airline clubs at the airport. The receptionist

typed into her computer, shook her head, typed more into her computer, and grumbled, “ The kid with the MBA who put this new system together was an idiot. They never asked us a thing, and it doesn ’ t work. It will take

a minute for me to get around it. ” Whatever the kid with the MBA was thinking he was going to accomplish with the new system was erased, along with our confi dence as customers that the company was going to get its act together. The system was a victim of the “ work - around ” — the common practice of employees trying hard to get their jobs done by working around the new systems and pro- cesses installed by management.

“ It ’ s not me, it ’ s the worker behind the tree. ” The blame game is a common reason for inaction. Employees complain they can ’ t get anything done because other departments or silos block their prog- ress. The experiences associated with this “ why not ” are rooted in company bureaucracy and politics; in unclear roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities; and in a lack of cross - functional communi- cation. Employees really believe they can ’ t get anything done, and they really believe nothing will happen to them if they don ’ t. We often see this “ why not ” in matrix organizations, as well as in orga- nizations in which one function dominates the others. Leadership at one company, for example, wanted product development engi- neers to be more aggressive in driving quality in manufacturing, which reported up to a different silo. At one point, manufacturing even violated the safety standards of a product to reduce produc- tion costs, while engineers stood by and watched. “ That ’ s manufac- turing ’ s job, ” they said — and they resisted greater involvement and accountability. Likewise, manufacturing managers said, “ Engineering is responsible for product design. If they didn ’ t like what we wanted to do, they should have said something. ” This “ why not ” was rooted in a long history of functional rivalry that inhibited cooperation, in addition to a lack of leadership clarity about roles and responsibili- ties. Employees believed that challenging a sister function was the

Employee experiences with man age- ment and the company lead to “why nots”—reasons why they won’t deliver the behavior leadership needs.

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The “Why Nots”: What’s Getting in the Way? 91

quickest way to the doghouse, and nobody took ownership of critical quality issues.

“ You ’ re out - voted. ” This “ why not ” quashes alternative thinking that challenges the predominant view in an organization, and it leads to stale performance or costly mistakes. In some organizations, employees categorize people into the “ in group ” and the “ out group ” (although they may not use these high - schoolish terms). Individuals in the in group get so comfortable with their collective view that they will preserve this unanimity at all cost. They will get people to buy into group loyalty and establish implicit agreements to not bring up upsetting facts. This leads to groupthink. In this situation, the group is so concerned with maintaining unanimity that they fail to evalu- ate all their alternatives and options and sometimes ignore crucial information. As a result, they don ’ t raise diffi cult issues or ques- tion weak arguments, and strategy isn ’ t subject to the critical due diligence that ’ s needed to develop effective direction and manage implementation.

For a truck manufacturer we worked with, groupthink stifl ed innovative discussion. In one exchange we witnessed, for example, an executive new to the company and the industry questioned the wisdom of continuing to build products that consistently resulted in a fi nancial loss for the business. In response, a long - time executive mentioned it wouldn ’ t be “ truck smart ” to discontinue the products. That was shorthand for telling the new executive that he was chal- lenging views long held by the group, and that wasn ’ t acceptable. The new executive responded, “ I didn ’ t know you had to be business stupid to be truck smart. ” Things didn ’ t go well after that.

“ Why take the risk? ” We often hear leaders implore their employ- ees to “ take reasonable risks. ” Employees nod, but this “ why not ” is their unspoken response. They then take the route of least risk as they try to achieve their objectives. Innovation and creativity suffer, as do results. That ’ s often the direct result of leadership actions that fi rst ask for risk taking, but then dress down, demote, or fi re people for failure.

The “ why nots ” extend beyond this short list. Before taking action, employees also ask themselves questions such as “ Will pursu- ing this course of action or sharing this information hurt my career? Embarrass me? Hurt my peers and therefore my relationship with them? Invite retaliation? Make me look adversarial? Make it look like I don ’ t have a positive, can - do attitude? ” Employee experiences with

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92 BEYOND THE BABBLE

the company and management answer these questions and drive behavior. The lesson here is that leaders must try to understand why employees don ’ t act by examining the root causes of behavior — the experiences and beliefs of the Behavior Chain — and addressing them at their source. Over the long term, this saves time and resources and prevents costly mistakes.

ADDRESSING A “ WHY NOT ” Leaders usually can ’ t simply talk “ why nots ” away. These objections often are too ingrained in the organization or too powerfully burned into the employee mindset to be overcome with information alone. Because “ why nots ” are rooted in experience, leaders must over- come them by creating a new experience that is unambiguously contrasted, and equal in magnitude, with the prior experience that shaped employee beliefs. It ’ s similar to the technique some psychol- ogists use to relieve their patients of certain phobias. They overcome a fear of fl ying, for example, with a series of structured, supported fl ying experiences. Depending on the source and depth of the fear, more or fewer positive experiences are required to overcome it.

If employees believe management has lied to them, management must prove they tell the truth. Simply saying “ I tell the truth ” won ’ t do it (Richard Nixon ’ s famous declaration “ I am not a crook ” didn ’ t make his problems go away, although it helps if the declaration is

true). To build trust, lead- ers must create a deliber- ate process whereby they say to employees what they are going to do, do it, and then remind employ- ees that they did what they said they would do.

Moreover, this process must be very visible — telling the truth where nobody hears or sees it won ’ t move the dial.

If employees believe leadership doesn ’ t involve them in decision making and therefore doesn ’ t make good decisions, leadership must implement a very visible process for employee involvement. Again, a speech won ’ t do it. Putting a suggestion box in the lunchroom, cre- ating quality circles, holding a meeting to voice employee ideas are all reasonable starting points to the process. They are meaningless,

Leaders can’t simply talk “why nots” away. They must create a new expe- rience that drives new beliefs.

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The “Why Nots”: What’s Getting in the Way? 93

however, until leadership takes action on employee input and communicates that action to employees so they connect it to the suggestions they have made. That creates the new experience, which leads to a new belief, which will drive new behaviors.

If groupthink suppresses dissenting opinions and then destroys managers who buck the majority, merely conducting a workshop promoting the value of diverse thinking won ’ t solve the problem. Leaders must both recognize and reward people who challenge the group and punish managers who stifl e dissent. It has to be more than words in a speech or training — it has to be real. The new expe- rience must be commensurate in intensity and duration to fully overcome the previous experience. And it must be very visible.

In the case of the uncooperative sales group, experience was the root cause of their inaction. The company ’ s initial approach to engag- ing them in a new behavior — selling on value instead of price — involved changing compensation and training. Although important, these didn ’ t strike directly at the “ why not ” reasons why the sales people didn ’ t support the strategy: issues around confi dence and their belief in leadership ’ s commitment. To address the problem, leaders had to start with the root causes — the experiences the sales people had in the fi eld and management ’ s tendency to abandon new initiatives (see Figure 6.2 ).

To turn this situation around and get the behaviors they needed, leadership created a new experience designed to drive a new belief — that customers are willing to listen and buy based on value, and that management was sticking to this strategy no matter what. The divi- sion president held “ president ’ s dinners ” in key markets across the country to show his commitment to the program and put his repu- tation on the line with customers before he asked sales people to risk their relationships. How often do you see that?

At the dinners, which top sales people attended along with poten- tial customers, the president made a presentation to customers and led a discussion about the new products and the lifetime value concept. It showed the sales people that leadership was serious and committed and wasn ’ t going to leave the sales people hanging. It also demonstrated that the value - pricing approach worked. The substan- tial sales resulting from the presentations showed that the right cus- tomers would respond positively to the new product and marketing approach. Following the dinners, the word spread among the sales force, and the value - pricing strategy had new legs.

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94 BEYOND THE BABBLE

The strategy would have failed before it started without the aggressive leadership communication displayed by the president of the division. The communication created a new experience for the sales force, which overcame the past and created new beliefs around management and their strategies. That doesn ’ t mean the company ’ s moves to promote the new strategy, change compensation, and train the sales force were off target — each of those steps was impor- tant to driving strategy execution — but they were ineffective until

Result A failed strategy

Experience Past success and customer relationships are based on price. Competitors sell on price, not value. Management introduced a number of sales programs in the past few years and didn’t sustain any of them. While we tried to implement those programs, some relationships with customers suffered.

The industry sells on price — that’s what works. If I sell on value, I risk my relationships. If I stall, it will all go away, because management never sticks to its guns.

Belief

I’ll nod when management talks to me about selling on value, but I’ll sell on price.

Behavior

Figure 6.2. The Behavior Chain: The Way It Is.

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The “Why Nots”: What’s Getting in the Way? 95

leadership addressed the root causes of employee behavior and addressed the “ why nots ” (see Figure 6.3 ).

BE AN ORGANIZATIONAL ARCHEOLOGIST The “ why nots ” are usually found in a company ’ s history. And just as an archeologist digs up the secrets of past civilizations, leaders must dig up the experiences that have shaped employee beliefs. In

Figure 6.3. The Behavior Chain: The Way You Want to See It.

Result Successful strategy execution

Management is going to stick with this strategy. We can sell on value, not just price. This works. Customers value our new approach, and we look smart doing it. I can build a stronger relationship with customers and beat the competition.

Belief

I’ll approach new customers to sell value, not just price, using the tools the company provided.

Behavior

The division president put his reputation on the line. He sold product to my prospect right before my eyes, using the new tools. The customers complimented us on our new approach. We beat the competition.

Experience

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96 BEYOND THE BABBLE

this role, there are a number of places a leader can look to uncover the “ why nots. ”

Most companies have an employee survey, although these differ greatly in purpose and content. To inform leadership communi- cation, study the research to identify responses that relate to what employees know and feel — and an indication of a “ why not ” — such as questions/statements about the following issues:

Confi dence in management. Look for responses to statements such as “ I believe management has a well - formulated business strategy for the present, ” “ I believe management has a clear vision for the future, ” and “ I have confi dence in the future of the company. ”

Trust and candor. These include statements such as “ In our company, even diffi cult issues are discussed with tact and insight, ” “ In our company, communication between leaders and their direct reports is candid and productive, ” and “ I trust management to tell the truth. ”

Teamwork. Statements such as “ In our company, it is easy for us to combine and evaluate information from multiple sources, ” “ In our company, all employees are committed to doing quality work, ” and “ I have a best friend at work. ”

Participation. These include “ Management trusts the judgment of people at my level in the company ” and “ Suffi cient effort is made to get the opinions and thinking of employees in this company. ”

Motives. “ In my company, we discuss even the most diffi cult issues with tact and insight. ”

Accountability. “ I understand how my work contributes to the company ’ s business objectives. ”

Direction. “ Management has a clear view of where the organization is going and how to get there ” and “ I understand leadership ’ s vision for the company. ”

Commitment. “ Management delivers on its promises ” and “ Management ’ s actions match its words. ”

As you interpret the impact of survey questions, it ’ s helpful to break down results into subsets involving specifi c parts and levels

•

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The “Why Nots”: What’s Getting in the Way? 97

of the organization. This will help set priorities for your leadership commu- nication. For example, if a function or division is especially critical to hit- ting your objectives, you will want to look more closely at that subset to determine how lead- ership communication can drive performance in that specifi c area.

It ’ s important that you as a leader consider the implications of research data as it relates to your company, not to the indus- try norms. Even if your company scores well compared with your peers, for example, that could be misleading. Being in the top tier of a dysfunctional group shouldn ’ t be comforting (any more than being the sanest person in the sanitarium). Likewise, if one quarter of your employees don ’ t believe in your strategy, it is important to understand who those employees are. If they are people, such as the janitorial staff and others who have little or no impact on your strategy, there ’ s less reason to lose sleep over it. But if the scores are low among the people who can affect strategy execution, then it ’ s a problem.

Review of formal research usually can provide a place to begin exploring the root causes of “ why nots ” and can help prioritize lead- ership ’ s focus. A deeper look into the organization is usually required, however, to truly understand the Behavior Chain. Although formal research points leaders in the right direction, interactive listening and conversations with employees provide the depth of understand- ing and the concrete examples needed to address issues.

Employee discussion groups can be a very effective tool for under- standing the Behavior Chain. Specifi cally, the questions in a discus- sion group designed to inform a Behavior Chain seek to understand what tangible experiences employees have been through or live in the lore of the organization that shape their beliefs on a particular subject. Questions such as “ When you have done what manage- ment has asked in the past, what has happened? ” and “ When you have a really tough, frustrating day, what does it look like? ” and “ What makes working here hard? ” elicit answers that give leaders tremendous insight into what kinds of experiences and feelings may be preventing action on the part of employees. With that knowl- edge, leaders are far better prepared to remove barriers to action.

Look to the company ’ s history, and the stories employees tell, to identify the “ why nots. ”

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98 BEYOND THE BABBLE

(The review of discussion groups in the “ How to ” Resource Guide, Chapter Twelve , offers an overview of this technique for having con- versations with employees.)

THE LAND OF OZ CONFRONTS ITS DEMONS

The Land of Oz, the company we ’ ve used to illustrate the Know � Feel � Do Action Equation, faced a few “ why nots. ” Leadership had identifi ed customer satisfaction as one of its nonnegotiables. They also wanted to institute more uniform processes and systems through a lean manufacturing approach that every operation would adopt. Employees ’ experiences, however, had led them to believe that volume would trump quality every time, even if it resulted in customer protests. Moreover, the company had always focused on cost — in fact, cost and volume were the primary means by which management evaluated line managers. At this company, employees believed they could survive anything but high costs. Moreover, the company had always operated in a very decentralized manner, and managers were given broad discretion on deciding how they would achieve their results. Managers knew the best way to move up in the organization was to demonstrate their ability to think independently, take action, and get results.

Leadership expected employees to make customer satisfaction a nonnegotiable and to embrace the uniform processes of its lean manufacturing approach. To drive behavior in these areas, leaders needed to address the Behavior Chain experiences that had created beliefs contrary to these strategies. They had to show that improving customer satisfaction, including quality, was a key ingredient in how employees would be evaluated. Moreover, manufacturing employees in particular needed to know that implementing lean manufacturing was the path to advancement at the company. Leadership communi- cation in both instances would need to involve not only words, but also very visible actions.

With this understanding of the “ why nots, ” leadership at the Land of Oz had a complete picture of the landscape in which they would conduct leadership communication on strategy. They were now ready to package this information for delivery to the organization, as shown in Table 6.1 .

c06.indd 98c06.indd 98 4/29/08 5:29:05 PM4/29/08 5:29:05 PM

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c06.indd 99c06.indd 99 4/29/08 5:29:05 PM4/29/08 5:29:05 PM

100 BEYOND THE BABBLE

SUMMARY Just as there are reasons why employees will take action, there are reasons why they won ’ t. These are the “ why nots. ” They often involve deep emotions around employee perceptions of management regard- ing issues such as trust, commitment, and competency. “ Why not ” issues are a signifi cant challenge to employee motivation and a bar- rier to strategy execution.

The “ why nots ” usually can ’ t be talked away. When employees believe they have been lied to by management, for example, leader- ship can ’ t simply say “ Trust me ” and expect employees to respond with the best behaviors. Instead, leaders must address the root cause of the belief, identifying the experiences that shaped the negative belief about trust. This connection between experiences, beliefs, and behaviors is called the Behavior Chain. Leaders can identify the links of the Behavior Chain and how they affect behavior and results by reviewing many of the responses on their employee surveys as well as by conducting qualitative research among employees, typically through discussion groups.

To reverse a “ why not, ” leadership must address the experience link in the Behavior Chain. For example, to overcome the barrier of established mistrust, a leader might begin by telling employees that he or she will always tell the truth in a straightforward man- ner. Then the leader must prove it through visible, demonstrable actions — telling the truth about diffi cult subjects, for example. Finally, the leader must remind employees that he or she told the truth. This words-actions-words cycle creates a new experience for employees, which in turn shapes a new belief. After enough cycles of telling the truth (and reminding employees of it), employees will begin to trust leadership ’ s words again.

Leaders have been successful using this approach to address a wide variety of “ why nots. ” Removing the “ why nots ” as a factor in the minds of employees puts leaders fi rmly on the path to successful strategy execution.

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101

C H A P T E R S E V E N

Package: Turn the Action Equation into a Conversation

“ Finally, something from corporate that I can use. ” That ’ s what we heard from supervisors headed to the plant fl oor to talk to their employees and take on the Teamsters Union. Their plant was in the midst of a heated union organization drive, and it wasn ’ t looking good for the company. The Teamsters knew what they were doing. They attacked the company on a few key points, such as a recent increase in the employee co - pay for health insurance. The union also made promises that they couldn ’ t keep — that a contract would provide employees with more security, better wages, and rules that would protect them from working too hard. The compa- ny ’ s approach was to attack the union with hour - long presentations about wage differentials, the country ’ s rising health care costs, the decline in the number of union jobs, and how management believed unions have screwed up the country. It all seemed to go in one ear and out the other, and managers and supervisors drifted to the side- lines of the overall communication effort.

But now the “ suits ” from corporate were offering a different approach. They provided a short communication platform for super- visors that made sense to them and was easy to remember. It related to what employees — including the supervisors themselves — valued in

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102 BEYOND THE BABBLE

their jobs. Moreover, they quit using corporate language, and framed the messages in the vernacular of supervisors. Job “ positions ” became “ spots. ” “ Infl uence ” became “ we have a say. ” And “ the positive impact of the company ’ s operating approach ” became “ we ’ ve got a good thing going. ” The new message was something supervisors could talk to people about not only in conference rooms but also in the day - to - day conduct of their work, and something that would relate well to employees.

The suits didn ’ t get to this point without contention. “ Supervisors can ’ t handle this. They aren ’ t good at communication, ” said managers from across the plant. True, supervisors weren ’ t good at communi- cating the messages leadership gave them. Those messages were long, detailed, and complex. Besides, the information they were asking the supervisors to deliver was just anti - union propaganda, and they couldn ’ t talk about it with a straight face. The company was going to lose the vote, and that meant the plant manager was going to lose his job. He was ready to try something different. “ This might be uncon- ventional, ” he said. “ But it makes sense. ”

He and his team worked with the suits to make the message rel- evant to employees and deliverable by managers and supervisors. They knew what they needed employees to do: vote no. And they worked through what employees would have to know, and then feel, in order to vote that way. They learned that the vote wasn ’ t really about the union; it was about employees and what was important to them. They came to realize unions make sense in some plants, but not this one and not with these employees. They distilled their mes- sage into fi ve simple concepts that told a story about the plant and its employees, and why staying union - free was the best decision.

When supervisors fi rst saw the message they laughed — not because it was funny but because they saw that management fi nally got it. “ This is about us, ” they said. “ This is about what people are really thinking. This is the truth. We can talk to them about this. ” As one of the suits said, “ This information will resonate with employees. ” The supervisors laughed at that too because it was so corporate. But the suit was right. The supervisors took the message to the plant fl oor, employees listened, and the company won the vote by a 3 to 1 margin. At the end of it all, a couple of supervisors presented the suits with T - shirts with the words “ The Resonator ” printed on the front — because, yes, simplicity and truth do resonate.

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Package: Turn the Action Equation into a Conversation 103

CONVERSATIONS ARE “ IN THE MOMENT ” It would be great if all managers and supervisors took the time to read and memorize the lengthy documents leadership provides so they could communicate their content. In an ideal world, everyone would be a gifted communicator who easily translates complex con- cepts into everyday language. And employees would listen to all the communication leaders send and work to digest and interpret it.

In the real world, that ’ s not how it works. People listen intermit- tently and only to what interests them most. Employee memories are short (except when it ’ s about management mistakes). They dis- cuss things in short conversations, not extended debates. They don ’ t have the time. Managers and supervisors communicate well enough to do their day - to - day jobs, but complex messages and issues can tax their communication ability (in this they are just like anybody else — just watch the polit- ical debates to see even intensively trained and experienced communica- tors stumble when things get complex). People are comfortable with the ver- nacular they have devel- oped over a lifetime, and we aren ’ t going to change that. Words and actions don ’ t always fi t together naturally for many employees, espe- cially in complicated business situations.

In reality, effective leaders communicate “ in the moment ” when employees are listening, and they have to deliver a message that makes sense quickly.

They must communicate not only in controlled meetings, but also anywhere employees are having conversations about work — on the plant fl oor, in the elevator, by the water cooler, in the parking lot on the way to their cars, at the local pub where people gather for a beer — everywhere.

That ’ s a tall order. A critical step in the process is to give managers and supervisors “ something we can use. ” The work done to inform the Action Equation is a great start. It identifi es what employees need to do and what motivates them to take action. Then it has to be packaged in a way that is easily delivered, heard, and remembered by leader and employee alike.

Leaders must be prepared to com- municate on strategy “in the moment” with employees.

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104 BEYOND THE BABBLE

THE MEMORY ISSUE If leaders are to communicate to employees in the moment, they must be able to remember their message from the top of their minds, not from a binder or note pad or little card they carry in a pocket. Unfortunately, human memory isn ’ t capable of what leaders often ask of it. Even the shortened direction developed to inform the Action Equation is too lengthy and complex for most people to com- municate without further packaging. They just can ’ t remember it.

Human short - term memory capacity is limited to about fi ve “ chunks ” of information, according to research conducted as far

back as 1956. Princeton Professor of Psychology George Miller conducted extensive testing of peo- ple and their ability to recall lists of digits, and found humans are able to recall between fi ve and nine chunks of informa-

tion. 1 So the fact that people can ’ t remember all that much doesn ’ t mean they are dimwits; it ’ s biology. If leaders ask managers and supervisors to communicate more, they will exceed their capacity to remember the messages they are supposed to deliver. Moreover, the employees they are talking to will have trouble remembering the information, and communication really doesn ’ t happen unless the receiver of the information hears it and retains it. If you believe we ’ re underestimating you or the people who work with you, try the memory experiment we outline in the “ How to ” Resource Guide (Chapter Twelve ) with a group of managers. It takes only fi ve min- utes and demonstrates just how limited human short - term memory is. Also, it ’ s fun to watch super - smart engineers, fi nancial wizards, and linguistic gymnasts (or so they think) struggle to remember a handful of words, as asked in the experiment.

To prepare leaders to communicate in the moment, we have to enable them to do it from memory. At the outset, that means using their short - term memory (over time, information will be committed to long - term memory, but that takes quite a bit of time, and it must be held in short - term memory fi rst). That means communications must be limited to about fi ve chunks of information. The chunks

Human memory capacity enables us to remember only about fi ve chunks of information. That limits the message leaders can deliver.

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Package: Turn the Action Equation into a Conversation 105

can be very large pieces of information, such as a movie passage or a piece of advertising, or a single fact. Also, the more the chunks of information relate to each other — as if held within a story — the easier it is for people to remember. These chunks can then be related to other, more detailed streams of information, as we ’ ll outline later. But people won ’ t get to that information unless they can use the fi ve chunks as a guide or pathway to it. This fi ve - chunk limit holds true for listeners as well as those who deliver the information. If you try to communicate a message that ’ s too complex and lengthy, the people you are communicating to just won ’ t remember it. More likely, they will remember what they want to hear, not what you say (and that causes all sorts of problems).

This limitation is particularly important to consider as messages move down the chain of command, through leaders to the fi eld. A senior team that has developed strategy may be able to remem- ber most of the elements of the Action Equation because they were deeply involved in developing it. The same won ’ t be true for others. This is one reason management tends to believe supervisors aren ’ t good at communication. We believe that ’ s unfair to supervisors — and lets management off the hook. The real problem is that senior management gives supervisors material they can ’ t communicate. In fact, the best communicators available — from Bill Clinton to Ronald Reagan — would have a hard time communicating the corporate - speak at many companies. And that means not just delivering a speech, but communicating in a way that employees understand and compels them to take action. Moreover, the environments in which supervisors communicate aren ’ t like the quiet corners of the boardroom or front offi ce. They are noisy, active locations bustling with activity. It ’ s very diffi cult to remember complex points amidst distractions — especially when employees are fi ring questions at you. This makes communicating in the moment particularly challenging.

THE CONVERSATION PLATFORM The Conversation Platform is a tool that helps leaders — from the CEO to frontline supervisors — remember the information they need to communicate so they can do so in the moment. It delivers informa- tion so employees will listen and can remember. It promotes conver- sations instead of presentations, speeches, and one - way monologues.

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106 BEYOND THE BABBLE

The Conversation Platform combines the most pertinent elements of the Action Equation into a simple, fi ve - chunk message set.

The Conversation Platform is not a list of message points, how- ever. Each of the fi ve chunks is a conceptual gateway to all of the information in the Action Equation. The chunks are not phrases that tell the whole story, but concepts that represent the larger body of information, which embodies strat egy, leadership ’ s direc tion, or an

organization ’ s position on signifi cant issues. At the same time, the Conversa- tion Platform is a fi l ter that helps leaders deliver On Strategy information and, likewise, eliminate babble from their lead er- ship communication eff-

orts. If information doesn ’ t fi t through the Platform ’ s gateway, it ’ s likely the information is off - strategy and irrelevant.

The Conversation Platform is composed of three parts. First is the core message, which may be about strategy or an issue; it is the central theme of the platform. It usually combines (1) the essence of what leadership wants employees to do with (2) the motivational connection that will make them want to take action — what we often call the “ cause. ”

The second component of the Conversation Platform is a set of four building blocks that support the core message. They provide the actions that will deliver strategy, or the rationale that supports management ’ s position on an issue. As appropriate, the building blocks also connect to the “ whys ” and “ why nots ” outlined in the Action Equation. Emphasis on the specifi c information depends on how relevant and important it is to driving employee actions and results. We restrict the building blocks to four, because when com- bined with the cause, the platform reaches our recommended limit of memory capacity: fi ve chunks.

The third component of the Conversation Platform is supporting concepts and proof points that provide perspective and relate words with actions so they are connected and mutually supportive. Specifi c actions, budgets, projects, and resources provide proof points and show that the strategy that leaders are talking about is more

The Conversation Platform frames an organization’s strategic messages in a way leaders can remember and talk about them and employees can hear them.

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Package: Turn the Action Equation into a Conversation 107

than words. The proof points may also concern information that supports management ’ s position on an issue.

The Conversation Platform does not necessarily include every piece of information in the Action Equation. Instead, it organizes the information to condense it and make it more accessible. It puts buckets of information into groupings so they are more memo- rable, and it organizes those buckets into a story in which all the parts relate to each other. This makes it not only easier for people to remember but also more appropriate for conversations. That ’ s because people tend to have conversations around stories, not lists of activities.

The platform expresses concepts that leaders, and subsequently employees, put into their own words. It is not a collection of phrases, tag lines, slogans, or other sets of words that leaders memorize and repeat. The Conversation Platform focuses on the strength and clar- ity of concepts, not the ring of the words or cleverness of phrases. It is not a brochure, ad, video, or memo that is distributed. It ’ s a lead- ership tool.

A leader can get started on developing a platform by using the simple fi ve - box template depicted in Figure 7.1 , which helps orga- nize thinking and keep it short. (We recommend you print this template on one page and use at least 10 - point type to fi ll in the building - block description in each box; this will help keep it short.) The center box holds the organization ’ s purpose as expressed to employees. The other four boxes hold the building blocks. The fi ve boxes should relate to each other so they tell a story. Infused

Where We’re Going: The “Cause”

Building Block

Figure 7.1. A Conversation Platform Template.

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108 BEYOND THE BABBLE

throughout are the reasons why the information is relevant to employees. This circular arrangement helps organize the informa- tion so managers can begin at any point in the story and segue into the other concepts as appropriate.

THE LAND OF OZ GETS READY TO ROLL When leadership at the Land of Oz was ready to share the informa- tion that made up their Action Equation, they translated it into the fi ve concept chunks of the Conversation Platform. Table 7.1 out- lines the information employees needed to know and feel in order to achieve the company ’ s goals, and how leadership “ chunked ” the infor- mation so it was easier for leaders and employees up and down the organization to remember.

Supervisors will remember the concepts and more, because the concepts lead to other information. The fi ve concepts provide a way to organize and access the entire body of information informed by the Action Equation. Moreover, leaders still will need the background facts, supporting information, and perspective to add depth to the story, but all of that information must connect to the Conversation Platform. Table 7.2 shows how the concepts act as a summary and a gateway to other information that fi ts into the story.

In addition to relating all the Action Equation information to a simple set of statements employees can remember, all of the Con- versation Platform elements connect the dots to form a story that can start from any of the boxes. For example, if an employee asks why the company is implementing lean manufacturing, the answer would be to increase effi ciency so we can achieve a 17-percent ROA. That, in turn, is important to creating the capital the company needs to invest and grow, which is central to maintaining the opportunities for every employee.

WHEN ISSUES ARE THE ISSUE In the union - organizing situation outlined earlier, the Conversation Platform took a somewhat different twist. It was more about an issue than specifi c strategies, and again front and center was the “ cause ” : “ We ’ ve got a good thing going — the best jobs in the county. We ’ re the only ones who can keep it going ” (see Figure 7.2 ). We based the core message of the platform on employees ’ belief that they had

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112 BEYOND THE BABBLE

1. We hire the best of the best. We prove it every day. Top employer around You have to be good to get a job here Right people earn the right spots because they are good, not just on seniority Help each other out Good relationship with management Special assignments Look around for proof

2. We have a say in how operations are run. And we can speak for ourselves. Front line drives every major operating decision Asked for schedule changes and we got them We go direct—no union steward Crew design and advancements Town hall meetings Equipment, supplier visits Intrateam rotations, daily job assignments Optimization of line speed

4. Security? Performance talks. Paper walks. No layoffs in nine years Others have had them We’re secure because we deliver on results Volume + customer satisfaction = job security Capital investments and management confidence in the plant = job security

3. We have a stake in the results. Profit sharing Investment in plant equipment equals more security We have • Higher wages • Matching 401(k) • Short- and long-term disability We’re doing a great job getting what we want without a union

We’ve got a good thing going —the best jobs in the county. We’re the only ones who can keep it going.

Figure 7.2. A Conversation Platform Addressing an Issue.

good jobs. It also spoke to a motivational connection the employees had that revolved around a strong sense of independence. These were no - nonsense people who enjoyed making decisions and liked to have control of their work. They were also a proud bunch who felt they had gotten their jobs in the fi rst place because they were

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Package: Turn the Action Equation into a Conversation 113

the best - qualifi ed in their county (the last time the company posted eighteen jobs, more than four hundred people applied). The plat- form emphasized this in the fi rst building block, which pointed out that the company hired the best and employees prove it every day with their talent, decisions, and hard work.

The second building block appealed to their sense of indepen- dence again, contrasting directly with how the company would operate if a union were involved and employees worked through union stewards. The third building block reminded employees that they have a stake in the union - organizing vote. The com- pany continually invested in the plant and kept wages very competitive. Finally, the fourth building block countered claims that employees would be better off as part of the union. It emphasized that employ- ees are only as secure as the results they post, as indicated by the fact that the plant had not had any layoffs, while union sites did. In total, the company Conversation Platform was as depicted in Figure 7.2 , with the cause, building blocks, and proof points.

Note that the platform speaks in the vernacular employees use in the plant — not corporate - speak. In fact, we wrote the building blocks using the actual words frontline supervisors used to describe what was special about their organization and why they didn ’ t want a union involved. It didn ’ t cover everything management talked about in their all - employee meetings, but it provided a way for supervisors to have conversations with employees about the union and hit the most important messages. They held those conversations informally in all kinds of locations, from the plant fl oor to the local tavern. It made them effective leadership communicators because the information was simple, and they could make it very relevant to employee situations. Consider this exchange, as related to us by one of the supervisors:

An employee came up to me and asked if he could leave early because his son had a soccer game. It was the championship game, and he really wanted to go.

I told him, no problem. But I also told him that if the union was here, I couldn ’ t do that. I told him that we would have a lot of rules,

A Conversation Platform can frame an organization’s overall strategic direction or focus in on one especially critical issue.

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114 BEYOND THE BABBLE

and it wouldn ’ t be like it is now, where we say how things are run. He ’ d have to go to the union steward, and I couldn ’ t cover for him because I ’ m a supervisor and he ’ s hourly. I went through each of the points, about how we ’ re the best because we hire the best — some- thing that would change with the union seniority system. And that all that stuff the union says about how a contract would protect everybody is a bunch of horse manure. [The supervisor didn ’ t actu- ally say “ manure, ” but there are some limits to our recommenda- tion to use the local vernacular.] I told him all that, and it made him think.

The supervisors made many employees think. They led the com- munication effort against a very tough union - organizing crowd. They were critical to the 3 - to - 1 margin win. They communicated as leaders should: in their own words, in a conversation that told a story, with concepts and information that were relevant to what employees cared about and that delivered results.

SUMMARY Effective communication happens in the moment, when people are talking about the business and making decisions in their work areas. To enable leaders — from the CEO to a frontline supervisor — to communicate about strategy in the moment, they must be equipped with a message they can remember and deliver. That means the mes- sage has to be short — about fi ve chunks of information. This fi ve - chunk limit is driven by human short - term memory capacity.

The fi ve chunks must be constructed to cover the key points of the Action Equation in the form of a very short story, not a separate laundry list of thoughts. The information must be articulated in the vernacular of day - to - day conversation, not corporate language. In fact, the chunks should be viewed as concepts employees can put into their own words, as opposed to lines of a script or slogans peo- ple are expected to repeat. We call this overall story the Conversation Platform.

The Conversation Platform is one of the most valuable and versa- tile tools leaders have at their disposal to improve leadership align- ment and effective communication throughout the organization. It simplifi es concepts to a point where they are easily remembered and

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Package: Turn the Action Equation into a Conversation 115

articulated by top leaders, managers, supervisors, and employees alike. It enables all leaders to boil down the essence of where the organiza- tion is going and how it ’ s going to get there (or to discuss complex, diffi cult issues facing employees and the business) in a short commu- nication that could be delivered in an elevator ride or form the basis for a three - day conference on strategy and issues.

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117

C H A P T E R E I G H T

Align: Make Sure All Leaders Are On Strategy

“ I do not rule Russia; ten thousand clerks do, ” Russia ’ s Emperor Czar Nicholas said in 1825, frustrated over the lack of control he had over his country. He was a supreme autocrat, and he undoubtedly was referring to not only clerks stamping paper- work, but all of the people up and down his government bureau- cracy. His inability to drive their behavior frustrated him, despite a pervasive network of secret police, censorship, and controls over all facets of public life.

It ’ s very much like that in business (although even CEOs don ’ t have quite that much power). Business leaders feel frustrated as strat- egy falters in the hands of vice presidents who pursue the wrong priorities, middle managers who sit on paperwork, and twenty - four - year - old customer service representatives who treat customers as no better than a nuisance. Not even the most hard - nosed leaders can fi ght the bureaucracy if it doesn ’ t want to move.

Robert Nardelli learned this (at least we think he did) when he was CEO at Home Depot, although perhaps a few years too late. When he took the helm of the $ 46 - billion company, he pushed hard to bring discipline to the organization. This included centralizing some func- tions, revamping inventory controls, and moving decision making away from local managers. He met stiff resistance, and much of the top executive team left during his fi rst year. A year and a half into the effort, after trying to force - feed changes, Nardelli backtracked

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118 BEYOND THE BABBLE

and began addressing the alignment issues he faced. “ People never had time to grieve for the company Home Depot once was . . . and we didn ’ t do a very good job of explaining the why , ” was how CFO Carol Time explained it. 1 The media and the market were unforgiv- ing. Nardelli was widely criticized, and Home Depot ’ s share price dropped from more than $ 40 when he assumed control in 2000 to just above $ 20 in 2003. When he fi nally started to get the organiza- tion aligned behind his strategy, performance improved. By then, however, it may have been too late. The Texas - based Investors for the Director Accountability Foundation targeted Nardelli as one of a handful of corporate executives who were paid too much, and he left the company in 2007 in a contentious battle with the board of direc- tors over his pay. Perhaps alignment just wasn ’ t in his blood, but it ’ s clear it would have helped drive productive change in his company.

Effective leaders communicate and socialize a new direction at the outset of change, not years into it. Moreover, they involve sea- soned leaders up and down the organization in designing and imple- menting tactical initiatives (such as changing new inventory control systems). This alignment begins with the top leadership of an orga- nization, but then extends through management ranks. It has to be that way, or the clerks will bring change — and strategy execution — to a grinding halt.

DON ’ T BE FOOLED The concept of alignment has become a popular — some say overused — business term. We use it here because it so accurately

describes an essential step in leadership communi- cation. For communica- tion purposes, it involves agreement on a common message delivered to the organization. Its roots must be deeper than that,

though. True alignment promotes the strategy that needs to be effec- tively communicated to employees. It is the synergy of direction and action up, down, and across an organization. When leadership is not truly aligned around strategy, leadership communication won ’ t be either. As a result, strategy will falter.

True alignment of direction and action is an essential element of effective leadership communication.

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Align: Make Sure All Leaders Are On Strategy 119

There are any number of methods now in use to drive leader- ship alignment — from multiyear working groups to weeklong team - building exercises to strategy boot camps. Depending on the alignment issue, any of these may be appropriate. If leaders are philo- sophically at odds about strategy or are being pulled apart by personal or political animosity, aggressive intervention like this makes sense.

If alignment issues stem from a misunderstanding of points of view or a lack of productive dialogue, or are more perceptual than real, communication can be the answer. Through communication you can surface issues, identify whether disagreements are real or perceived, and address them through conversation and dialogue. Alignment must be confi rmed, though, not assumed. Just because managers nod “ yes ” in meetings doesn ’ t mean they are aligned. Don ’ t be fooled.

We worked, for example, with a vice president of manufacturing who needed to cut $ 150 million in costs across his manufacturing operations. He had seven facilities ranging in size from 600 to 4,500 employees. Through their individual plans, the seven plant man agers reporting to him were able to identify about $ 90 million in cost reductions. That wasn ’ t good enough. He had to try something new.

The vice president launched a new organizational operating strategy calling for increased collaboration across operations, inte- grating common resources and sharing accountability. In brief, the vice president wanted his plant management to operate not as seven distinct facilities but rather as a single organization. This was a dra- matic change from the status quo.

The VP fi rst presented the new approach with a forty - slide PowerPoint presentation that covered all the bases. He reviewed the cost - reduction goals and the rationale behind sharing and imple- menting best practices. “ If our worst - performing departments can match the midpoint of our best - performing, we ’ ll be able to meet our goals, ” he said. “ Each plant performs similar work, and every plant has at least one best - in - company function. Let ’ s learn from each other and get it right across the board. ” The managers nodded in agreement, and in the meeting talked about how they might work together. When the managers returned to their jobs, however, noth- ing changed. “ They still don ’ t talk to each other, ” the VP said. “ And they certainly don ’ t work together. ”

To remedy the situation, he went back to the drawing board. He condensed the strategy material into a simple, clear, document of

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120 BEYOND THE BABBLE

about seven hundred words (not quite down to fi ve hundred words, but still condensed). He then distributed the document to each of the plant managers and engaged us to follow up and interview each one about the strategy.

The intake sessions revealed that the plant managers understood the new direction, but there were a number of “ why nots ” rooted in the Behavior Chain that inhibited progress. “ I see where he is going, ” one said. “ But I ’ m not sure we can get there from here. ” The plant managers said the metrics governing their actions were both not uniform enough and too numerous for them to effectively evalu- ate best practices. Moreover, historically leadership had judged man- agers solely on the specifi c performance of their plant, and they had competed with each other for resources, recognition, and advance- ment. Now leadership was asking them to work together. They were concerned that this approach would put their careers at risk because either it would mask their individual successes or they would share in collective failures. Either way, it was a nonstarter. Moreover, there were issues outside their group that made collaboration diffi - cult. Chief among these was confl icting direction given to them by senior executives from other functions, such as engineering, prod- uct management, and fi nance. Finally, they really didn ’ t know how to work together as a team — they had never done it before. Putting teamwork into practice was much harder than just saying it in a doc- ument or talking about it in a meeting.

After reviewing these concerns, the VP brought his team together and worked through the issues in a structured conversation approach: consider - dialogue - solve (CDS, described later in this chapter). As a result, the plant managers began to collaborate, and they identifi ed an additional $ 60 million in cost reductions within two months. Moreover, they communicated the need for increased collaboration to the managers in their organizations, and they began to communi- cate across plants. It started a new way of doing business that drove even greater cost savings and effi ciencies.

START AT THE TOP AND WORK TO THE FRONT LINE

Using communication to drive action in support of strategy requires more than the top leader ’ s commitment and effort. A critical step is ensuring that your leadership team — from the most senior

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Align: Make Sure All Leaders Are On Strategy 121

executives to supervisors on the front line — are on the same page, with good understanding and sup- port of the strategy. (After all, there ’ s nothing more damaging to the success- ful execution of a strategy than leaders providing different or even confl icting direction to employees.) In turn, that entire leadership group must communicate consistently to the entire organization. That takes alignment.

Informing the Action Equation (Chapters Three through Six ), then distilling that information into a Conversation Platform (Chapter Seven ) are the fi rst steps to a communication - driven alignment pro- cess. The clear, concise description of strategy provided in the Action Equation makes it possible to identify differences of opinion among leaders. There is no complexity or ambiguity that can confuse issues or that they can hide behind.

The Conversation Platform helps distill the information even fur- ther and cements alignment around how leadership will talk about strategy with the organization. We ’ ve found it effective to use both tools to engage leadership teams in strategy discussions.

Once a leader has completed his or her homework by informing the Action Equation and creating a fi rst - draft Conversation Platform, it ’ s time to ensure that the top leadership team is on the same page. To do this, we suggest engaging a third party to conduct one - on - one interviews with each member of the top leadership team — the core leadership group. Using an intermediary to conduct this intake increases the chance that disagreements or misunderstandings will surface. This facilitator/interviewer can be a staff member people trust or someone from outside your organization. Ideally, this person can facilitate the entire process, from information gathering to even- tual alignment.

In these intake meetings, the facilitator can confi rm understand- ing and agreement on the Action Equation and Conversation Platform and surface any concerns or issues of the individual execu- tives. The facilitator can also ask questions to identify any “ why nots ” that stand in the way of alignment. These include issues around commitment, trust, philosophical disagreements, groupthink, and confl icting direction from various leaders and others. These are

A thoughtful process behind strategy articulation can help ensure the clarity and alignment you need to be successful.

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122 BEYOND THE BABBLE

the kinds of issues that leaders don ’ t often raise with each other, or among employees, but can in the end derail strategy execution. From these discussions, the facilitator can create a Situation Snapshot designed to outline the issues and get them on the table for dis- cussion. (We include suggested questions for intake meetings and for creating a Situation Snapshot in the “ How to ” Resource Guide, Chapter Twelve .)

With the Situation Snapshot and Conversation Platform in hand, a leader is ready to talk about them with his or her team and to drive alignment. For some teams, this kind of discussion is very natural. People are open to sharing ideas, exchanging perspectives, and iden- tifying alternative solutions. For many others, that kind of open dia- logue can be challenging, but not insurmountable, given the right tools and approach.

PROMOTE OPEN DISCUSSION AT MULTIPLE LEVELS

Management styles in many organizations, particularly those with a Command communication profi le, do not encourage conversation and real dialogue among teams or individuals. One of the most preva- lent counterproductive practices in team discussion is to skip or gloss over dialogue that considers the problem, moving quickly to discus- sion around solutions. Because of this, the depth and complexity of problems are often misunderstood and important considerations are ignored. To truly work through strategy issues as a team, it takes dia- logue in which people share ideas, listen to each other, and discuss disagreements. The consider - dialogue - solve (CDS) framework, which we developed to improve alignment and communication at the team level, helps promote this kind of discussion.

The intention of the CDS framework is to provide a team with an approach and tools to ensure that they can have a rich exchange of perspective and ideas and come to a place of true alignment, not just surface agreement. The CDS framework has three steps. In the fi rst (consider), team members share topic information well

before the meeting is held to discuss it. This gives people time to consider the information, talk to others in their work area

Use a deliberate process before and during meetings to promote dialogue.

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Align: Make Sure All Leaders Are On Strategy 123

about their perspectives, and prepare for the discussion that is to take place. In the second step (dialogue), which takes place at the meeting, those attending discuss as a group the topic information and issues without moving right into identifying solutions. This promotes a deeper understanding of the information, issues, and the causes behind problems. It also enables people to see and under- stand confl icting perspectives and points of view. When teams jump too quickly to problem solving, this kind of deep understanding is lost. In the fi nal step (solve), all discuss solutions and select those that the group believes will be most effective.

A word of caution: with seriously dysfunctional teams, the CDS framework will be only marginally effective. If senior leaders are chronic command - and - control managers, or if the team faces deep issues around trust, it ’ s very diffi cult to promote dialogue. Such challenges must be addressed separately, usually through one - on - one coaching with a professional or through intense team - building work. CDS is, however, an effective tool for most teams, especially when implemented by a seasoned facilitator.

Once the senior team is aligned around the Conversation Plat- form, it ’ s time to take it all to the fi eld. As you move deeper into the organization, it becomes less practical to conduct facilitated intake. The number of managers and time constraints make that level of interaction diffi cult. It ’ s still important to test your messaging with the larger organization, however. Just as a consumer products com- pany wouldn ’ t ask every consumer what they thought of a new product design, they wouldn ’ t introduce one without testing it with a reasonable cross section of the population. We recommend the same approach with the messages you intend to take to your larger organization, using the “ red face ” test.

The “ red face ” test determines whether managers can and will com- municate leadership ’ s message to the organization, or whether they will get “ red - faced ” with embarrassment or anger over its content. This is a critical step in communicating through the People Channel. First, it reveals whether the senior team ’ s perception of reality is dif- ferent from that of employees closer to the front line. Second, the “ red face ” test reveals whether the Conversation Platform expresses strat- egy in terms and language employees will understand and support. Third, by involving a small group of key managers and supervisors in the process, top leaders begin to build support for strategy among the leaders deeper in the organization.

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The basis of the “ red face ” test is the Conversation Platform. A facilitator simply shows the platform to managers and supervi- sors and asks them a series of questions. (A review of how to con- duct the “ red face ” test is included in Chapter Twelve .) We recently worked with an insurance company, for example, that was shifting its strategy to ensure that it could deliver on not only the insurance but also the fi nancial planning needs of its clients. This shift in strat- egy required signifi cant changes in the operation of the business as well as in the behaviors of its employees and agents. Before leaders took the new strategy directly to employees and agents, they con- ducted the “ red face ” test in small discussion groups and through one - on - one conversations. As a result, leaders learned fi rst that they needed to clarify the meaning behind some of the key elements of the strategy. For example, their “ cause ” or core message spoke to the leadership ’ s focus on becoming the “ best ” in their industry. Although the meaning and measurement of the “ best ” was clear at the executive level, employees needed more context. One employee said, “ Saying we want to be ‘ the best ’ is admirable, but I want a pic- ture in my mind of what it looks like. ” Another employee asked, “ How do we know when we are the best? ” These were legitimate questions, and hearing this feedback from employees helped lead- ership to reconsider how they spoke about “ the best ” and how they would measure it.

The feedback wasn ’ t centered just on language. The groups also surfaced employee and management concerns about the organiza- tion ’ s ability to execute the strategy. For example, managers recog- nized how much the organization already asked of its agents, and they were concerned that some agents would not be able to han- dle the added workload the strategy required. Actually, the leader- ship team had recognized these issues long before and had already put some project teams in place to address the potential over- load issue, but managers and employees weren ’ t yet aware of those efforts. Coming out of these discussion groups, leadership commit-

ted to increase the visibil- ity of programs designed specifi cally to ensure that agents had the resources and skills to be able to succeed under this new strategy.

Test your messaging in the fi eld before rolling it out. This will save time and resources in the long run.

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Align: Make Sure All Leaders Are On Strategy 125

In another organization, leaders built a Conversation Platform that included fi ve key metrics. When they conducted the “ red face ” test with frontline supervisors, the local leaders balked. Employees, they said, were very disheartened by recent failures, so it would be diffi cult to motivate them to embrace the overall strategy until they had seen some short - term success. The supervisors thought that if they could focus on just two metrics and show progress on them, it would do a lot to improve the employee mindset and ultimately would help the supervisors mobilize employees to support the strategy with energy and commitment. With this feedback, leadership established just two immediate goals; the other goals they referred to as longer - term objectives. In a short time, employees saw progress on those metrics and became more confi dent in their ability to be successful. As time passed, leadership added the other metrics to the short - term mix and continued to build momentum and make progress.

INCLUDE INFORMAL LEADERS IN THE PEOPLE CHANNEL

Aligning your leadership team — from senior executives to frontline supervisors — around your Conversation Platform is a critical step in leadership communi- cation. Alignment goes beyond the formal struc- ture of the organization, however. If you limit those included in this alignment process to just those lead- ers who are in the boxes on the organization chart, you ’ re potentially missing a large and very powerful group that you need to have on your side to be successful. We refer to this important group as informal leaders .

There are leaders as depicted in the organization chart, and there are leaders who have people who follow them. These two are not always the same. The latter group is a powerful component of the People Channel. They are the individuals others turn to informally for information, perspective, and even direction, whether they report to that person or not. For example, an employee might hear news or direction from their direct supervisor but go to somebody else in the organization to discuss it and get confi rmation and perspective.

The informal leader network is a valuable resource that should be tapped into and supported.

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126 BEYOND THE BABBLE

Informal leaders can be part of the formal leadership group — executives, managers, supervisors, and the like. They also very well may reside outside that structure, ranging from a union steward to the receptionist who always seems to have the inside scoop.

Informal leaders often have an even more infl uential voice in an organization than many formal leaders do. They can act as “ third - party endorsers ” of a strategy or an initiative — and their infl uence is two - way. They not only communicate to employees but also are a great source of feedback and buzz from the organization. In many organizations, the informal leaders make or break a communica- tion effort. It may be hard to believe that the receptionist could have more sway in shaping opinions than an executive, but it ’ s true. This is particularly true in organizations whose executives don ’ t get out of their offi ces much. (This is true in politics as well — most presi- dential candidates would love to have the local bartender or hair- dresser on their side.) Therefore, it is critically important to include your informal leaders in the alignment process. Their help, over time, will do a lot to drive strategy and get results. The “ How to ” Resource Guide (Chapter Twelve ) contains specifi c guidance on how to identify and engage informal leaders.

SUMMARY Top leaders need help communicating with their organizations — they can ’ t do it alone. Therefore, a leader must align his or her lead- ership group behind strategy and communication, starting with top leadership and then extending the alignment all the way down to frontline supervisors. Without this kind of alignment, employees head in different directions, work at cross - purposes, and derail strat- egy execution.

The fi rst step in aligning leadership behind strategy and commu- nications is to begin with the senior leadership team. We recommend enlisting the help of a seasoned, trusted facilitator to interview each member of the leadership team, using the Action Equation as a basis for intake. These intake sessions identify differences in understand- ing, perception, philosophy, and other factors that may divide the leadership team. They also will uncover deeper motivational issues around trust and commitment that can inhibit collaboration. The output from these meetings helps drive productive discussion among the top leaders to resolve their issues and get on the same page.

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Align: Make Sure All Leaders Are On Strategy 127

Once top leadership is aligned, we recommend taking messages (in the form of the Conversation Platform) to the fi eld and testing them with line managers and supervisors. This determines whether line managers will support the strategy and how leaders want to communicate it. Just as a good marketing company wouldn ’ t intro- duce a major new product without testing it with customers, leaders shouldn ’ t take important messages to the organization without fi rst ensuring that they will work. In working to align the organi- zation behind the strategy, don ’ t miss one of the most important constituencies — the informal leaders to whom those individuals turn for information and perspective. They may or may not be found in the leadership boxes on the organizational chart, but their infl uence in the organization is undeniable.

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129

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Equip: Give Leaders the Tools They Need to Communicate On Strategy

We recently attended a management meeting at a large technology company where the CEO outlined the strate- gies that were designed to take the company “ to the next level. ” After he walked through the content of the strategies with a PowerPoint presen tation and video, the fi nal slide directed the leadership group to communicate the strategy to their employees. It provided a few tips on communication — “ techniques you already know, ” accord- ing to the CEO. Also, he said the communications department would provide managers with a PowerPoint presentation and video pack- age to adapt for their local groups. The CEO said it was essential to reach every employee with the presentation. The managers nodded in agreement, and they fully intended to deliver on that direction.

It was like sending Paris Hilton to milk the cows on the television show The Simple Life . Give her a pail. She knows where the parts are and how it ’ s supposed to work, so she should do it. If you haven ’ t seen Paris milk a cow, it ’ s worth a few laughs. But sending a group of managers to communicate critical strategies with a PowerPoint pre- sentation and video isn ’ t a laughing matter — it ’ s a problem waiting to happen. Just as Paris would need some help to fi ll the pail, man- agers need to be trained and equipped to communicate strategy. Just because they have a presentation and can get up in front of a

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group and talk doesn ’ t mean they are prepared to communicate on strategy — especially if that strategy represents a change in direction, has met resistance from the organization, or needs to be executed in times of stress or uncertainty. They need training and support.

You say somebody else in your organization is responsible for training? Before you skip to the next chapter, stop. We ’ re not talking about skills training on how to give a presentation or manage a meet- ing. We ’ re talking about training on the specifi c strategy your com- pany is engaged in executing. As such, the training needed is as much about explaining strategy as about providing managers with a way to communicate to others. That ’ s a leadership responsibility, and not something to be delegated in full to the training or communication departments. At the same time, it can be very helpful to engage train- ing and communication people in developing the approach for your company, and to get their assistance in delivering the training, partic- ularly if it involves large groups. Use them to build a robust program to fulfi ll the requirements outlined in the following sections. They can use what we provide as a starting point to build a tailored On Strategy communication approach to training and ongoing support of the People Channel. But make it your responsibility to lead this effort, and model that commitment for the rest of the managers and supervisors in the organization.

TRAIN LEADERS AS IF STRATEGY DEPENDED ON IT

Companies train managers in every important facet of business except strategy communication. Somehow, managers are supposed to just know how to communicate strategy. That ’ s a mistake. Most peo- ple have certain abilities to communicate — just as a sales person has a baseline ability to sell, no matter what the product is. But a company wouldn ’ t ask the sales force to sell a product without training them in how the product works. The same goes for strategy. On Strategy communication requires that managers understand strategy and how to communicate it.

On Strategy training, as we outline it, will take about two to three hours at the outset, with coaching and support following the initial session. It ’ s important to consider who leads the training. Ideally, a senior leader should deliver the training, because the content is strategy, not skills. As such, On Strategy training is very much like a

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presentation and discussion about strategy — and who better to lead such a discussion than the executives who have developed the strat- egy? Executive involvement also demonstrates that On Strategy com- munication is a high priority for the company. With that in mind, it ’ s reasonable that a CEO would lead the training (which might bet- ter be called a briefi ng) for the organization ’ s senior executives, then those executives would lead it for the next level, and so on through each level of the organization. This approach not only delivers strat- egy to each level of the organization but also enables managers to tailor the information to their work area. Moreover, this approach deepens manager knowledge of strategy as they prepare and pres- ent it to their people. It ’ s helpful to have assistance while conduct- ing the training, especially if the groups are large. If you decide to use trainers as the primary deliverers of the training, at the very least you should ask a senior business leader to kick off the session, wel- come participants, and let them know why this session is so impor- tant. The leader can then speak about the People Channel and the critical role that every leader down through frontline supervisors will play in making it successful. The training should cover six areas, as follows.

Set Expectations . At the outset, set expectations about manager and supervisor responsibilities for communication. Outline the important connection between communication and results and the critical role that managers and super- visors play in the com- munication process. It ’ s important to explain that effective communication will also help the manag- ers get their jobs done, because the communi- cation is about strategy execution and how it relates to their job and responsibilities, not abstract corporate issues. Cover the methods by which executive leadership will measure and track manager perfor- mance in communication (this concrete performance management is important — it puts action to the words). This is an ideal time for a senior leader to provide examples of his or her commitment to com- munication; how it has helped achieve results and get the job done. The leader can also take this opportunity to make a commitment to the leadership group that the senior team will keep them in the

Training on strategy is a leadership responsibility best delivered by lead- ers, assisted by staff.

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loop, wants to hear from them as issues and challenges are raised, and appreciates their time and effort.

Introduce the Conversation Platform . Review the concept of the Conversation Platform and how it will be used to frame leadership ’ s strategic message. This review is essential for fi rst - time users of the Conversation Platform. Most people aren ’ t familiar with brevity in strategy communication, especially as structured in a platform. They need to be confi dent that the process works before they try to use it. The concept review portion of the training answers the following questions:

What is a Conversation Platform?

Why are we using a Conversation Platform?

How should we use it?

How shouldn ’ t we use it?

How will it help me as a manager?

Review Specifi c Content . The content - review portion of the train- ing introduces managers to the specifi c content of the platform — it trains managers in strategy itself. Participants must understand that feedback is welcome, but that strategy is not up for debate during the training. The purpose of the training is communication, not strategy development.

It ’ s most effective to walk through the platform chunk by chunk, starting with the core message or “ cause, ” then sharing each of the four building blocks. Delve deeply into each of the four building blocks to walk through the specifi c actions, or proof points, the organization is taking to implement each strategy. Use interactive exercises to build involvement and ensure understanding. For exam- ple, ask the managers to identify programs and initiatives in which they are involved, and how those fi t into the building blocks of the Conversation Platform. Discuss those that don ’ t seem to fi t, then

work to resolve them. If the local managers are, in fact, involved with work that is not on strategy, dis- cuss actions the managers might take to address that issue. (If staff people are

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Effective training grounds leaders on the strategy and how to talk about it with employees every day.

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delivering the training, coach the managers on dealing with these issues, or involve more senior managers in the discussion as well.) Also, provide a list of potential employee questions about the strate- gies that make up the Conversation Platform. Then ask participants to identify which part of the Conversation Platform would help to answer each of the employee questions. You can break the group into several smaller groups to discuss the platform and answer the questions, then share their fi ndings with the larger group.

It ’ s also important to review in detail the “ whys ” and “ why nots ” in the platform, whether they are implicit or explicit. As we ’ ve pointed out before, it ’ s critical to combine the rational and intrinsic motivations of employees in communication on an ongoing basis. At every opportunity, leaders must address each area of the Action Equation: Know � Feel � Do.

Use the Platform . The fourth element of the training gives leaders an opportunity to practice using the platform in conversations with employees or colleagues. To do this, we recommend a role - play ses- sion, with participants taking turns acting as employee and manager. Use the same list of potential employee questions as used in the con- tent review, but also include some surprises. This exercise is especially important because the People Channel works most effectively when managers communicate through conversations. Managers must be comfortable delivering strategic messages through conversation, and this role - play exercise helps achieve that.

It ’ s also important to remind participants at this point that they should not recite the platform verbatim, but put the concepts in their own words. The platform provides the essence of the message, but to avoid sounding like corporate propaganda, it must be presented in the actual words of the individual manager. Share examples of how other managers deliver the platform and role - play so the managers in the current training can frame how they will use the platform and articulate the messaging. Because the platform is also used to frame more formal communication — such as presentations, speeches, and business reports — the training should cover how the platform should infl uence those as well. An effective way to do this is to share exam- ples, such as a speech or newsletter article, in “ before ” and “ after ” forms: examples that do not consider the platform, each followed by a version that employs the platform as a fi lter and content tool. In the manager training sessions this should be reviewed conceptually, but you should also consider training sessions designed specifi cally

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for communicators across the organization. Those responsible for internal and external communication (HR, Marketing, Training, Recruiting, Communications) need to have an even deeper under- standing of how to use the Conversation Platform as a fi lter in for- mal communication.

Process Review . Once the managers have a good grasp of the Con- versation Platform and how to use it, the next element of the train- ing is to outline the process and tools that are in place to support leaders on an ongoing basis. Make it clear that, concerning strategy, the leadership of the organization is the primary communication channel in the company. The other channels, such as newsletters and large meetings, are there to support them in communicating to employees, not to replace them. Assuming changes are under way to enhance the organization ’ s overall communication process (as described in Chapter Ten ), stress that there is a concerted effort under way to strengthen the strategic focus and design of the current employee - directed channels (newsletter, intranet, and so on) and share some of the progress of those projects as well. Explain, also, that the company and its leadership will provide ongoing support to managers in their communication efforts. Discuss in some detail the specifi c communication channel established to keep managers informed (which we ’ ll address shortly) and how that channel will be used. Show how all the pieces fi t together into a cohesive process to support the leadership group.

Ask for Feedback . Ask the managers to give their feedback on the overall process and how they believe it could be improved. Take sug- gestions seriously and make changes. Also, be sure to report back to the managers on what happened to their suggestions. This can be done through a separate memo, or through the manager - direct com- munication channel outlined shortly.

The frequency with which you conduct this type of training depends on a variety of factors. It ’ s important to conduct a com- prehensive training of your entire leadership group (supervisors up through senior leadership) with the initial launch of your Conversa- tion Platform. After that, train new members to the leadership group as soon as possible — ideally as part of the onboarding process. This provides a solid introduction to strategy, eliminates avoidable mis- takes and confusion that new managers may make regarding strat- egy execution, and equips new leaders to join and support ongoing strategy communication.

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When top leadership changes the Conversation Platform, the People Channel doesn ’ t necessarily require an entirely new train- ing effort. Communicate changes to the leaders, and give them the opportunity to ask questions and seek clarifi cation. If, for example, you have an upcoming major event (such as labor negotiations, pos- sible mergers, going public), you may choose to build a separate but complementary message platform to ensure that leaders have the depth of information and context they need on that particular sub- ject to have effective conversations with employees. In those cases, we recommend reviewing the new platform with managers so they understand the content, and working through role - play situations so they are comfortable delivering it.

SUPPORT LOCAL LEADERS AND THE PEOPLE CHANNEL

The People Channel — the leaders up and down the organization — must be in the loop and one step ahead of the general employee population. These people will share information and provide a local interpretation and perspective on strategy, so they must fully under- stand strategy, be aware of communication events, and be prepared to answer questions. Training leaders on the strategy and how to communicate with employees about it is the fi rst step in preparing the leadership team. The next step is to set up a system to ensure that leaders are getting the information and insight they need to be a reliable channel in the eyes and experiences of employees. No man- ager or supervisor likes to look poorly informed or ignorant in front of the employees they supervise. If they do, they tend to just blame it on poor leadership, turning the problem into a complaint: “ Nobody tells me anything. ” Or “ I don ’ t get it — they don ’ t know what they are doing. ”

Keep Leaders Updated

Keeping the People Channel informed is relatively simple and inex- pensive, and there are many opportunities to do so. If you commit to the mindset that leaders need to know and understand information before the greater population does, then some small adjustments to current communication practices may fi t the bill. For example, when an executive visits a location to meet with employees, make

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sure he or she meets with managers and supervisors fi rst. As part of the communication, provide those managers and supervisors with background material that will be helpful in communicating to their employees. The information presented to that group can be more expansive and deeper than that presented to the larger employee group. In addition, this type of meeting provides an opportunity to answer questions, clarify issues, and even role - play diffi cult ques- tions employees may be asking.

Another good opportunity for People Channel learning arises when a public company holds conference calls about results with analysts. Follow the analyst call with a leaders - only conference call to address the issues raised by analysts and answer questions. This pro- vides even greater context for strategy and the pressure that affects the executive team. Sometimes analyst calls can get quite heated; hearing them fi rsthand and then discussing them can help build a sense of urgency among the leaders. Moreover, this technique helps ensure that the leadership team is prepared to explain the results to employees in the context of the bigger picture and to more confi - dently answer employee questions.

A reliable way to keep the People Channel informed is to create a simple, dedicated communication piece directed to the leaders who form the channel. One company, for example, ensures the effective- ness of their People Channel with a management - only, one - page electronic brief distributed monthly to the entire management team. The newsletter includes a heads - up of upcoming actions, news that illustrates how the company is executing its strategy, recaps of recent events, and Q & A to address current rumors or buzz in the organiza- tion. The publication also gives managers and supervisors advance notice of the content of the next employee newsletter so they can be prepared to direct employees to the articles and answer poten- tial questions. In addition to the leaders - only monthly brief, the company also produces an immediate - notifi cation vehicle for them. This brief addresses specifi c issues or news that can ’ t wait for the monthly manager newsletter. For example, rumors were circulat- ing at one company about a controversial article in the Wall Street Journal related to the business, and this immediate response vehicle provided perspective on the article and answered employee ques- tions the same day the article appeared.

Various other channels can be effective in keeping managers and supervisors in the loop and serving as strong communicators,

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so keep them in mind not only for their specifi c local purpose but also for On Strategy communication. These channels include the following:

Operating meetings . Functions and departments usually have periodic meetings among managers and supervisors to talk about production goals, problems, and so on. They don ’ t last long and are very focused. Use them to update managers and supervisors on what they need to know to support leadership communication.

Reporting documents . Various functions, particularly fi nance and human resources, continually issue reports. Use them not only to convey the specifi c information they ’ re designed to deliver, but also to organize them strategically and include relevant On Strategy information and perspective.

Information package(s) with write - ups, visuals, and the like for each manager and supervisor . Managers and supervisors will have time to read an information kit if it ’ s brief and engaging. As needed, distribute the information in segments so it ’ s easy to digest.

Intranet site . Some companies create a password - protected intranet site for managers and supervisors. The site can be a good way to make announcements, provide in - depth background, and offer consistent answers for leadership to use with common employee questions.

Conference calls . Before making announcements to the general employee population, have managers and supervisors participate in a conference call in which you can give them the information they need and answer questions.

Telephone hotline . Some managers and supervisors don ’ t have ready access to computers, but they can call in. Set up a hotline for them so they can stay in the loop.

For some topics — those more complex or controversial — it ’ s important not only to share the information in advance with the lead- ership group, but also to give them an opportunity to digest the infor- mation and get answers to the questions they and their employees will have. Organizations often try to address this by providing leaders with

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a Q & A document. That approach can be valuable, but it assumes those who prepare the Q & A can anticipate all the questions leaders and employees may have — which is not always the case. It ’ s also very dif- fi cult to provide nuance or deeper perspective around issues through a document. It can get very lengthy and therefore hard to digest. Moreover, those documents often are vetted through any number of

fi lters, such as legal, HR, fi nance, and others. They can easily become diluted, or very confusing — the kind of babble that On Strategy commu nication must avoid. There fore, an opportunity for a live con ver sation among the

lead ership group, sup ported by written documentation like a Q & A, is the best way to ensure that leaders are truly prepared to talk with employees about the specifi cs of the topic at hand.

The People Channel thrives on a solid system of continuous information fl ow between senior leaders and the rest of the lead- ership team. Each organization is different, and each should select tools and channels that work within the culture, structure, geogra- phy, and other factors that affect information fl ow. However, there are some basic principles every organization should follow.

It ’ s usually obvious that major announcements and changes need to be communicated through the People Channel, but there ’ s more to it than that. Ideally, any topic of conversation — the events, communi- cation, changes, or other triggers that generate conversations among employees — should be addressed through the People Channel. More- over, any event, communication, change, or other situation that lead- ership wants employees to talk about is appropriate to drive through the People Channel. These include the following:

Visible and measurable progress (or shortfalls) against strategy and goals

Any decisions that would alter or shift the focus of the organization

Personnel changes — hiring or fi ring of any signifi cance in the organization

Major issues related to your customers, products, or both

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It ’ s critical to have an effective system in place to ensure that leaders are always informed before the larger employee population is.

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Industry news and events that are relevant to your business

Any public announcements

Rumors that are circulating

If there is any question whether information is relevant or not, get in touch with some of the informal leadership of the organiza- tion and test it. The People Channel certainly shouldn ’ t be fi lled with anything that resembles babble, but it works best when manag- ers and supervisors are fully informed of issues employees will be talking about in their conversations.

Promote an Ongoing Leadership Conversation

People communicate through conversations. That goes for leaders as well as all employees, so it is important to promote ongoing con- versation at the leadership level. Provide opportunities for your leadership group to get together as a team. In today ’ s business envi- ronment, there is a constant push to do more with less and faster. In that mode, far too many organizations have scaled back dramatically on the time they allow leaders to spend doing anything that doesn ’ t have an immediate impact on the bottom line. This is unfortunate and detrimental to longer - term results. As any good leader knows, taking a little time to be thoughtful, share ideas, and consider next steps can pay off greatly in the short and long term. That ’ s why we strongly encourage clients to invest the time it takes to bring lead- ers together periodically to share progress, talk about challenges, and, most important, to get to know each other. Those experiences are irreplaceable in building a truly cohesive and effective leadership team that is capable of taking on the hardest of challenges. The depth of understanding and feeling of engagement that leaders take away from effective gatherings can have a signifi cant impact on the success of the People Channel.

RECOGNIZE AND STRENGTHEN THE WEAK LINKS

Most people can have a productive conversation. There are those, however, who can ’ t. That ’ s an important consideration. Leadership style has a strong impact on the success or failure of the People Channel. Leaders set the ground rules for conversation, whether

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they intend to or not. As they do, they either promote conversation or turn people into bystanders. For example, some leaders manage discussions with employees in a “ tell and respond ” style in which the leader barks out questions and expects answers. Intimidated employees offer the safest answers to questions, often leaving out important details. In another style, “ solutions only, ” leaders cut short the conversations associated with problem identifi cation and imme- diately move to problem solving in an effort to be more productive. This style doesn ’ t allow people to explore the complexity, nuance, or depth of problems, and it often results in superfi cial solutions. Likewise, leaders who intimidate and create an environment based on fear, or who embarrass employees who bring forward negative information, will stifl e On Strategy communication.

Leadership ’ s views on “ attitude ” also play a role in either pro- moting or stifl ing conversation. For example, one organization we worked with was intent on promoting a “ positive attitude, ” defi ned by an employee ’ s expressed optimism about whether problems would be solved, regardless of the challenges faced. Consequently, employees who challenged the effectiveness of solutions or pointed out additional problems appeared to leadership to not have a “ posi- tive attitude. ” This stifl ed On Strategy communication and resulted

in the implementation of half - baked solutions and a refusal to acknowledge indications of trouble. Another situation along the same lines developed when leadership at a company continually told

employees, “ When you come to me with a problem, bring a solution along as well. ” This was a legitimate attempt to ensure that employ- ees owned the problems they identifi ed rather than pushing them off on leaders; however, as a result, leaders and employees seldom had productive conversations about problems, and if they did, those discussions were delayed. Employees feared raising a problem before they had a solution, and sometimes solutions came somewhat late in decision - making cycles.

Training can make a difference for leaders who have diffi culty communicating. Again, the training we recommend most is not the typical communication skills training. There ’ s nothing wrong

Culture and style can have a direct impact on the ability of employees and leaders to have real conversations about strategy.

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with that, but the most important training for the People Channel involves interpersonal skills. These skills include the ability to listen, to pay attention despite distractions and pressure, and to empathize with people. A number of organizations provide excellent training and coaching in this area. Look for a partner in this area that has fl exibility in how it delivers the training. Senior leaders need coach- ing more than training, so an organization that offers professional leadership coaching is very valuable. Building interpersonal skills on large teams can also be very important. We were involved with one company that trained as many as a thousand employees at a time in daylong sessions. It was very powerful.

The interpersonal skills training should focus on the ability to

Establish rapport with superiors, subordinates, and peers

Listen without resistance, while also evaluating hard data to get answers to problems

Recognize when employees are evading issues and draw out information from them

Overcome issues that individuals have about communicating, ranging from fear of reprisal to extreme introversion

Create an environment in which productive discussion can fl ourish

COMPLEMENTARY LEADER ASSIGNMENTS Sometimes, however, people just don ’ t have what it takes, at least with- out intensive interpersonal training and intervention. In those cases, they need a different kind of support. For example, we worked with a cross - functional team charged with a critical manufacturing realign- ment. According to the company ’ s president, “ The success of the ini- tiative would make or break us for the next three years. ” He asked us to observe the team responsible for execution, because he considered communication critical to success.

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Train leaders on interpersonal skills, and if a manager doesn ’ t have what it takes, pair him or her with somebody who does.

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We met with the team leader, Tom, and watched him communicate with the twenty - two people on his team. He was very intelligent, with great intensity and dedication. He was also very diligent concerning communication. Each team member kept detailed project manage- ment logs, and they all met once every two weeks for a day to review the state of the realignment. They spent a lot of time on trying to com- municate, but it was a waste of time. Here ’ s how the meeting looked:

Tom opened the meeting and passed out a detailed agenda based on the activity logs each of the managers kept up to date. There were usually about forty active job streams going on at any given time. The agenda called for going through each one, and it was tight. There was no room for anything else. He would always point out, “ There is a lot to cover here, so we don ’ t have time to waste. We must keep to the schedule. ” And keep to it they did. No matter what came up, he was determined to cover every topic, even if it meant cutting off discussion about a critical situation. Of the twenty - two people on the team besides Tom, only a handful talked more than once or twice during the eight - hour meetings. Even when critical problems came up, most people were silent. Tom made no effort to bring those people into the discussion.

When the meeting concluded, Tom asked us what we thought about the communication approach. We did our best to be support- ive, but explained that it was not very effective. The team seldom, if ever, discussed diffi cult issues. The agenda hog - tied them. People didn ’ t have enough time to sort through the clutter or get comfort- able talking about possible failure. Moreover, many people didn ’ t contribute during the meeting. They appeared intimidated by the process, and we doubted they would raise problems that the team needed to address. We made four suggestions:

1. Create a summary of the action logs to update people on progress and provide that to people before the meeting.

2. Focus the meetings on problems the team needs to address, not every single action item.

3. Let the group self - select the issues they need to talk about, and give them time to work through the agenda in a less structured way. There must be free time for discussion.

4. Work to build participation by people who didn ’ t appear engaged, either during the meeting or before and after.

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Tom rejected each of our suggestions. He said, “ Every work stream is critical, and I don ’ t want to miss problems by not talking about each one. We ’ re giving people every opportunity to communicate. If they don ’ t step up to the plate, it ’ s not my problem. ” In the end, it would be his problem when the realignment failed.

We brought this up to the company president, as he requested, and he was not surprised by Tom ’ s attitude. “ Tom is a command and control guy, ” he said. “ He would never think to actually seek out information in any form but a command. As far as working through things with less structure, he ’ d rather lay on a bed of nails than let loose of any control. But he ’ s great at organizing things. He knows what all the parts need to do to make the realignment successful. We can ’ t lose that. ”

We suggested that Tom receive structured interpersonal skills training, but in the meantime have a coleader on the team (who was strong in this area) responsible for communication. That way, the group would benefi t from Tom ’ s organizational skills, but also work better as a team.

It was a sound solution. Some people just aren ’ t equipped to be good communicators, at least right now. Complement them with other leaders with stronger communication skills, especially when they are in charge of teams.

SUMMARY Businesses train top leaders, managers, and supervisors in many things, but seldom train them about strategy and how to communi- cate it. We strongly recommend training with this purpose. This isn ’ t skill training, but content training, and as such should be a prerequi- site of any leader ’ s participation in the management of the business. Moreover, because it ’ s content training — it ’ s about strategy — leaders should be active in delivering the training.

We recommend developing a training approach organized around the Conversation Platform and Action Equation, focusing on the core message or “ cause, ” the building blocks, and the proof points. This helps create a common understanding and delivery method for strat- egy communication (it also helps deepen the understanding managers and supervisors have of strategy). With the platform as a foundation, we suggest the training be used to :

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Develop a solid understanding of strategy among managers and supervisors

Ground leaders in what the Conversation Platform is and how it ’ s used

Build understanding of the communication processes the organization will use to communicate strategy and support managers

Get feedback

In addition to training, we suggest providing ongoing communi- cation support tailored specifi cally to managers and supervisors. This includes a communication process or vehicle to keep them updated on strategy so they know news before the rest of the organization and therefore can help communicate and provide perspective. This should include the opportunity to ask questions. Concerning skills training, we recommend a focus on interpersonal rather than com- munication techniques. Improving in that area will provide the most benefi t, because On Strategy communication asks people to talk to each other as opposed to making presentations and speeches (it also requires listening, which is a rare capability among many managers).

Finally, we recognize that some managers (a smaller number than you might think) will not become effective enough in communication to deliver On Strategy messages — at least in time to have an imme- diate impact on performance. In those cases, we recommend pair- ing those managers with others who are effective communicators to provide better direction and motivation to the employees and teams they lead. That way the leaders serve immediate communication needs relative to performance, help the defi cient leader learn how to communicate better, and show the rest of the organization that com- munication is a critical leadership capability.

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C H A P T E R T E N

Drive and Support: Orchestrate and Sustain On Strategy Conversation

“ I want to get on top of the building and shout: Let ’ s get going! I want to put up a giant thermometer like the ones for blood drives to show where we are and how far we have to go. I want to get some action. ”

That ’ s what a frustrated executive told us as he vented about his organization. He had taken over his organization a year earlier, and he was not getting the cooperation or intensity he needed for the company to be successful. He intuitively knew part of the problem was communication. He was right on every count.

A leader must drive communication. It doesn ’ t just happen. After you fi nish the Action Equation, build the Conversation Platform, align and equip your leadership team, and establish the People Channel, you still have to kick - start the communication and keep it going on a continuous basis. The challenge is to establish a dis- ciplined system of process and vehicles that ensures that leadership shares the right information with employees, and that the People Channel is ready to maximize the opportunity through conversa- tion. Moreover, as you do this, continue to ensure that these vehi- cles support the People Channel; they do not replace it. Ultimately, the managers and supervisors in the organization deliver strategy

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messages, not the company newsletter or Intranet. These are support tools, not the primary means of delivery.

That said, we offer three recommendations to govern communica- tion vehicles that support the People Channel. First, use those vehi- cles to create a continuous “ drumbeat ” of communication, starting with the vehicles you already have and making them more effective. Second, when you need to turn up the communication volume, do so with targeted, short - term “ campaigns. ” Finally, look to the com- munications department or outside resources for help. By following these three recommendations, leaders fi nd they can build a commu- nication capability in their organization without the need to climb to the top of the building and shout (or to spend excessive time and money).

CREATE A DRUMBEAT Ongoing On Strategy communication creates a continuous drum- beat of information, insight, and perspective about strategy, directed to stakeholders who are critical to strategy execution. Employees should see the messages of the Conversation Platform everywhere they look, and leadership should use every opportunity to get the messages in front of them.

Maximize All the Vehicles Available

Most companies already have plenty of communication vehicles in place to support On Strategy communication. So before you launch a new vehicle, shape up those you have already. For our purposes, we break vehicles down into “ traditional ” and “ operating ” vehi- cles. The traditional vehicles are those often mentioned when peo- ple talk about communication: newsletters, town hall meetings, the intranet site, and the like. The operating vehicles are those that are integral to the day - to - day running of the business: regular reporting documents, operating review meetings, functional and departmen- tal meetings, and the other ways in which managers communicate in the course of doing their jobs. Operating and traditional vehicles alike can provide powerful opportunities to communicate on strat- egy, but it takes process and discipline.

Babble clutters much of the message stream produced by com- munication vehicles in many companies, and it gets in the way.

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We conducted an audit of one major company ’ s traditional com- munication vehicles and measured the babble in pounds — literally. We asked a representative group of managers to keep three boxes in their work area. One box, labeled Valuable, was for communication they received that helped them to do their job. Another box — labeled Helpful — was for information that was nice to have. And the box labeled Rather Not Get was for information that was a waste of time. After a month, we checked the boxes and measured the material in the Valuable and Helpful boxes in ounces. We had to triple the size of the Rather Not Get box to continue the audit, as the babble over- fl owed onto the fl oor.

You might want to blame the communication department for this, and often they are part of the problem. But the babble goes well beyond their work to include the communication produced by functions across the organization — from Human Resources to IT to the people who run the cafeteria. In fact, one senior communication professional made this point at a company conference by collecting all of the newsletters, booklets, binders, videos, and other commu- nication he received from across the company, which his depart- ment didn ’ t produce. He put them in a wheelbarrow and dumped them out in front of the audience — and had to make two trips. He implored his fellow managers to stop creating new forms of com- munication, and to work with him to stop the babble.

Technology is part of the problem. The information age could easily be renamed the age of information overload. First there was just the memo, and only as many copies as a typewriter with car- bon paper could make. Then came the mimeograph, and the copier, and the unlimited ability to duplicate messages on paper. Desktop publishing followed, with a proliferation of fl yers, newsletters, and three - ring binders. Now, with the Internet and email, the babble is reaching epic proportions. It ’ s time to put an end to all this by focusing communication where it should be — on strategy.

Traditional communication vehicles are an important part of the People Channel. They inform conversation by disseminating infor- mation and acting as a reliable resource for employees. They also can generate strategy conversations between the People Channel and employees, and among employees. To deliver these benefi ts, however, the traditional vehicles must deliver on three levels. First, content must be on strategy. Second, the communication must be compelling enough to generate interest and conversation. Third,

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communication about strategy must be “ loud ” enough to break through the inevitable clutter.

Operating communication channels also are excellent forums to promote On Strategy messages. Each function should issue every communication it produces in the context of the strategy message (the Conversation Platform). These include reporting documents, announcements, meetings, training, and other ongoing communica- tion and activities. Simple modifi cations can go a long way in accom- plishing this. For example, the fi nance department should organize reports and information around strategy. This might require only a slight adjustment, like adding a summary chart to the front page. On Strategy messages can be front and center in every meeting. One company we worked with, for example, had a primary focus on safety. They started every meeting, whether with two people or two thou-

sand, with a message about safety. It was a little hokey when you ’ re ready to start a meeting and someone takes a minute to point out the fi re exits, but it was a good reminder of one of the nonnegotiables they valued. (Ford might have been less likely to

produce the Pinto if they had started every meeting with a commit- ment to safety.) Training is another excellent operating channel for On Strategy messaging. Every training course should begin with an introduction about how the training supports the organization ’ s strat- egy (why would the people be taking time off the job for training if it didn ’ t support strategy?).

To help identify the vehicles — traditional and operating — that are currently available, and to help identify where the organization needs additional vehicles, we ’ ve included a short list of the most common vehicles in Chapter Twelve . This Resource Guide also includes a brief overview of the most common work environments along with the communication opportunities and challenges each presents. It ’ s important to be sensitive to the differences in those environments, as one vehicle rarely fi ts all. An assessment of the var- ious environments in which your employee populations work will help determine which vehicles could be most effective.

From a monthly operating review to a fi nance report to an employee newsletter, the opportunities to com- municate On Strategy messages are everywhere.

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The Conversation Platform as a Filter and Focus

The best way to focus a company ’ s communication vehicles on strat- egy is to use the Conversation Platform as a fi lter and focus. Training all managers on the Conversation Platform helps reduce the babble in these communication pieces, as the managers work to commu- nicate in support of the platform. Moreover, the communication and human resources departments should be very well versed in the platform, since those departments usually produce a lot of commu- nication and manage the company ’ s traditional vehicles.

Every article, video, town hall speech, and other communication from leadership should relate directly to explaining to employees what they need to do and should provide information and perspec- tive about what they need to know and feel to take the right actions. Evaluating each communication as it relates to and supports the Conversation Platform will do that. If a communication isn ’ t explain- ing to people what they are supposed to be doing or what they need to know and feel to take the right actions, why is it occupying space in leadership ’ s communication channels?

Consider this requirement in all communication activities. For example, even one of the most mundane communication pieces — the personnel announcement — should be on strategy. The job of writ- ing the personnel announcement is often a very unglamorous job pushed down to the junior staffer. But, depending on the situation, a personnel announcement can provide a great opportunity to rein- force behaviors your organization expects from its employees. To take advantage of that oppor- tunity, ask this question: Is there any information we can provide through this communication that helps tell employees what they need to know or feel in order to take the right actions? In the personnel announcement, for example, consider an organization that wants to promote risk taking in decisions. In this case, leaders want employees to know that they should take risks, and employees need to feel that leadership rewards risk taking. Therefore, a personnel announce- ment of a high - profi le promotion should point out the risks the individual has taken, and the successes and even failures from which

The Conversation Platform and Action Equation provide a simple fi lter to help you ensure that all content is on strategy.

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he or she has learned. This is one effective way to demonstrate to the organization that leadership values risk taking. It also gives managers and supervisors (the People Channel) an opportunity to talk with employees about the promotion and reinforce the desired behaviors.

This doesn ’ t mean a company shouldn ’ t communicate nice stories about how much money employees contributed to the United Way, recognize the employee of the month, or highlight a retiree who is engaged in wonderful community service. It also doesn ’ t mean that HR should not report on benefi ts, or the technology department should not update people on developments in their area. But all these communications should relate to strategy. If they do not, and it ’ s still deemed necessary to communicate them, make sure the priority is clear — it should appear not as the center spread of the newsletter, but perhaps as an article on the intranet home page. In this regard, it ’ s wise to separate On Strategy communication from the more mundane information the company distributes. That way, employees know which vehicles are about strategy (and will help them do their jobs) and which focus more on the “ nice to know. ”

Use Vehicles to Spark People Channel Conversations on Strategy

“ Do you ever talk about the articles in the employee magazine with each other, or with your supervisor? ” We ask that question every time we evaluate the effectiveness of traditional leadership commu- nication channels, and the answer is seldom yes. If employees aren ’ t talking about the information delivered through support channels — even if it ’ s on strategy — you are missing a signifi cant opportunity.

The difference between communication that sparks a conver- sation and one that doesn ’ t is a matter of both content and style.

People talk about things that are important to them. That ’ s a given, and you address it by using the Action Equation as a fi lter for content. Leaders can add to the conversa- tion, however, with com-

munication that is controversial, provocative, or out of the ordinary.

Generate conversations in the work- place every day that can help employ- ees understand and take action in support of strategy.

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Formal leadership communication seldom exhibits these character- istics. In fact, many executives resist such material, and if they don ’ t resist, others may. There usually is a process in companies to purge the controversial and provocative from general communication. This is all counterproductive.

Design and writing style are very important. There ’ s certainly no single right way to design or write for a newsletter or produce a video or a poster. The culture of each organization often determines just how far you can go. But you should ask yourself, “ Will this grab someone ’ s attention or will he or she just pass it by? ” The answer will vary in different environments. In an organization with a more conservative culture, it may not take much to get them to stop and look. Again, the purpose of the communication is not only to pres- ent information but also to spark conversations about it.

Take one of the most simple of communication vehicles: the poster. Many companies wallpaper their lobbies and hallways with posters of visions, values, and lame pictures of eagles soaring or the sun rising to try to illustrate what innovation, or focus, or commitment looks like. These posters seldom inform or motivate people, especially after they have been up for a few weeks — or years. Instead, put up posters that challenge people, make a controversial point, and jump out of the environment. Also, change the posters every few weeks, or don ’ t bother putting them up (but give it a rest every two months or so). One orga- nization, for example, put up posters that depicted people reading the newspaper while ignoring poor - quality products moving down the line. The subtitle read, “ That ’ s not my job. ” Some employees recog- nized that was how the plant really operated — many employees didn ’ t pay much attention to quality. Others got upset at the inference, pro- testing that they cared as much as management about quality. It all stirred up conversations — through which managers were able to make the point that the job rules in the plant set up just that kind of situa- tion, and quality suffered because of it (and the employees who were upset were made to recognize the problem as well). Bottom line: com- munication happened (and it would not have happened if the posters had been of Tiger Woods making fl awless golf shots).

The need to embrace controversy becomes even more impor- tant when it involves diffi cult issues. We worked with one pharma- ceutical company, for example, that wanted to mobilize employees to support company efforts to address a growing belief among the public that drug companies used unethical practices in pricing and

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product testing. As part of the effort to inform and engage employ- ees, the company launched a program whereby employees attended meetings at which leaders would discuss the issues. To be success- ful, the meetings had to spark interest and address issues head on, as opposed to the dry, apparently self - serving and one - sided presenta- tion of information with which leadership often felt most comfort- able. To this end, the producers of the meetings used media from popular culture — TV episodes or current fi lms — as a springboard to engage and educate employees on issues.

It was a great communication opportunity that sparked consider- able excitement and conversation within the organization. The chal- lenge, however, was to follow through with the material. Executives bristled at the idea that such a controversial topic was on the agenda in the fi rst place. The notion that the company would actually present to employees material that was critical of the industry, as depicted in popular television programs, fl oored them. Executives cut and cut until they had deleted most of the controversial material from the presentation. When producers suggested the company view the fi lm The Constant Gardener, which dealt with unethical drug testing in a third - world country, the executives hit the ceiling.

Controversy about your company reaches and affects employees, whether you like it or not. Expect it and build on it. Don ’ t avoid it. If employees are talking about a movie like The Constant Gardener, it makes no sense to avoid the topic. Instead, get in on the conversa- tion. Expect that they will talk about provocative issues. Expect also that others — unions, activists, consumer groups, media, to name a few — will produce communication about your company and indus- try that will be controversial and provocative in nature. Ignoring it, and limiting your communication to the dry and mundane, limits your ability to lead your organization and your employees ’ ability to effectively engage in real conversations about your company and your industry. As you prepare On Strategy communication, if you don ’ t think it will raise an eyebrow, produce a smile, or cause some- body to pause and think, go back to the drawing board and improve it. Give your employees something to talk about — on strategy.

Calendarize Communication Events

Leaders can anticipate communication opportunities and require- ments, and they should commit those events to a calendar so they can use them in the communication drumbeat. This enables them to

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plan for them, commit the right resources, and put them in context with other events that affect employees. We use the term communi- cation events in a very broad sense. A communication event is any- thing that will generate conversation among employees that will either enhance or reduce their ability or desire to execute strategy. Plan for these and leverage them in communication. Here are some of the communication events that leaders can use or must plan for:

Earnings announcements

Product launches

Launch of new processes or systems to enable strategy execution

New business win

Publication of reports, such as the annual report or report on corporate responsibility

Publication of analyst reports and earnings estimates

Industry trend reports published by associations or the media

Publication of industry and business lists, such as the Fortune 500 or Best Places to Work

Customer events and news

Regular competitor announcements, such as their earnings, surveys, and other material

Company anniversaries

Business cycles that affect employment, production, sales volume, and so on

Government reports, such as economic forecasts and industry output

Government - related events, such as congressional hearings and regulatory announcements

Planned internal actions (even if planning is short term), such as personnel changes

Scheduled communication, such as internal publications, conferences, and meetings

Training schedules

HR systems events, such as performance evaluations, employee surveys, and benefi ts changes

Board of directors ’ meetings

•

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Internal reporting events, such as operating review meetings and budget reviews

Leadership visits to operations

Union events, such as elections and contract negotiations

Each of these is a potential communication event, and employee conversations about them are both opportunities and challenges.

They can be opportunities if they show progress the organization is making against its goals. They may be challenges if the infor- mation presented could reduce confi dence in strat- egies, confl ict with what

management has said about strategy and performance, cause ten- sion, or otherwise create misunderstandings among employees. Either way, these events will likely generate conversations, and leadership can infl uence those conversations by leveraging the People Channel. With the proper infl uence — by providing information that improves employee knowledge and understanding of strategy and their motiva- tions to take action — leadership can use every communication event to drive action in support of strategy execution. Put them all on a cal- endar, plan for them, and communicate. This calendar forms the basis for annual communication planning concerning how to deliver the Action Equation and Conversation Platform to the organization.

TO RAISE THE VOLUME, RUN A CAMPAIGN

On Strategy communication is an ongoing discipline. Just like account ing, or fi nance, or process improvement, a leader can ’ t start it, stop it, and start it up again without diminishing its utility and effec- tiveness. At the same time, there are instances in which leadership must turn up the volume on communication. These could be times of intense or specifi c change, when the company is under attack, or when the organization needs to rise to beat the competition.

In these situations, leadership can run a communication campaign that drives a higher level of information exchange and productive

•

Don’t let any important communi- cation opportunities pass you by. Plan and prepare for them.

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conversation. Campaigns involve greater frequency in pushing ideas and information through the People Channel and, in turn, greater support through traditional communication vehicles. Moreover, campaigns require greater visibility among top leadership.

Campaigns should fi t into the overall communication scheme of the organization. In other words, they should be an extension and intensifi cation of On Strategy communication, not a depar- ture from strategy messaging. In that capacity, campaigns should have a beginning and an end — because a cam- paign puts greater pres- sure on leaders and the People Channel to com- municate, and it is diffi - cult to sustain over time. Moreover, employees tend to become immune to campaign tactics if they go on too long — in essence, the campaign just blends into the landscape and loses its effectiveness. Leaders do run successive campaigns, but it ’ s most effective if they allow the organization to return to normal for a few months in between them.

We are not suggesting that communication starts and stops with campaigns. Leadership communication and the People Channel must be an ongoing part of running a business and executing strat- egy. Just as a company never stops executing strategy, leadership can never stop communicating and can never put the People Channel on hold. Campaigns simply raise the volume for a short period for a specifi c purpose. The following are some examples of communica- tion campaigns designed to address a variety of business challenges.

Employee Brand Tour. One company engaged thousands of employees at its production facilities and corporate offi ces in a new brand rollout, and included events involving employees, families, community leaders, and customers. Employees saw previews of new advertising, experienced new products, and heard directly from cus- tomers. An aggressive internal communication campaign supported the events, with vehicles ranging from newsletters to the develop- ment of a music video representing the new brand. The tour gen- erated the following results: 92 percent of employees felt increased pride; 79 percent felt an increased sense of belonging; 81 percent felt an increased sense of accomplishment; 71 percent felt more valued

Campaigns help turn up the volume during times that demand a special focus or intensifi ed effort.

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by the company; 77 percent felt an increased sense of teamwork; and 69 percent felt a greater sense of security.

Leadership Conferences. One company made a campaign out of a series of leadership conferences. The company held its fi rst confer- ence, and it was so successful the CEO decided to make it a biannual event. Every six months the leadership (approximately six hundred people) gathered over two days and shared strategic context and background for new brand and operating strategies. The conferences built understanding and excitement and equipped each attendee with a leadership tool kit to spread the message at offi ce and operat- ing locations.

Executive Face - to - Face Program. At one company, trust was the issue. Employees didn ’ t trust management ’ s intentions or capabili- ties, and therefore did not support a controversial new marketing strategy. To mend the relationship and build support, the executive team went on the road. Each of the top executives at the company visited at least one operational location every month. At each loca- tion, they had an open group Q & A session and walked the fl oor to talk one - on - one with employees on all shifts. Through the program, employees were able to get to know the “ faceless name ” at headquar- ters and understand in simple terms the reasons behind leadership decisions and how the employees could infl uence those decisions. The program resulted in an immediate increase in employee trust as measured by employee surveys.

Product Ride and Drive. The goal of this campaign was to get engineers not only informed about a new truck product design challenge, but also charged up to take new risks in their thinking. To “ break the mold, ” engineers created a “ ride and drive ” program whereby the engineers were able to test drive not only their own products but also competitor models. Some of the engineers even used the trucks as their personal vehicles, which really gave them an idea of what customers faced every day on the job. The expe- rience was an “ Aha! ” moment for the engineers that led to break- through design ideas.

Employee Celebration. In Chapter Seven we discussed an opera- tion that was trying to avoid a unionizing attempt (which at initial stages was all but won by the union). Leadership drove its message home with a campaign designed to celebrate the independent - minded character of employees and appeal to their pride — the foun- dation of their Conversation Platform. Tools included leadership communication, supervisor communication training and messaging,

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posters, and bulletin board postings, to name a few. After the three - month campaign, culminating in an all - hands event, the company beat the union by a 3-to-1 vote.

Preparing Employees for Challenging News. A major kitchenware company had to cut its staff by 20 percent to reduce costs — a risky move in its emotionally charged direct - sales industry. Leadership nav- igated the issue head - on by raising, not lowering, the level of aware- ness of the layoffs. Departing employees were appreciated in three ways: through an extremely dignifi ed, caring separation process; a special event at which all employees were able to mingle and talk; and an emotional but businesslike discussion with remaining employees emphasizing that the best way to appreciate departing employees was to make the company strong. It worked — morale (and sales) went up following the layoff.

Employee Issues Forums. We touched briefl y in Chapter Four and earlier in this chapter on the challenges we faced with leadership of a pharmaceutical company when we recommended using media from popular culture — TV episodes or current fi lms — as a platform to engage and educate employees on issues facing the health care industry. In the end, they bought in, and the team pulled off a great campaign. During a campus event, employees screened clips that vilifi ed the industry and watched a panel discussion and Q & A with industry experts, company executives, and even critics. The com- pany also launched a program that solicited personal essays or short videos on how medicines had personally affected employees ’ lives. The goal was to build employee pride and confi dence in the industry as well as to expose employees to positive anecdotes about the value of medicine. The program created a buzz loud enough to attract a standing - room - only crowd to the launch event. Over 84 percent of the attendees found the event to be “ greatly informative, ” 99 per- cent rated the overall event “ excellent ” or “ good, ” and 94 percent of employees felt what they learned at the event would enable them to be a better ambassador of the company. One employee commented, “ The public affairs programs do an excellent job of bringing these issues front and center. Then they provide information to combat the misinformation. Job well done! ”

Defi ning the Brand. An equipment manufacturer was reinvigorat- ing its position in the marketplace with new products and services, all revolving around a revitalized brand. Management looked at brand, however, as more than just what the company looked like, but also how it acted. That meant employees — from the manufacturing

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plant to sales people to customer service representatives — had to live the brand in their words and actions and at every point of customer contact. To make this happen, the company involved its employees in defi ning the brand itself (no one knows better than employees what our products are about, they suggested). Employees participated in focus groups and contributed to redefi ning the brand based on their experience with the product and customers. Employees know a few things about customers and the products they build for them — and leadership listened to them.

Training as an Event. One company made training around the Conversation Platform an event in itself. Executives and human resources and communications leaders selected and trained managers to deliver the training. A new manager - only communication channel was established with some fanfare. More than 306 managers and 138 communicators across the company experienced the training and changed how they communicated with employees and agents about strategy. Training evaluations showed that participants saw great value in the sessions. Feedback from the training included such com- ments as “ The Conversation Platform is the most tangible progress I ’ ve seen so far toward the vision, ” “ Keep the information coming, ” and “ The Conversation Platform will be very useful. ”

HOW COMMUNICATION (THE FUNCTION) CAN HELP

Communication professionals are a valuable resource to increase the reach and effectiveness of leadership communication. Generally, they have control and input into the support vehicles. But they can be more than service providers — they can be counselors who con- tribute signifi cantly as strategists and coaches.

We have worked with communication professionals and depart- ments of all shapes and sizes. We ’ ve had the pleasure of work- ing with fi ne, dedicated people — many of whom have contributed materially to the communication approach expressed in this book. As with any discipline, however, we ’ ve also worked with others not so well equipped. A leader has to know which group is available for support in order to understand how they can contribute.

If you have strategic communication professionals in your com- pany, they will be rather obvious. In fact, they will be in your face. They will ask you what your strategies or business issues are, and

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they will tell you how communication can further your goals. They will work to drive business results — quality, productivity, brand delivery, cost, growth, profi t — the same results that executive and line leadership focus on. They will continually challenge commu nication strategies and tactics to ensure they support business objectives. They will promote or kill communication initiatives based on their con- nections (or lack thereof) to strategy execution. They reject the idea that they provide a service to the organization: their contribution is strategic and critical. They challenge leaders on business principles and push them hard to conduct communication that gets business results.

If your communication function is tactical, its focus will be dif- ferent. Tactically focused communication people ask you how com- munications can help, then do what you say (as if you are the communication expert). They focus on communication goals alone, such as awareness and understanding of information. They often view their jobs solely as producing communication — the company publi- cation, the intranet, the town hall meeting, and other vehicles of com- munication. Sometimes these departments measure success against service metrics that focus on the number of engagements (speeches written, publications distributed), services provided, and client (exec- utive) satisfaction. They may push leadership on narrow communi- cation issues, but often don ’ t have the confi dence to challenge larger principles of business that relate to employee engagement and strat- egy execution. They are communication people, not business people.

Communication people of both types can be helpful to you. The former will help you develop effective leadership commu- nication strategy and implement it. The latter will be useful in implementation — writing, designing communication vehicles, and the like. We recommend building the strategic communication capabilities of your organization. It will help deliver business results, and in the long term it will be more effi cient. We offer the follow- ing steps to do so — and we suggest that many of these steps will also help tactical communication people do their jobs better.

Staff the Function to Drive Results

Placing the right people in the right positions is critical to the suc- cessful reinvention of a communication function. Operating man- agers tend to look at writing and verbal skills as key hiring criteria

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for communication professionals, as well as functional manage- ment capabilities and specifi c experience. These are important, but we believe the following competencies are what separate the strate- gic from the tactical:

Business acumen is critical to understanding strategy and the communication implications around it, and to winning the respect and trust of the organization. If communicators have a good under- standing of how the company works, they will be able to counsel top management and provide value in the decision - making process. In this regard, we suggest fi nding communication experts who are also business people.

Bias for action is at the heart of strategic infl uence. Achieving results requires action. Communicators with a bias for action seize opportunities to make a difference in the company ’ s performance. Look for a history of initiative and action — causes and effects — as opposed to a resume fi lled with activities.

Common sense is not as common as you ’ d think, as the old adage says. It is critical for strategic communication. Communicators who provide strategic infl uence must be able to look through the clutter of the workplace and their own biases to see the truth in a situa- tion and the various realities affecting people. They must be able to quickly identify what will work at the earliest possible stage, separat- ing fact from fancy, to provide management with effective counsel and infl uence their thinking at critical times. Life experience is more important than formal training in this regard.

Interpersonal savvy enables communicators to build trust and respect with the audiences they are addressing: frontline employees, business unit leaders, middle management, or senior management. The ability to understand the different realities of each of these groups and how to champion their perspectives and defuse high - tension situations is essential to success, as most business results are reached through compromise among varying viewpoints. Explore this competency with candidates and check them with references.

Positive attitude is defi ned as realistic optimism. It is not cheer- leading or sugar - coating information. When leaders face a tough challenge, they know all too well what can go wrong. To them, fi nding solutions is much more valuable than issue identifi cation. Communicators must see the opportunity in things more than the barriers to them, and they must have a bias toward taking action to

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make things happen. Tough challenges energize effective communi- cation people and commit them to fi nding solutions.

Comfort around executives. The best communication profession- als are comfortable around executive management and are willing to stand alone and bring truth to power. In other words, they tell leaders how it is — period. If com- municators are to provide strategic counsel and earn a seat at the decision - making table, they must have an ability to work one - on - one with leaders and feel comfort- able enough to push back when leaders ’ ideas do not make sense.

Dealing with ambiguity is essential in today ’ s rapidly changing busi- ness environment: as the saying goes, those who do not change are left behind. Successful characteristics for dealing with ambiguity include fl exibility, the ability to shift gears comfortably, a level of comfort with risk taking, and the ability to effectively cope with change. As the company changes direction, so must its communication approach.

Strategic synthesis capability — the ability to “ connect the dots ” — is an essential competency in communication professionals. A key element of leadership communication is showing how everything fi ts together. This capability enables communication professionals to help you inform the Action Equation, develop the Conversation Platform, and produce meaningful ongoing communication.

Facilitation skills are also very helpful to leaders as they work through issues with their teams. A good facilitator can draw out infor- mation from employees, get it on the table for discussion, and help teams resolve problems. Few managers and supervisors are expert facilitators, so when they face diffi cult issues and controversy within their groups, a good facilitator from the communication department can be very valuable.

Passion for the job and the business is essential. Driving commu- nication in an organization is a challenge. Every manager thinks he or she knows how to communicate, but most really don ’ t. It takes some passion not only to work through the challenges that accom- pany communication (which are plentiful in themselves) but also to convince managers of the right way to communicate.

Communicators with the right com- petencies can provide both strategic counsel and support to leaders.

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Set Expectations Related to Company Goals, Not Communication Goals

Every leader has a set of goals for which he or she is responsible. Those goals could concern cost, quality, customer satisfaction, pro duction volume, increased sales — you name it. Communication profession- als should be responsible for these same goals. This encourages them to think beyond traditional communication practices to develop ways in which communication can drive business results, not just communication results. This is critical when considering how com- munication can affect employee behavior — getting employees to do what you need them to — and in addressing root causes of behavior identifi ed in the Behavior Chain.

Communication goals often revolve around awareness and under- standing. As we ’ ve stressed throughout this book, many employees may both know what to do and understand why, yet still do noth- ing. In that event, employee survey scores on awareness and under- standing could skyrocket, and it would appear that communication professionals have done their job well. In the fi nal analysis, however, they ’ ve failed. It ’ s like the old joke — the operation was a success but the patient died. If communication is great but nobody imple- ments the strategy, is there really success?

When communication people have the same goals as leaders, it mitigates this kind of thinking and drives creativity and practi- cality. Once they are in the proverbial lifeboat with you, they row harder and with more discrimination. They will stretch their think- ing about what communication can do to get business results, not just communication results. This philosophy will change the way the communication function thinks about itself, from staffi ng to the content of work to how the function is organized.

Involve Them Early

One of the most effective ways to leverage communication pro- fessionals is to involve them early in leadership processes, as you develop strategy and consider issues that affect employees. This way, they can contribute to strategy development. Communication pro- fessionals should be able to provide valuable insights into the mind- set of employees, as well as identify hurdles that leadership may face in strategy execution.

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Orchestrate and Sustain On Strategy Conversation 163

We worked with one company, for example, that was considering building a large offshore facility as part of its strategy to reduce dependence on unionized domestic plants. Leaders of the commu- nication department participated in the meetings in which leader- ship developed and debated strategy. They were deeply involved in a number of initiatives that involved union - represented employees, and they had conducted solid research on motivations and beliefs of those employees. Because of this knowledge, they raised issues regarding the strategy that leadership had not adequately contem- plated. This included employees ’ inclination to support a strike in protest of the company ’ s decision to build offshore plants. Because of this input, the company decided to build a smaller facility that was less threatening to the unions and represented employees. Operating management also launched a multiyear, focused business effort to build greater understanding among represented employees of the business issues and strategic necessities for the long - term viability of the company.

In this case, the decision making was at very high levels and in a critical situation. There are many decisions with various levels of risk in which communicators can participate to help run the busi- ness, while also building credibility to earn an invitation to help answer the critical questions surrounding decisions, such as these:

As we consider our brand, can we be sure employees will deliver on the promises we make?

Will employees support the new systems we want to implement, (such as supply chain, centralized services, and information sharing) so we realize the expected return on investment?

Given employee relations, do we negotiate aggressive changes in the next union contract?

Can we improve our quality and productivity in manufacturing by getting more out of our employees?

Can we eliminate forced overtime to reduce absenteeism?

Will a downsizing really net the savings we expect?

Can we get the synergies we expect from this acquisition?

Before we commit fi nancial goals to Wall Street, are we confi dent we ’ re getting the full performance story from our organization?

•

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164 BEYOND THE BABBLE

Involving communication professionals early in the strategic development process also will equip them better at a tactical level — when it is time to communicate to the organization. The difference between an informed and involved counselor or communicator and one brought in at the last minute is immense, as are the results either one can produce. This is particularly true in message devel- opment and regarding integration of communication processes and vehicles. It takes time and planning to infuse leadership ’ s message in the formal communication channels a company may have, and even more time to consider the informal channels. This is particularly the case when the communication people do not control the channels, such as functional meetings, planning sessions, and the like.

Involve Them Deeply — and Prioritize

In addition to early involvement, communication professionals are more effective when they are deeply involved in business plan- ning and decision making. That means making a communication professional an integral part of the various teams formed to drive initiatives forward, not a part - time adjunct. In the example just dis- cussed, the communication professionals infl uenced the size of an offshore production facility. They were able to do that because they were full members of the strategy - planning group. That group met every Saturday for more than six months, and the communication professionals were at every meeting. They were involved in interim meetings with other functions as they investigated alternative strat- egy options, they prepared communication - related recommenda- tions for the larger group ’ s consideration, and they had access to the CEO to discuss strategy development. In short, communication leadership was part of the strategy planning process, not an after- thought brought into the process when leadership was getting ready to communicate.

This level of involvement can be a challenge. As in any function, the number of communication people is limited, and the num- ber of initiatives a company undertakes usually exceeds that total. Communication resources should be allocated to the areas of great- est need.

Moreover, executive and line management often treat communi- cation people as a service resource. For example, because they write well, communicators may be expected to help produce a memo or

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Orchestrate and Sustain On Strategy Conversation 165

speech for a business leader ’ s department (or for the leader per- sonally, if that person is a senior executive). The communication function also tends to become responsible for miscellaneous activi- ties loosely associated with communication, such as conducting the company holiday party, the United Way campaign, and so on. Unless you have unlimited resources, this is not the best way to uti- lize your communication professionals. Just as the fi nance depart- ment would rebel if people continually asked them to add up their expense reports for them, the role of communication professionals should not be to put presentations into PowerPoint, create trinkets, or manage parties. If an executive needs a speech, the communica- tion people should write it if it serves the strategic communication needs of the organization — in other words, if it is part of a larger communication effort to drive business results. If the company needs a writer ’ s bureau to support executives or managers, or a party - and meeting - planning unit, it should create or outsource them. But these are not leadership communication activities unless they are about strategy.

SUMMARY Once you have informed the Action Equation, built a Conversation Platform, trained and equipped your managers, and launched the People Channel, it is time to kick - start communication and step on the gas. This happens through the various communication chan- nels available in most organizations, which include traditional communication vehicles — such as the company newsletter, intranet, and town hall meetings — as well as the operating vehicles that man- agers and supervisors use to run the business, such as departmental meetings, reporting documents, memos, and email.

To communicate on strategy, you can use these vehicles to pro- duce a continuous drumbeat of information about strategy (based on the Conversation Platform) and occasional campaigns that turn up the volume of communication for specifi c, short - term purposes. You can create a drumbeat by keeping the content of every vehicle related to and in support of strategy. Even simple communication such as a personnel announcement can contribute to the drumbeat and reinforce the Conversation Platform. By setting up a communi- cation calendar to track all of the organization ’ s happenings that are communication events, you can use every opportunity to its fullest.

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166 BEYOND THE BABBLE

As you create the drumbeat, it ’ s important to use communication that generates conversation by its nature — communication that has some level of controversy or is provocative, not the normal fare. The On Strategy approach is an ongoing conversation with employees, not a monologue, and the best vehicles generate and promote that conversation.

The communication department is a valuable resource in deliv- ering On Strategy communication and achieving business results if you establish and use it strategically. It ’ s best to populate the com- munication function with people who are both good business peo- ple and passionate about communication. The combination can be very powerful in driving new thinking about the role communica- tion plays and how leaders use communication to deliver business results. Communication people also provide valuable tactical sup- port in delivering communication. To make the most of your com- munication people, you should involve them in the entire process of strategy development, so they can contribute to and understand strategy in the deepest ways. Prioritizing their work allows them to concentrate on strategic essentials as opposed to providing commu- nication support and services. Tying their growth and compensation to business results, rather than intermediary communication results or the production of materials, puts them in the lifeboat with you, where they belong and can help the most.

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167

C H A P T E R E L E V E N

You: The Top Leader ’ s Role

The People Channel is the sum of its parts: all of the managers and supervisors up and down the leadership ranks and informal leaders in and out of management. Its effectiveness is a direct result of top leadership ’ s commitment to it. The People Channel spreads the responsibility for strategic communication across all leaders, thereby making communication more effective and less of a burden on top leadership. However, the top leader ’ s role is indispensable in forming, shaping, and sustaining the People Channel. In that role, top leaders must manage the People Channel, beginning with setting high expectations.

EXPECT A LOT We recently worked with a company that needed to share important news with its employees and wanted a process to ensure that the com- munication was effective. They proposed holding a town hall meeting with all employees live at corporate headquarters and with regional locations linking in through video conferencing. We suggested pro- viding managers across the company with a tool kit to support them in facilitating follow - up conversations with their teams. Their response was, “ We ’ ve tried that before. We make presentations avail- able to managers on the intranet, but nobody really does anything with them. ” We asked, “ What did you expect? ”

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168 BEYOND THE BABBLE

We weren ’ t trying to be glib. Leaders get what they expect in any endeavor, including communication and participation in the People Channel. You must aggressively communicate those expectations, monitor execution on an ongoing basis, and keep the need to com- municate among the top priorities you pursue.

Never Assume and Always Monitor

You must outline the specifi c actions you expect managers to take at every communication juncture. The communication calendar sug- gested in Chapter Ten can serve as a guide to prompt top leaders to remind the managers of their responsibilities. Especially when fi rst implementing the People Channel, it ’ s critical to tell managers what you want them to do, how, and when. Also, explain why it ’ s impor- tant. Tell them every time — past the point where it seems annoy- ing and repetitive. Then check on their response. If it is inadequate, demand better. Consider the following example:

A CEO was implementing a new process for communicating strategy. He held meetings with the company ’ s director - level man- agers, and told them he expected that group to communicate to their respective teams with a sense of urgency. When he checked on progress, he found that the fi rst meeting the directors had set up was six weeks after his initial presentation. That ’ s not an urgent response. He needed to demand better — for two reasons. First, the organi zation needed the information in order to be able to deliver results. Second, allowing the time lag spoke volumes about the importance of the communication. He wouldn ’ t wait six weeks for managers to communicate a reorganization or even a new expense account policy. Six weeks shouldn ’ t be acceptable for communica- tion on strategy, either.

The CEO wisely put in place a method to measure the impact of the strategy communication — an electronic survey of all employees, segmented into departments and levels. We recommended that he

conduct the survey in six weeks and tell his leader- ship group that individual managers would be held accountable for improved results. By doing so, the CEO set an expectation

Never assume leaders know what ’ s expected of them. Make it clear, and follow up.

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You: The Top Leader’s Role 169

that the process would be complete in six weeks, not just starting. That was the sense of urgency he wanted.

It ’ s important to be specifi c about expectations for each major communication action. For example, if you are providing an update on your organization ’ s performance and want managers to fi rst attend a meeting with you to review, then sit down with their employees in small groups to review and discuss the information, tell them that. Don ’ t assume they know what the next steps are just because you ’ ve done it a certain way in the past. Accompany each major communication opportunity with a clear set of expectations, as well as a process to determine whether or not managers and supervisors meet those expectations.

Orchestrate Communication Delivery

In addition to setting expectations for major communication events, top leadership also must manage the overall People Channel pro- cess and orchestrate the campaigns required to drive On Strategy communication. Leaders can delegate some of the day - to - day work involved in managing and orchestrating communication execution. The communication function can be instrumental in this role (par- ticularly if the principles of communication functions outlined in Chapter Ten are observed). At the same time, top leaders must play an active, visible role in managing the People Channel. That involves establishing measurements, allocating resources, recognizing good communication performance, and making communication a prior- ity task, not only for the organization, but also for you.

MEASUREMENT The ultimate measurement tools are your business metrics. Com- munication should infl uence results, or it will not (and should not) be a priority. That makes sense. Leaders from the top of the orga- nization to the bottom are ultimately responsible for making and selling products and services. They should pay the most attention to those activities that help them make and sell products and ser- vices better, faster, less expensively, at higher quality — whichever outcomes are most important to the organization. When measuring communication and holding managers and supervisors accountable for improvement, there must be an undeniable connection between

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170 BEYOND THE BABBLE

communication and business results. Otherwise, line management eventually will relegate communication to a position of secondary priority.

In fact, we don ’ t recommend holding managers accountable for communication metrics unless it is clear that (1) communication has a demonstrable impact on results, and (2) the organization believes it. This is different from the approach that many companies pursue, which often involves measuring manager communication through results of an employee survey. Holding a manager accountable for communication metrics (such as employee awareness and under- standing of strategy) when there is no clear connection to results is often counterproductive. First, communication becomes just another

job managers have to do, not a way to do their jobs. Busy managers resent more work that seems sec- ondary to their primary jobs, and they will fi nd ways to avoid it. Indeed, if managers come to believe that they are responsible

for improving the specifi c, communication - related scores on the sur- vey, which are not connected to the operating results for which they are responsible, they become distracted from real business results — qual- ity, cost, customer satisfaction, and so on. That ’ s not productive.

The two most effective ways we ’ ve found to connect On Strategy communication to business results is through research that (1) shows causal linkages between the two and/or (2) demonstrates the quality and effectiveness of information fl ow within an organization.

Relate Communication to Performance Metrics

If we told a line supervisor we could guarantee millions of dollars in quality improvements simply by holding a ten - minute meeting every day, most would jump at the chance. In some situations, it ’ s possible to measure communication effectiveness, as well as the impact com- munication has on business metrics, in such a way. This requires a highly structured environment in which metrics are tracked diligently and consistently. In such situations, researchers can use hierarchal

Keep leaders focused on metrics that matter. Help them see that leadership communication helps them do their jobs — it doesn ’ t give them another one.

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You: The Top Leader’s Role 171

linear modeling to determine the causal linkages between observable communication behaviors and specifi c business results.

For example, we used this research approach in a manufactur- ing plant to identify how communication could improve quality and productivity. The survey, designed by Employee Motivation & Performance Assessment, Inc., asked employees a short set of ques- tions about topics including communication, management style, and teamwork. The communication questions focused on very spe- cifi c supervisory behaviors, such as “ My supervisor provides me with the information I need to do my job. ” The results of the sur- vey, organized by department and level, compared communication performance with operating metrics such as defect rates, lost - time accidents, overtime, and production volume. Through hierarchical linear modeling, the research predicted improved performance through improved communication (the foundation of which was departmental meetings). For example, for every point improvement in the overall communication score posted in the survey, the research predicted an approximate 20-percent decrease in defect rates per thousand. Leadership repeated the survey nine months later and after leaders had put communication tools and processes in place. Defect rates declined, as predicted by the survey.

This research was powerful in two ways. First, it showed that communication was important to operating performance, and it drew the attention of leadership throughout the plant. Second, it helped managers and supervisors do their jobs: producing quality products. The research demonstrated that improving communica- tion was a path to improving performance that could be evaluated against other options — such as investment in training, equipment, and the like — because the research enabled the calculation of a con- crete return on investment provided by communication. As a result, plant management from top to bottom embraced communication as an operating strategy and continually implemented improvements in communication approaches.

Don ’ t buy into the myth that you can ’ t measure the impact of communica- tion. In the right environment, you can measure causal linkages between communication and business metrics.

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172 BEYOND THE BABBLE

Measure Information Flow

We have yet to fi nd a senior leader, manager, supervisor, or line employee who disagrees with the fact that people need information to do their jobs, and that the timeliness, quality, and completeness of that information affects business results. People universally embrace this connection. As one manager put it, “ You can ’ t do a good job without good information. It ’ s undeniable. ” They get it.

Therefore, measuring information fl ow within an organization is an effective way to measure managerial performance around commu- nication. It provides an excellent look into an organization ’ s manage- ment style and culture. From how people share information, we can see how they include others in decision - making processes, communi- cate with candor (or not), deal with diffi cult issues, work through for- mal or informal structures, share information important to their jobs, and maintain a strategic focus. Moreover, information fl ow is a benign organizational attribute that does not threaten managers as might an assessment that directly measures personal style and management credibility. The research we have conducted considers twelve specifi c attributes of information fl ow as outlined in Table 11.1 (which were used to identify the fi ve communication profi les discussed in Chapter One ). Such research provides a benchmark to evaluate managers and their progress in improving communication (as defi ned by infor- mation fl ow). It also provides a starting point to delve deeper into information fl ow issues that can create barriers to performance. Both discussion groups (as described in Chapters Five and Six ) and one - on - one interviews can help surface the underlying issues behind poor movement of information within an organization.

Communication is a means to get business results, not a result in itself. At the same time, it is reasonable to expect managers to imple- ment communication processes and to measure whether they do it effectively or not. These are concrete actions, which are observable and measurable. For example, after a leader holds a town hall meet- ing with all employees and asks managers to hold follow - up conver- sations with their teams, it ’ s reasonable (and preferable) to follow up to ensure that those meetings are held. Over the long term, however, it is most effective to relate that action to delivering specifi c results. Research methods using hierarchical linear modeling, or informa- tion fl ow research, make that connection. That way, leaders up and down the organization recognize communication as part of the job, not another job to do.

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174 BEYOND THE BABBLE

REWARD, RECOGNIZE, AND HOLD ACCOUNTABLE

As in all performance - related situations, it is important to follow up with employees with the proper rewards, encouragement, and reinforcement. Communication is no different, so it is important to recognize managers who are setting an outstanding example. If appropriate, make recognition as public as possible to demonstrate the importance of communication to the rest of the organization. For example, at one company a key strategy was to make it easier for cus- tomers to do business with the company. Senior executives were con- fi dent that employees on the front line had great ideas on how they could further that strategy, and they asked managers to have conver- sations with employees to encourage them to share their ideas. One manager took the assignment very seriously and not only encour- aged employees to identify what their team could do to make it easier for customers to do business with the company, but also helped them bring many of their ideas to life. Top leadership personally rec- ognized the manager with a pat on the back (literally) and a feature story in the company ’ s monthly newsletter. The article recognized the individuals and their teams as well as the impressive actions the man- ager took to implement those ideas.

On the other hand, it ’ s equally important to disci- pline managers who don ’ t exhibit the communica- tion behaviors that leaders are asking of them. This is important even if the man- agers are achieving short - term business results. We

often see top leaders promote managers who are poor communicators and who ignore their responsibilities as part of the People Channel, just because they are nevertheless delivering short - term results. Such promotions are counterproductive for the long term. Eventually, poor communication catches up to those managers, especially when they move into positions that require leading larger groups of people. Effective communication is not an option; it is a necessity. Rewards, recognition, and leadership selection criteria must refl ect that.

Make it clear. Leaders are expected to actively participate in this new communication system and will be rewarded and disciplined accordingly.

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PRIORITIZE Beyond managing the People Channel, a leader must also manage his or her own communication focus and activity. This begins with pri- oritizing where the leader spends time and resources. We believe that leaders must set communication priorities based on business needs. You can set these priorities by looking at the most important things the organization must accomplish and comparing those demands against the communication effectiveness of the people responsible for imple- menting the programs. If managers, departments, or functions that are ineffective at communication are responsible for implementing high - priority tasks, leaders must intervene. One way to set these priorities is to use the measurement tools just described to identify underperform- ing communicators, then match those against priority initiatives and chart the risks, as illustrated in Figure 11.1 .

In this case, the senior leader ’ s priorities become clear. A func- tional silo (A) responsible for a high - priority project is suffering from severe information fl ow problems. The top leader must inter- vene to prevent problems associated with information fl ow. Another

Information flow choked to entire silo

Top leadership receives incomplete, distorted information late

Some information flow issues

Healthy information flow

Managerial layer experiencing information flow issues

Monitor Low-priority initiatives

Intervene High-priority initiatives

Hands Off High-priority initiatives

Figure 11.1. Identifying Communication Priorities.

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176 BEYOND THE BABBLE

situation (E) involves a manager who is choking information fl ow and has an impact on the ability of other functions to get their jobs done. Helping this manager improve information fl ow also must be a priority. A third situation (C) involves a silo that is experiencing some information fl ow problems. Their work, however, is not strate- gically critical. In this case, the senior leader can monitor the situa- tion, attend to it later, or delegate authority to correct the problems. Another functional group (D) is also expected to deliver a high - priority project, but is functioning well from an information fl ow standpoint. In that case, the top leader can take a hands - off approach. Addressing information fl ow priorities in this way will help improve results, and also improve information fl ow to the senior leader (B), which is usually important for that person ’ s decision - making ability (and ability to sleep at night).

LEAD BY EXAMPLE As leaders set expectations for the People Channel, managers in the channel will set expectations for top leadership. This includes, for example, a commitment to prepare them through the Conversation Platform training, as well as a commitment that top leaders will keep managers in the communication loop. Top leadership also must pro- vide clear and consistent alignment at the top of the organization. Few things are more likely to discourage a manager from communi- cating with his or her employees than confusing and contradictory messages from leadership. Leadership ’ s commitment to the People Channel is particularly important when managers believe they are putting themselves at risk by positioning themselves as a reli- able source of information or as a channel through which to pro- vide feedback and insights. For example, in the past they might have made promises they later could not keep to their employees about information because leaders above them did not deliver.

Equally critical to these requirements is the commitment top leaders must make to fulfi ll their role as a communicator. A leader sets the tone and expectation around communication with his or her words and actions. If others in the organization see the senior leader (and the leader ’ s group) communicating openly and frequently with the organization, they will be more likely to follow suit. This takes time and energy, and the best leaders deliver.

Moreover, there are times when only the top leader will do. We worked with a CEO who bristled at spending time on communication,

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despite the fact that one of the key employee moti- vational issues facing the organization was a lack of trust in his intentions and abilities. When a leader needs to build trust, shore up confi dence, or simply

show employees he or she cares, there ’ s no substitute for face - to - face communication.

We can think of few examples that better demonstrate the require- ments of leadership communication for a CEO than the experience of General Dwight Eisenhower during the six months before the D - Day invasion. We can fi nd no parallel of equal intensity in busi- ness, and few leaders who have fulfi lled their responsibilities with more dedication and effectiveness.

General Eisenhower was one of the busiest people in the world from January to June 1944. He was orchestrating the largest move- ment of people and equipment in history. His organization was going to ferry the equivalent of a midsized city across a body of water — while people were shooting at them. His “ board of directors ” — Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin — couldn ’ t have been more demanding. Eighteen - hour days were typical, and he took only one day off: Tuesday, April 4. Despite these crushing responsibilities, he always carved out signifi cant time to communicate to his troops.

Eisenhower understood that the success of the operation, and ulti- mately the war, lay in the hands of the individual rifl eman. Therefore, he made a concerted effort to spend as much time with the troops as possible. He knew that only his genuine concern would garner the confi dence and respect of the soldiers and people back home that was essential to success. In the 142 days from January 15 to June 6, 1944, he spent 34 days in some formal contact with frontline troops — nearly 25 percent of his time. That doesn ’ t include his travel time to meet with the troops, time spent on public appearances and media broadcasts, or impromptu visits with those soldiers.

We suggest that any leader questioning whether leadership com- munication is necessary should consider Eisenhower ’ s commitment. Sometimes, as was true for Ike, no one else can fi ll your shoes. When that ’ s the case, suck it up and make it happen. That ’ s what separates the great leaders from all the rest.

Your commitment to communica- tion, demonstrated through words and actions, sets the tone for the entire organization.

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C H A P T E R T W E L V E

“ How to ” Resource Guide

Throughout the book, we refer to a number of processes that help leaders and people in communication or human resources get information, process it, and then communicate it. Our purpose in Beyond the Babble is not to provide detailed tools on how to gather information, conduct meetings, produce communication vehicles, and the like. There are already some very good books on these subjects by experts who know more about each than we do. That said, we have developed some approaches that work very well for us and are easy to implement; you may fi nd them valuable. We offer these “ how to ” processes in this chapter.

CONDUCTING DISCUSSION GROUPS We suggest using discussion groups as a research tool on a frequent and ongoing basis (so long as you do something about the fi ndings and tell employees that you did). Discussion groups resem- ble, to some degree, the focus groups that research organizations conduct, but they are not as structured and aren ’ t held before two - way mirrors, nor are they videotaped or recorded (employees tend to clam up when they feel they are being interrogated). In turn, they are not as expensive or intrusive to the organization. Ideally, discus- sion groups are small gatherings of employees that delve into some very simple but revealing topic areas. You may feel it ’ s unnecessary to use a process simply to talk to employees you work with every day, but we assure you it works. We ’ re always amazed with what we fi nd out from discussion groups — it ’ s time well spent.

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The following is a process for holding discussion groups that you can apply as needed, with variations depending on the specifi c situation.

Use a Facilitator, if at All Possible

To lead the groups, it usually makes sense to use a third - party facili- tator from outside your direct business or organization. An unbiased party helps to encourage dialogue that is more open. Also, a facilita- tor has broader permission to ask diffi cult questions and dig deeper than does someone directly involved with the group who may have current or future interaction with the employees. Moreover, an experienced facilitator can quickly build rapport with the group and help make them comfortable speaking about diffi cult topics. It ’ s also important to have an assistant to take notes, so the facilita- tor can focus on developing the conversation. The discussion groups should be just that — an opportunity to engage employees in a dis- cussion. Therefore, you need to make every effort to put the employ- ees at ease.

Designing Discussion Groups

Once you decide you want to conduct discussion groups, it ’ s important to design them properly. Start by identifying the group of employees from whom you need to hear. Depending on the goal of the discussion groups, you may need to hear from a cross section of the entire organization or employees in just one busi- ness or function. If, for example, the goal is to better understand the motivational connections of employees across the business, then it ’ s important to consider the possibility that there are sub- groups of employees with different experiences, and each of those subgroups needs to be represented. To do this, look at your orga- nization, consider how it was formed and how it grew, and identify distinct groups with similar histories and associations. For exam- ple, you may have offi ce employees and manufacturing employ- ees; if so, you probably need to hold discussion groups with each. You may have headquarters employees and fi eld employees. Again, hold discussions with each. Many companies have a signifi cant per- centage of employees who have been at the company for a while as well as a new population hired more recently. More than likely

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their experiences differ, so separate discussion groups would be appropriate. Finally, many disconnects happen when companies grow through acquisition: the organization is composed of employee groups with different histories, so discussion groups with each of them could be particularly revealing.

We recommend keeping the various employee subsets in separate discussion groups because people talk more when they support each other in their discussions rather than confl ict with each other. Moreover, many employees won ’ t speak openly in front of superi- ors. As resource and time limitations are nearly always a factor, it ’ s better to have a smaller number of groups in which conversation is robust rather than a large number of groups in which people will stay quiet. We recommend fi ve to seven people in a group; this is a manageable size that promotes conversation. Much of the rich- ness of the discussion groups comes from the conversations sparked between employees, so groups of just two or three employees don ’ t usually provide enough opportunity for dialogue, and groups larger than seven or eight get a little unwieldy.

We ’ re often asked, “ How many employees do I need to talk to? ” Unfortunately, there is no magic number. You will most likely be able to identify the motivational connections employees have with the organization if you assemble ten groups or fewer. More often than not (except in the case of acquisitions), organizations are composed of people who think alike. People tend to hire people like themselves, and when people work side by side for some time, they begin to assume a group personality. As a result, the makeup of your organization will drive the number of groups more than its size. For example, we identifi ed the motivational trigger of a com- pany with one hundred thousand employees by conducting fewer than six groups — the employees were very similar in their experi- ences. At another company, with only seven thousand employees, we conducted more than ten groups, but because those employees experienced different histories, we were still somewhat uncertain of the total picture. Just talk to as many groups as necessary to get the information you need. Once the groups get repetitive, stop.

Executing Discussion Groups

A good way to kick off a discussion group is to create a common understanding of what holding the groups will accomplish and to

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share some ground rules. We suggest starting the groups with a brief discussion around the following statements:

We ’ re holding several discussions just like these with groups of employees across the company.

All we ’ re asking of you is to be candid and share your thoughts openly.

We will take notes so we can identify the common themes after all the sessions are completed; however, we will not attribute any specifi c comments to any one person in particular.

To get employees comfortable talking, ask everyone to introduce themselves with their name, position, how long they ’ ve been with the company, and why they joined in the fi rst place. The discus- sion leader should listen to everybody and not judge in any form or fashion. From the outset, it must be clear to employees that the dis- cussion is about listening to them and nothing else. The discussion follows a set of questions designed to get employees talking about a particular issue.

In the course of the discussion groups, employees will cover a wide range of topics. An effective facilitator will help keep them on track, but it ’ s also important to let employees ramble and talk. It ’ s more likely the discussion will result in meaningful information that way. Interpreting all that talk can be a challenge, however. Here are a few tips:

Look for overall themes. These are the topics that the discussions seem to gravitate to and return to, or to which several people contribute with some level of energy. Don ’ t simply count the number of statements, however, in order to interpret the relative strength of various positions. Intensity is just as important as quantity in evaluating the importance of what employees discuss.

Identify which themes shift between groups and segments, and which themes hold true for all groups. This will be helpful in creating common messages and communication and identifying where you may have to alter your approach.

Look at the topics to which employees devote most of their energy. For example, in a discussion group designed to surface

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motivation, if employees talk a lot about customers, it indicates a connection to customers. If they talk a lot about working with other people, it indicates employees place a lot of value on teamwork and each other. These are good indicators of the “ why ” that motivates them.

Notice what employees don ’ t say as well as what they do say. If topics such as the customer or product do not come up, it means employees aren ’ t connected to those parts of the company.

Evaluate the outliers — groups that are at odds with the rest of the organization. Is there an explanation for it? Is it an anomaly driven by local issues or experiences?

Insights and learnings from employee discussion groups can be powerful inputs to On Strategy communication. The more the orga- nization gets used to and comfortable participating in such discus- sions, the richer the output.

Discussion Groups to Identify Motivational Connections

Discussion groups held specifi cally to identify employee motiva- tional connections must be conducted in a very relaxed atmosphere. Allow employees to think about questions, and let discussion wander as employees consider the questions. It is important that they real- ize there are no wrong answers to any of the questions. These are the motivations employees have, not necessarily the motivations the com- pany would like them to have. They are intrinsic — and not the result of company reward and recognition programs. The following are some questions we have found effective in identifying motivational connections:

What brought you to this company when you joined? Why do you stay?

If a good friend of yours asked about joining your company or group, what would you tell them that would attract them to join?

What inspires you in your work? What gets you out of bed in the morning?

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What do you believe is unique about this company relative to its competitors?

Does the reason you came to work here still exist today and hold true? In what way? How do you see it expressed — experience it?

Finish this sentence for me: “ This place is a great place to work because . . . ”

When you have a really great day, what does it look like?

If you had to choose one word to describe your company, what would it be?

If you were to give your company an award for something, what would it be?

If you could keep just one thing true about this company into the future, what would it be?

We provide these questions only as a guideline to generate dis- cussion. It ’ s not necessary to ask all of them or to get answers to all of them. If the course of the conversation takes an entirely different path, that ’ s okay, as long as people are talking about what connects them to the company and their work at an emotional level. We held one discussion group, for example, in which we outlined why we were meeting and asked for introductions, and that was it. We didn ’ t say another word. Two hours later, employees stopped talking and asked if we had any more questions. We didn ’ t — they had said all we needed to hear.

Once you identify the motivational connection, bounce it off a few “ informal ” leaders you respect and who have their hand on the pulse of the organization. (We talk more about informal leaders in Chapter Eight .) Explain to them what you ’ re trying to understand and what you believe you heard the employees say. This follow - up, in addition to providing greater perspective, will confi rm or challenge the output of the discussion groups and help determine whether more research is necessary. Consider, however, that discussion groups, by their design, do not provide incontrovertible statements about the moti- vations of employees; rather, they are an indication of what makes them tick. This is as much art as science, so your understanding of your employees will evolve as you become more sensitive to it. The discussion groups are an important fi rst step in this process.

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Discussion Groups to Inform the Behavior Chain

Discussion groups are an excellent way to identify the experiences and beliefs — the “ why nots ” — of the Behavior Chain we discuss in Chapter Six . When digging for the “ why nots, ” it ’ s even more impor- tant to have an impartial facilitator, particularly when the experi- ences involve management issues around commitment, competency, or trust. It also is especially important for the facilitator to stress the anonymity of the discussion groups — confi rming that manage- ment will not be able to trace statements back to employees. Finally, carefully consider the makeup of the groups so employees will feel free to talk. Frontline employees may not be forthcoming in front of managers or informal leaders aligned with management. With that in mind, we recommend the following questions to generate a productive conversation around employee experiences that affect their beliefs and behaviors:

What ’ s different today, if anything, from when you joined the company?

Has the reason you joined the company been maintained over time? If not, what specifi c actions or experiences caused the change?

What kinds of things take the steam out of you — your motivation?

Finish this sentence for me: “ This place is a frustrating place to work because . . . ”

What makes working here hard?

If a good friend were to ask you about joining the company, what kind of warnings would you give them for them to consider?

When you have a really tough, frustrating day, what does it look like?

What stands in the way of you being able to do your best?

What ’ s your understanding of what ’ s expected of you, and is that expectation reasonable?

When you have done what management has asked in the past, what has happened?

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THE MEMORY GAME You can ’ t communicate it if you can ’ t remember it. That seems like a no - brainer, but we ’ re often surprised at how leaders ignore this simple concept. They just feel compelled to include too much in their messaging. To clarify, we don ’ t mean to suggest you hide information from employees or make it diffi cult for them to get it; rather, we are suggesting that the messages leadership conveys should be simple, but constructed so the messages create a path- way to everything employees need and want to know. They also have to be concise, so that people — both the managers and supervi- sors delivering them and the employees hearing them — can remem- ber them and have conversations about them in the moment. That means information has to be organized into no more than about fi ve chunks.

To convince a leader who is reluctant to simplify his or her mes- sages, try this simple memory game. It ’ s an experience that changes a lot of minds, and it takes only a few minutes. There are three succes- sive games or tests, shown in Table 12.1 . They involve your reading a list of words at about one - second intervals. People listen to you, but

Test One Test Two Test Three

Read the list with one - second intervals between the words. When you have completed the list, ask employees to write down the words they remember.

Repeat the same process as in Test One.

Repeat the process, except this time, before asking them to write the words, ask them to count backward from the number 18 in intervals of three (18, 15, 12 . . . )

North . . . apple . . . John . . . red . . . dime . . . pear . . . Bill . . . blue . . . quarter . . . West . . . dollar . . . South . . . grape . . . nickel . . . yellow . . . East . . . green . . . Robert . . . banana . . . Charlie

bream . . . later . . . pot . . . start . . . job . . . clog . . . mayor . . . else . . . wage . . . jowl . . . chap . . . trout . . . lot . . . tape . . . dusk . . . wreak . . . list . . . smug . . . duck . . . big

time . . . stab . . . solve . . . house . . . mutt . . . draft . . . say . . . off . . . royal . . . court . . . slot . . . hand . . . dirt . . . plot . . . out . . . greet . . . dent . . . stale . . . stone . . . dice

Table 12.1. The Memory Game.

Source: Human Memory, “ Exploring Human Memory: Experiment 1, ” http://human-factors.arc.nasa.gov/cognition/tutorials/ModelOf/index.html .

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are instructed not to write down any words until you say so. When you fi nish reading the fi rst list, ask people to write down the words they remember. Do the same for the second list. Then do the same for the third list, but this time after you complete the list ask partici- pants to count backward by threes from eighteen, then write down the words they remember. Watch people struggle to remember, and then point out that it ’ s even harder in a noisy plant or when employ- ees are pressuring you for answers.

In our experience with Test One, people remember from thirteen to eighteen words. In Test Two, they remember from three to eight words. And in Test Three they remember fewer yet. These results are similar to those posted in memory research studies. This simple test reveals a few important insights relevant to leadership communica- tion (in addition to the fact that memory is limited):

People can remember more when the material is linked together. People scored higher in Test One because they were able to group the words into fi ve categories: colors, directions, names, fruits, and money. They still remembered only fi ve chunks, but the chunks contained more than one word.

In Tests Two and Three, the words listed had no relationship to each other, so they couldn ’ t be grouped together; thus participants remembered less.

People remember less when the material is unfamiliar or they are distracted, which also explains the lower results in Tests Two and Three.

ALIGNMENT INTERVIEWS AND SNAPSHOT

It can be a challenge to get senior leaders to talk openly when they disagree with each other — particularly in a group. We ’ ve been suc- cessful drawing out very controversial information and then gener- ating productive dialogue about it, through a two - step process. Step One involves interviewing the leaders involved, one - on - one, with a series of questions designed to get them talking. Step Two brings those executives together and uses their words (played back anony- mously) to generate conversation about diffi cult topics.

Here ’ s how to implement this approach to put tough issues on the table so leaders discuss and resolve them. We recommend this

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process for teams in which people generally respect each other and team politics are not the driving motivation among members. Also, the leader of the team must be ready and willing to listen, consider options, and participate. This process is less effective in highly dys- functional teams; for those, we recommend more intensive team intervention as often provided by human resources or organiza- tional development people.

To begin the process, set up one - on - one interviews with the lead- ers involved. It ’ s best to use a third - party facilitator — somebody peo- ple will trust. Try to interview all the leaders; if that ’ s not possible, include a good cross section of people so most, if not all, views are represented. In those meetings, explain that the information you are asking about will be held anonymous but will be used to put var- ious issues on the table for discussion. You will protect their names and contributions by editing comments to make them anonymous, then mixing them together with comments others made. Stress to interviewees, however, that you will communicate the messages without altering them — their words will not be distorted.

If you are seeking alignment around strategic direction, the Con- versation Platform and the Action Equation are good places to start the conversation. Show the leader the material and use it as a starting point for questions. The following are some questions you could ask, but let the conversation evolve so the leader gets to the issues that are important to him or her. Take good notes (to inform the discussion later), but don ’ t feel you have to get words exactly right. Look for concepts, not specifi c words.

Is this articulation of the strategy consistent with where you believe the company is going?

If not, what ’ s different, new, surprising, or in confl ict with what you understood strategy to be?

Do you believe executing successfully in these areas alone will get us to our goal?

If not, what ’ s missing?

What specifi c actions are being taken within your span of control to ensure execution of any or all of these strategies?

Which elements of strategy do you believe are at most risk of not coming to fruition and why?

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What do you believe are the biggest hurdles to effectively executing this strategy?

Does the Conversation Platform express strategy in terms you agree with?

Are there actions you are taking or see others taking that aren ’ t covered by the platform?

If not, why not?

What is missing in the platform?

Would you feel comfortable talking in your own words about these strategies and actions with employees?

When the interviews are done, the facilitator can then prepare a brief Situation Snapshot using material from those interviewed to illustrate agreement, confusion, and disagreement about strategy. This snapshot should not pull punches — the idea is to get diffi cult issues on the table. At the same time, the facilitator should pro- tect confi dentiality and keep quotes anonymous. Do not edit dis- agreement out of the material or soften issues to make them less

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Lack of Alignment

Lack of alignment at the executive level is a barrier to collaboration.

There is disagreement between product management and engineering, and we’re always caught in between.

Everyone on this council is pulled in two different directions: engineering and operations.

Part of the problem is we have profit centers and cost centers by plant.

There are conflicting reports and directives from the top.

Figure 12.1. Situation Snapshot: Identifying Alignment Issues.

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contentious. The purpose of this exercise is to get issues on the table to discuss them, not to gloss over them. At the same time, make sure the material refl ects where people agree as well, so the presentation doesn ’ t overstate the alignment issues the team faces. Be careful not to attribute quotes to any specifi c individual or use direct quotes that identify any individual, threaten any members of the team, or reveal confi dential information.

Figures 12.1 and 12.2 show examples from the Situation Snapshot that was used in the Chapter Eight dialogue session conducted for a manufacturing group. Note that the balloon “ quotes ” express issues in simple terms and focus on areas of confl ict, confusion, and dis- agreement. As the facilitator presents these “ quotes, ” he or she should confi rm that these are the thoughts of the group, not those of the facilitator. This is what members of the group think, so they can ’ t run away from it, but must deal with it in an open fashion.

This quote format is an easy way to distill and present the infor- mation. It puts the issue in simple, inescapable terms and provides support that the issue exists from the team members themselves. When the facilitator puts this kind of information up, there ’ s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. People have to deal with it.

Lack of Clarity Around Metrics

Do we need all these metrics? We’re chasing too many numbers.

Not sure where the metrics from my plant came from. Maybe some point in time, but I can’t see it.

The metrics are similar, but how we look at them as an organization is different.

I’m not sure we’re speaking the same numbers. We’re comparing apples to oranges.

Lack of clarity around metrics is a barrier to identifying best practices and sharing common processes.

Figure 12.2. Situation Snapshot: Identifying Metrics Issues.

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THE CONSIDER - DIALOGUE - SOLVE PROCESS

We attend a lot of meetings, and many of them aren ’ t very productive. People arrive unprepared to discuss the issues at hand, they don ’ t lis- ten to each other, they gloss over diffi cult subjects and dwell on the inconsequential, and they jump quickly to try to solve problems with- out really understanding them all that well. To help mitigate these kinds of problems, we ’ ve successfully used a meeting organization approach that promotes the exchange of thoughtful information, gets multiple perspectives on the table, and generates high - quality deci- sions. We call it consider - dialogue - solve (CDS).

The CDS framework has three components. The fi rst is to share information well before meetings are held to discuss it. This gives people time to consider it, talk to others in their work area about their perspectives, and prepare their thinking for the discussion that is to take place. (They may not do all of this the fi rst time you use the process, but after a few tries, they take it more seriously.) The second step, which takes place at the meeting, is to focus on discuss- ing the information and issue without thinking about solutions. This promotes a deeper understanding of the causes behind prob- lems and enables people to see and understand confl icting view- points about the issues. When teams jump too quickly to problem solving, this kind of deep understanding is lost. Finally, the third step in the CDS process (also at the meeting) is to discuss solutions and select those the group believes will be most effective.

Consider. This step gives individuals an opportunity to review and think about the subject at hand before discussing it. Provide individ- uals with the content to be discussed prior to the meeting — ideally a day or two in advance. This could be in the form of a meeting outline, the presentation to be discussed, or even diffi cult materi- als such as identifi ed in the interviews discussed previously. Don ’ t overwhelm people with documents that are too long to read, but do provide enough material so participants know what they are going to discuss and what kinds of decisions must be made. If there are confl icting viewpoints, indicate that as well. Ask each participant to set aside time to review the material and consider its implications.

Once the group gathers in the meeting, the facilitator should once again review the material and then ask the team to consider the content as a group. In this phase, the facilitator encourages par- ticipation by each of the members of the team, allowing all thoughts

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192 BEYOND THE BABBLE

and concerns to be raised and documented without confl icting discussion, but for clarifi cation. This helps ensure that the opinions of all the team members are put on the table for consideration. Without this no - discussion period, some team members may not be given the opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions because they get overwhelmed by the group or by forceful individuals within the group. Moreover, engaging in discussion too early often results in the team driving toward conclusions rather than simply considering the issues. As with any other session designed to share and discuss ideas, it ’ s vitally important that all attendees participate and that everyone be given an opportunity to be heard. Stress that this portion of the meet- ing is not about debating information, options, and solutions, but rather about putting thinking and perspectives on the table for all to see and understand. Because participants are not debating each other in this phase, they are more likely to listen to each other as each person presents his or her thoughts.

Dialogue. Once each participant has had the opportunity to con- sider the material individually and then present his or her thinking about the material to the group, the facilitator should move into the dialogue phase of the meeting. As a group, they will now review the ideas, suggestions, and concerns that individuals raised and have a conversation about them. Focus this initial conversation on the issues themselves, not on solutions. By focusing on the issues with- out considering solutions, the group explores them more deeply and creates greater understanding. Leaders often develop new per- spectives on the issues and identify additional issues that must be addressed in order to completely solve the problem. The facilita- tor must orchestrate the conversation, walking the group through the issues raised in an orderly fashion. For each issue, the facilitator should encourage discussion around the points of view and obser- vations, taking the time to clarify different observations. Once the group has had an opportunity for dialogue around all the content, the facilitator can then consolidate the input into themes or specifi c topic matters (which will evolve from the original meeting docu- ments provided in the premeeting materials).

Solve. The last step is to discuss solutions to the issues identifi ed in the consideration and dialogue phases. The facilitator again should encourage discussion about alternatives, ensuring that everybody ’ s ideas are put forth, and focusing the group on concrete actions

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( “ What are we going to do ? ” ). It ’ s helpful to divide the solutions into three categories: (1) actions the group itself can take, (2) actions other groups need to take, and (3) issues that need to be coordinated with other groups to ensure that there is mutual support and that new actions are not working at cross purposes. This way, the lead- ership team can begin productive action immediately after the CDS session.

CONDUCTING A “ RED FACE ” TEST We suggest conducting a “ red face ” test around the Conversation Platform. It ’ s also useful in testing the effectiveness of other mate- rials such as creative content of communication vehicles (such as posters and campaign communications).

To conduct the “ red face ” test, simply sit down with small groups of employees and share the Conversation Platform or other materi- als. The process outlined earlier in “ Conducting Discussion Groups ” is helpful in conducting a “ red face ” test. It ’ s usually most effective to start the test with an overview of the concept of the Conversation Platform (its intention, how it can tell a story, and so on) and then to share the specifi c content. After the setup, the following questions will help lead a conversation to test for understanding, comfort with the strategy, and line of sight between one ’ s job and the strategy, as well as specifi c language usage:

Understanding

Based on your understanding of where the company is headed and how it ’ s going to get there, do these points provide a good summary?

Is this summary consistent with how most employees would view the company ’ s direction?

If not, what are the main differences between this summary and how most people understand the direction of the company?

Is this disconnect caused by a difference in understanding what management has said, or is it caused by the fact that actions don ’ t seem to match up with the words? (Explore detail.)

If this is new to you, what do you take away from it? Does it make sense?

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Line of Sight

Now let ’ s talk about how you see your job in these building blocks. Where would the work you and your department or function do fi t in?

Take a second and think about the priorities you have for this year and some of the actions you will take. If you had to list them under one of the building blocks, where would it go?

If you are doing things that don ’ t fi t, is it because you are not sure how they fi t into the overall strategy of the company, or because this platform doesn ’ t do a good enough job of covering all the things we need to do?

Do you see a lot of activity that does not fi t under any of these building blocks?

Comfort

Would you be comfortable saying these things — making the points you see in this platform with employees, if not using the actual words — to the employees you supervise or work with?

If not, how would you want to change the building blocks? (Point out that the ideas that make up the building blocks are a lot more important than the specifi c words. Let them feel free to put it into their own words, but take careful note of any changes in concept.)

How do you think employees would react to these messages of this platform if you had a discussion with them based on the summary?

Is there anything about the language that makes you uncomfortable?

Let ’ s test the summary. What are some of the tough questions, or rumors, or challenges you get (or hear about third - hand) that employees bring up?

Does the summary provide a way to address them?

How should we change the summary to cover those items?

With the insights from these discussion groups, leaders have a good idea of whether or not the Conversation Platform will be effective deeper in the organization. If issues arise, it ’ s best to adjust

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the platform to accommodate them. On Strategy communication is designed to drive action in the organization, not just to commu- nicate what leadership would like to communicate. If that means further discussions with leadership and adjustments to the commu- nication, so be it.

IDENTIFYING INFORMAL LEADERS We suggest incorporating informal leaders into the People Channel in a number of ways: as people to bounce ideas off of, to provide ongoing reality checks, as part of the day - to - day communication process, and more. Identifying the informal leaders in your organi- zation (some of whom may also be formal leaders) isn ’ t hard. Just ask people who they are. Begin by asking yourself: Who do I go to for the inside scoop, and who do I listen to and trust — at every level of the organization? If you take some time to think about it, you can probably name many of the informal leaders yourself. Then ask some colleagues the same questions. The answers will direct you to the informal leaders. Finally, go to the people others say are the informal leaders and ask them who they go to for information (lead- ers tend to know who the other leaders are).

This approach usually identifi es informal leaders across organiza- tional boundaries — in a diverse set of organizational silos and geog- raphies and across various levels. If it doesn ’ t lead you across those boundaries, you will need to intentionally target those areas. For example, if you haven ’ t come across an informal leader in one of your manufacturing plants, contact someone you have a relationship with there and go through the process again. Ensuring that your informal leadership ranks represent a good cross section of your population is key to its value to you.

Once you have identifi ed the informal leadership group, select a group of about thirty that represents a cross section of the orga- nization and create an ad hoc advisory group. You can use them as participants in the “ red face ” test, bounce new ideas off of them, ask for their input during strategy development and during times of change, ask their help in implementing new programs, and look to them as another set of eyes and ears to the larger organization. The group can be smaller if your organization is smaller, but we don ’ t recommend expanding much beyond thirty because a larger group

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becomes diffi cult to engage and manage — at least at the beginning of the process. If the group grows through natural expansion — because members request participation of people they deem important to the informal communication chain — then let the group or indi- viduals in the group assume a greater role in managing that expan- sion. As you align the People Channel, these informal leaders should receive special attention. Either one - on - one or as a group, explain to these informal leaders what you ’ re asking of them. To maximize their usefulness, consider their role not only in terms of communi- cating to the organization but also as a channel through which you can get feedback from the organization. Also, include them in the training and support activities outlined in Chapters Nine and Ten .

SELECTING VEHICLES: OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND

There ’ s a wide variety of communication opportunities to support local leaders in efforts to drive conversation about strategy. In fact, there are so many that selecting which ones will work the best can be a challenge. We suggest beginning with the environment in which people work (and will, in turn, have their conversations). It ’ s better to try to adapt to the environment than to force communications into it. Walk the areas in which your managers interact, and get a feel for how you can create a presence, or just a spark. Moreover, use what ’ s already there before creating something new (which is more work and expense). The following are some ideas with which to start.

Large and Small Offi ce Settings

Typical offi ce environments provide simple and effective opportu- nities for communication directly to employees. There are plenty of ways to get information to employees, and a variety of opportunities to spark conversations between the People Channel and employees. Some of the channels — both traditional and operating — to consider include corporate and business/functional newsletters (paper and electronic), cafeteria table tents, fl yers, email, voice mail, intranet sites, posters, bulletin board postings, one - on - one conversations, direct mail, small team meetings, and large group meetings.

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Remote Locations

Home - offi ce workers, telecommuters, or people who spend a lot of time driving from location to location are often called remote work- ers (these days, remote can be as close as the next town or as far away as India). This is a very challenging group of people to reach, and opportunities are more limited. Certainly, leaders can send some of the vehicles used in general offi ce settings to employee homes, including newsletters. Moreover, telecommuters rely on computers, so the intranet presents a likely opportunity for communication. For employees driving in cars, CDs can be effective. The diffi culty, though, is engaging these employees in conversations. Usually, most employees have operating meetings with their supervisors on a peri- odic basis: weekly check - ins with supervisors, teleconferences, and the like. To infl uence these conversations and keep them on strategy, you should time the distribution of materials to remote employees so they receive them right before such contact points. That way, the material will be top of mind when the regular communication takes place. Also, make sure supervisors are in the loop and reminded of the information that was distributed to the remote employees reporting to them, so they are prepared to answer questions as well as raise issues outlined in the communication.

Industrial Plant Locations

The physical challenges to leadership communication in a production facility can be daunting. It ’ s loud; employees can ’ t necessarily talk or listen while doing their jobs; meetings are hard to hold, due to space constraints and shifts; and unions can create their own hurdles — to name just a few of the challenges. Even more so than in any other environments, supervisors are critical here. If leaders do nothing else, they should at least make sure that supervisors are prepared and equipped with the information and insight they need to have mean- ingful conversations with employees and answer their questions. Although supervisors are clearly the primary channel, there are cre- ative opportunities to reach production employees, to provide On Strategy information, and to generate productive conversations, such as bulletin boards, hard - copy newsletters, posters, break room table tents, and banners.

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Specifi c Vehicles to Leverage

There are many opportunities and needs for direct communication with employees. The specifi c content of the communication will determine the most appropriate vehicle to be used to get the infor- mation to the intended audience. The more signifi cant or sensitive topics may suggest a face - to - face communication. More routine communication could be covered well in the company newsletter. And the important step of ensuring that leaders have the informa- tion fi rst should never be overlooked.

With the proliferation of communication vehicles made possible through technology, there usually is little need to begin producing more materials. We always suggest that leaders focus on making their current vehicles more effective before considering creating new ones. That said, the following are some recommendations for mak- ing the most of current channels.

Q Email. We ’ re not sure there ’ s an individual in the corporate

world who would say they don ’ t get enough email. Nevertheless, using email for direct communication to employees can be effective in the right environment and with the right content. In many organizations, an email direct from the CEO, for example, can signal a very important message; this approach should be used sparingly to ensure that effect. Of course, you have to recognize that not all employees may have email, so you may need to use other vehicles to supplement the communication — in plant environments, for example.

Intranet. Company intranets have proliferated in recent years and can be effective channels of communication. They must be simple to use, requiring users to go through no more than three or four levels to get to information they need. Because the intranet requires employees to seek out information, it ’ s particularly important that the information provided be compelling. There has to be a reason to go there. At the same time, the intranet is a valuable place to store information that is not immediately critical to employees, but useful. This includes information about benefi ts, company events, and the like. In addition, it ’ s smart to use other vehicles, such as a newsletter, to direct employees to the intranet to get more information on a particular topic. We ’ ve also seen password - protected portions of an

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intranet serve as a valuable resource for leadership communication tools and messages to support the People Channel. There is one pitfall with intranets that we often see: the lack of strategic ownership of the content. Individual functions seem to own pages or areas, but the IT department is often deemed owner of the entire vehicle. This structure frequently enables far too much freedom in terms of what can be posted and who ’ s accountable for keeping it updated, quickly making the intranet a frustrating and unreliable resource. With those issues resolved, it can be a valuable channel of communication with employees.

Newsletters. Most organizations have some kind of newsletter that goes to employees. Its primary focus should be On Strategy communication. Far too often, a company newsletter becomes the vehicle that is simply produced from habit, and if it disappeared no one would really notice. We worked with a client recently to redesign their employee newsletter from a content and design perspective in an effort to make it more of a strategic tool. In one discussion group, an employee asked, “ Why are you trying to fi x something that ’ s not broken? ” We responded with a question: “ Do you get anything out of this publication that helps you do your job? ” His response was, “ Not really. ” Our point is, if your publication is not a “ need to have ” but at best a “ nice to have, ” it ’ s a missed opportunity.

Video. Video can be a great vehicle, especially when you need to get a personal message out but can ’ t logistically get everyone together. Videos can also be effective supplements to larger meetings. Many industrial plants also have video monitors in the lunch or meeting rooms, so videos can be used in that environment as well. Video should be short and either inspirational or fun (especially in operating environments).

Paycheck stuffers. We include paycheck stuffers to illustrate that there are truly endless opportunities to reinforce messages with employees. Make sure you consider them all.

Training sessions. When employees are engaged in training, they congregate in training rooms. You can use the physical room as a channel by putting up posters that convey an important message. As appropriate, you can also incorporate communication on strategy into the content of the training. Recognizing that the training itself should be on strategy, specifi c sessions can provide opportunities to share timely news and information.

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200 BEYOND THE BABBLE

An internal “ trade show. ” If there is a need to educate employees on certain topics, such as products or customers, consider setting up an internal “ trade show. ” In a plant it might be a booth in a room accessible from the production fl oor, in a training room, or in the cafeteria. You can offer give - aways as an incentive for employees to visit.

Posters. Posters on bulletin boards in hallways and break rooms can be a great communication tool. The message and design of the posters must catch the eye of employees and inspire conversation. Typical corporate posters quickly become wallpaper, but a departure from the norm can provide powerful conversation triggers. Make them provocative and different. And change them every few weeks — otherwise they will just blend into the environment.

Tent cards. In lunchrooms and break rooms, tent cards can be easy and effective tools to communicate important messages. Coordinate them with posters to double the impact of the messaging. We worked with one client that produced a variation on the tent card idea by creating trivia cards on a particular subject they needed employees to understand in a deeper way. They put the trivia cards in metal pails on the lunch and break room tables and refreshed them on a weekly basis.

Production reports. Headquarters employees and operating plants have periodic reporting documents that can be leveraged for leadership communication. These could be as simple as sheets that outline what the prior day ’ s production was and goals for the current period. They could also be hefty documents outlining fi nancial issues and consolidated reports. You can use a visible “ corner ” of these reports to reinforce leadership messages. It ’ s also critical to ensure that the overall content of these materials is on strategy.

Generating On Strategy Conversations

We suggest walking through the physical space to see which vehicles will work best to trigger conversations. Figure 12.3 represents what we found in one industrial plant location. As you can see, the opportuni- ties are plentiful. The same is true for other types of locations, as well. Every operation is different, though, so don ’ t simply take our word for it. There ’ s no substitute for the real thing — so experience it with a real visit.

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202 BEYOND THE BABBLE

Parking Lot. Put fl yers on employee windshields.

Supervisors. Supervisors walk the fl oor monitoring work — arm them with fl yers, hats, and other triggers for conversations, as well as interesting background information.

Supervisor Station. Supervisors often have desks or stands on the plant fl oor. Give them posters to display and send them mes- sages through email and voice mail.

Employees Themselves. Give employees hats, buttons, and the like to trigger conversation.

Video. Monitors often populate the plant fl oor — broadcast your video.

LED Signs. Plants often have rolling copy that could include your message.

Metrics Boards. Departments often track metrics on white boards; ask for some space for a small poster or written message.

Entrance. Put your message on entry signage that ’ s often positioned at the employee entrance.

Vending or Coffee Station. Display posters, tent cards, and fl yers in areas employees gather for snacks and conversations.

Break Area. Places where employees rest, lunch, and converse afford opportunities for tent cards, newsletter distributions, and informal supervisor conversations.

Bulletin Boards. Place posters, announcements, and other display communications on bulletin boards.

Vehicles. Employees often like to affi x posters and decals to their forklifts, carry - alls, and other plant - fl oor vehicles.

Tent. Hold a “ trade show ” in a parking - lot tent.

Visitor Entrance. Place your materials and posters in the lobby and display case.

Rest Rooms. Advertisers have found the rest room — why not place your posters in them?

Flags and Banners. Raise your message on fl agpoles that are often situated outside; put banners on the plant ’ s facade.

Payroll or Human Resources. Paycheck stuffers not only get to employees but also might make it home! The same goes for benefi ts communications.

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“How to” Resource Guide 203

Welcome Sign. Plants often have a large roadside sign you could use to display your message to employees and community alike.

Cafeteria. The cafeteria or lunchroom is an ideal place to deliver your messages and trigger conversations. Plants often have a video display and places for posters, tent cards, newsletters, and other communications.

Training Rooms. Pepper training rooms with tent cards and posters, and ask trainers to begin their sessions with a brief conversation about your messages.

Offi ces. Place tent cards, provide posters, communicate through email and voicemail.

Meeting or Conference Rooms. Display posters and tent cards in conference and production meeting rooms, and also ask managers to cover your messages at the beginning of meetings.

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205

Glossary of Terms

The Action Equation. Know � Feel � Do. The action equation fi rst focuses a leader ’ s thinking on what employees need to do in order to execute strategy or support the company ’ s position on an issue. Then it expands that thinking to address what employees need to know and feel so they take the right actions. Moreover, it helps identify what is critical to communi- cate, and it fi lters out communication that wastes time or, worse, could be counterproductive to driving action and results.

Babble. The tendency for executives to talk about important issues in con- voluted, evasive, or empty terms. Babble is seen most frequently in PowerPoint presentations fi lled with lists of priorities, confusing diagrams, visions and values, metrics and performance indicators, clever but empty phrases, and the catchy but irrelevant slogans promoted to build morale and fi re up the troops.

Behavior Chain. A model used to understand what prevents an employee or group of employees from executing direction provided by leadership. The behavior chain is grounded in the concept that people act in a certain way for a reason, and that reason is most often driven by past experiences. The concept of the behavior chain is that one ’ s experiences drive one ’ s beliefs, which drive behaviors, which ultimately drive results.

Conversation Platform. Explains strategy in a very short, fi ve - point story. The story starts with where the organization is going — which we call the cause because it identifi es an outcome employees want to achieve. Then it articulates no more than four themes that outline how the organization will get there — what employees need to do to achieve the cause. Infused throughout is why all of it is important, to employees and the company. Because the story is told in words people actually use — rather than slogans, tag lines, or hyperbole — the conversation platform helps leaders communi- cate clearly and enables employees to listen and understand.

“ In the moment ” communication. Refers to the reality of how and when strategic direction needs to be provided to employees. With a true under- standing of strategy, a leader or supervisor can answer employee questions or provide direction and strategic context in the course of everyday work — in a meeting, on the plant fl oor, while working through an action plan — “ in the moment. ”

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206 GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Intrinsic motivations. Those personal connections employees have to their work that gives it special meaning. These are about more than pay, recognition, or opportunity (although those things are important). They involve what people do because they want to do it, not just because they are paid to do it. A few intrinsic motivations are an affi nity for customers and products, energy around the substance of the work itself, and the relationships employees have with their teams.

On Strategy. A philosophy of business communication that values sim- plicity and clarity. On Strategy connects business strategy to employee moti- vations and equips leaders from the top of an organization to the front line to communicate with employees around strategy, with the goal of driving employee understanding, motivation, and execution.

Operating communication channels. Those communication channels that are integral to the day - to - day running of the business. These are vehicles such as reporting documents, operating review meetings, functional and depart- mental meetings, and the other ways in which managers communicate in the course of doing their jobs.

People Channel. Leaders from the CEO to frontline supervisors make up the People Channel. The role of the People Channel is to engage employees in conversations providing direction, perspective, and information, and to pull feedback up from the ranks. In its role as the primary communication channel, the People Channel generates an active interchange of knowledge and ideas among employees and leaders, not a passive cascade of infor- mation. It uses processes and tools to engage leaders and employees in an ongoing conversation about strategy, so people have an opportunity to increase their understanding of strategy and offer their ideas and perspec- tives on how to improve and to better execute.

Situation Snapshot. The feedback to leadership that results following analysis of a team ’ s alignment (or lack thereof) around strategic direction. A situation snapshot uses quotes from leadership to illustrate agreement, confusion, and disagreement on the subject of strategy.

“ Traditional ” communication channels. Those channels that are often mentioned when people talk about internal communication: newsletters, town hall meetings, the intranet site, and the like. These are the vehicles that tend to be managed by the communications department.

The “ why nots ” . The reasons why people won ’ t do what ’ s being asked of them. These why nots often involve trust, confi dence, commitment, or an organization ’ s culture. They can be rooted in any number of sources, even in the long - past history of an organization.

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207

Notes

Chapter One

1. Gallup Management Journal On - Line: Gallup Study: Engaged Employees

Inspire Company Innovation. October 12, 2006.

2. M. Buckingham and C. Coffman, First, Break All the Rules: What the World ’ s

Greatest Managers Do Differently (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999).

3. Survey conducted jointly by the authors and Employee Motivation &

Performance Assessment, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI, 2004.

4. American Management Association survey, New York, 2003.

Chapter Three

1. L. Bossidy and R. Charan, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

(New York: Crown Business, 2002), 69.

2. Execution 185.

3. L. Hawkins, “ Behind GM ’ s Slide: Bosses Misjudged Urban Tastes, ” Wall

Street Journal, March 8, 2006, A1.

4. M. Dowie, “ Pinto Madness, ” http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/

1977/09/dowie.html , September/October 1977.

5. L. Iacocca and W. Novak, Iacocca: An Autobiography (New York: Bantam

Books, 1984), 172.

6. U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, Investigation Report:

Refi nery Explosion and Fire, Report No. 2005 – 04 – 1 - TX, March 2007, 158.

7. J. Fialka, “ BP ’ s Top U.S. Pipeline Inspector Refuses to Testify, ” Wall Street

Journal online, September 8, 2006.

8. Columbia Accident Investigation Board, The CAIB Report – Volume 1:

August 2003, 199.

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208 NOTES

Chapter Four

1. C. Rosen, J. Case, and M. Staubus, Equity: Why Employee Ownership Is Good

for Business (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2005).

Chapter Five

1. B. Nelson, 1001 Ways to Reward Employees (New York: Workman

Publishing, 1994).

2. F. Herzberg, B. Mausner, and B. B. Snyderman, The Motivation to Work, 2nd

ed. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 1959); F. Herzberg, “ One More Time: How Do

You Motivate Employees? ” Harvard Business Review , 46 (1968): 53 – 62.

Chapter Seven

1. G. Miller, “ The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits

on Our Capacity for Processing Information, ” The Psychological Review, 63

(1956): 81 – 97.

Chapter Eight

1. R. Charan, “ Home Depot ’ s Blueprint for Culture Change, ” Harvard Business

Review, Reprint R0604C (April 2006): 7.

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209

Q Index

Action Equation (Know � Feel � Do): communication on strategy in, 27–30; Conversation Platform and, 106; and conversation on strategic direction alignment, 188–190; defi ned, 221; and determination of what employees need to do, 27–28; Do portion of, 27–30; as driver of alignment, 38–39; as driver of On Strategy content, 27; and employees’ support on issues, 29–30; and facilitated discussion, 39; Feel portion of, 27, 31–34, 77–86; as fi lter to ensure on-strategy content, 149; Know portion of, 27, 30–31, 63–75; organized to promote conversation, 36–38; overview of, 27–30; as tool to engage leadership in strategy discussions, 121; and “why nots,” 99tab6.1

Babble: defi ned, 221; and employee engagement, 9–10; negative impacts of, 10–13

Behavior Chain, 88–92; defi ned, 221; employee discussion groups and, 97, 185; and insights to address “why nots,” 88–89; list of “why nots” revealed through, 89–91; the way it is, 94fi g6.2; the way you want to see it, 95fi g6.3

Bossidy, L., 48 BP, and nonnegotiables around safety

and maintenance, 51–53

Branding, management campaigns related to, 155–156, 157–158

Business performance: impact of babble on, 10–11; impact of employee motivation on, 17

Business performance metrics: employees’ general reactions to, 125; and leadership communication, 28–29; managers’ accountability for, 170; measuring impact of communication on, 170–171; as ultimate measurement tools, 169

Business plans: as communication source, 27–28; and good leadership direction, 47

Celebration campaign, and employee decision making, 156–157

Charan, R., 48 Chief executive offi cer (CEO), and On

Strategy communication, 43 Coffman, C., 10 Command communication profi le, and

company performance, 18 Communication: activities, in relation

to Conversation Platform, 149; and events used to generate strategy conversations, 153; as secondary organizational value, 42; simplicity and good leadership direction in, 46–47

Communication campaign: examples of, 155–158; as extension and intensifi cation of On Strategy communication, 155; identifying

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210 INDEX

priorities in, 175–176; requirements of, 155–156; research approach to performance of, 171

Communication in the moment, 186; Conversation Platform tool for, 105–108; and corporate speak, 102, 105; defi ned, 222; environments for, 105; and human memory capacity, 104–105; and leadership communication, 103, 186; and listening patterns, 103; preparing leaders for, 104–105; about stories rather than lists, 37–38

Communication professionals: business planning and decision making roles of, 164; competencies for, 159–161; leveraged through early involvement, 162–163; prioritizing utilization of, 164–165; as strategists and coaches, 158–159

Communication vehicles: babble as problem in, 146–147; for communication involving diffi cult issues, 151–152; controversial and provocative communication in, 151; coordinated with People Channel, 40–41; formal and internal, 41; and information overload due to technology, 147; and maximization of current channels, 146–148; operating channels as, 146, 148; recommendations for governing, 146; and remote locations, 197; resource guide for selection of, 148, 196–203; traditional, 146; typical offi ce environments as, 196; used to spark conversations on strategy, 150–152; using media from popular culture, 152

Competition, employee questions concerning, 68–69

Consider-dialogue-solve (CDS) framework: challenges in, 122–123; three-step process of, 191–193; use of, 120

Conversation Platform: addressing issues over strategy, 108–114; and

alignment of entire leadership group, 38–39; and babble reduction, 149; as basis of “red face” test, 123–124; communication vehicles’ relation to, 149; components of, 106–107; concept chunks as summary and gateway to other information in, 108, 110tab7.2; connecting proof points to, 110–111tab7.2; and conversation on alignment around strategic direction, 188–190; defi ned, 221; and facilitated discussion, 39; as fi lter and focus, 134, 149–154; as frame for leadership’s strategic message, 132; functions and use of, 105–106; management changes to, 135; as potent communication tool, 37–38; template for developing, 107–108; as tool to drive conversation on strategy, 37, 121; training for use of, 39–40, 158; value and versatility of, 114–115; vernacular language of, 113

Corporate bureaucracy, and organizational change in direction, 117

Customer decisions, employee questions on, 69–70

Discussion group: designing, 180–181; execution and interpretation of, 181–183; to identify motivational connections, 183–184; to inform the Behavior Chain, 185; and issues underlying poor movement of information, 172; as opposed to focus groups, 179; and “red face” test around the Conversation Platform, 193–195; as research tool, 179; use of facilitator in, 180

Do message, 45–62; and communication on strategy, 27–30; and complexity creep, 49; issues included in, 29–30; and On Strategy direction, 47–57

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Index 211

Eisenhower, Dwight, as example of leadership communication, 177

Email, as communication vehicle, 198 Emotional communication, as

legitimate part of leadership communication, 82

Employee brand tour, as communication campaign, 155–156

Employee decision making, and leadership’s own actions, 29

Employee emotions: and conversations connected to strategy, 22; identifying and leveraging of, 82–83; and leadership communication, 77, 82–83; and motivational connection to one’s work, 16

Employee issues forum, 157 Employee motivation: business

performance impact of, 16, 17; intrinsic, sources of, 31–33; and leadership’s strategy around customer satisfaction, 81; quantitative formal research into, 83; and research through discussion groups, 84; triggers for, 80

Employee Motivation & Performance Assessment Inc. (EMPA) survey, 16–17; communication questions in, 171

Employee risk taking, “why nots” of, 91 Employee survey, measuring manager

communication through results of, 170

Executive face-to-face program, as communication campaign, 156

Feel message, 27, 77–85, 86tab5.1; and creation of emotional connection to work, 78–79; as driver of action, 31–34; identifi cation and leverage of, 82–83; and intrinsic motivations, 31–33; and leadership communication, 82; and leadership strategy around customer satisfaction, 81; and

motivational triggers, 79–80; and motivations not to take action, 33–34; and research on employee motivation, 83–84

Financial results, impact of communication on, 17tab1.1

Ford Motor Company’s Pinto design, and nonnegotiable of safety, 52

Formal communication, Conversation Platform as fi lter for, 134

Frontline supervisors, and strategic communication, 15

General Motors, matrix design and leadership direction in, 48–49

Good performance requirements, leadership communication and, 19–23

Herzberg, F., 79

Iacocca, L., 52 Industrial plant locations, challenges to

leadership communication in, 197 Industry layoff, preparing employees

for, 157 Industry trends, company sharing of

information on, 69 Informal leader networks: identifying

and engaging leaders for, 126; as powerful component of People Channel, 125–126

Information fl ow measurement: and measure of managerial performance around communication, 172; and twelve specifi c attributes of fl ow, 172, 173tab11.1

Internal trade shows, as communication vehicle, 200

Interpersonal skills, leadership training for building, 40

Intranet, as communication vehicle, 198–199

Intrinsic emotions: and motivational connection to one’s work, 16; and

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212 INDEX

On Strategy communication, 31–34, 79; sources of, 31–33. See also Feel message

Investors for the Director Accountability Foundation, 118

Kennedy, J. F., 53 Know message, 63–75; and employees

need to know why, 64–70; as foundation for communication about strategy, 74; prioritizing employee audiences for, 64; and question of who needs to know strategy, 70–74

Kovach, K., 78–79

“Land of Oz” company: Action Equation and, 73tab4.1, 74; communication on key direction in, 57–61; motivational connections in, 84–86; and simplicity in communication, 45–46; understanding of “why nots” in, 98

Leadership alignment process, 117–127; approach to tough issues in, 187–190; choice and roles of facilitator in, 121–122; communication-driven, 119, 121; and consider-dialogue-solve (CDS) framework, 120, 122–123; and effective leadership communication, 118; identifying “why nots” in, 121–122; importance of confi rming, 119; for increased collaboration across operations, 119–120; and manager’s communication of leadership’s message, 123–124; methods used to drive, 119; obstacles to promoting dialogue in, 123; and open discussion at multiple levels, 122–125; tendency to skip to solutions in, 122, 123; tested with line managers and supervisors, 121–122, 123, 127

Leadership communication: challenge of communicating well in, 2; and collective action, 20; in companies with large stock-owning employee populations, 68; on controversial issues, 68; and employee emotions, 77, 82–83; employee perceptions shaped by, 20; and failure to engage employees, 25–26; as foundation for employee contributions, 20; as key to motivation and action, 21; nonnegotiables in, 53–54; and performance issues, 21–23; simple and concise message in, 103, 186; style, and success or failure of People Channel, 139–140; tendency to use babble in, 9–14; as tool for company revitalization, 21–23; using lists of goals and metrics, 28–29; words- actions-words bookend approach to, 56–57. See also Communication in the moment; On Strategy communication

Leadership conferences, as communication campaign, 156

Leadership direction: and achievement of critical goals, 59, 60tab3.3; activities to support strategic actions in, 60–61; disconnect between words and actions in, 55–57; as driver of business performance, 16–19; effective, examples of, 18–19; and employees’ critical decisionmaking, 50–51, 54–55; and employees’ need to know why, 30–31; focused on the “What” and the “How,” 49–51; nonnegotiable tenets and activities in, 51–54; physical versus abstract concept of, 50; top priorities in, 29; and tough decisions between priorities, 62

Leadership groups, informal: as ad hoc advisory groups, 195; process for identifying, 195–196; roles of, 196

Local leaders, as important communication channel, 15

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Index 213

Manager: communication metrics accountability of, 170; and leadership alignment, 121–122, 123, 127

Manager communication: and alignment with top leaders, 176; employee survey for measuring, 170; and People Channel interchanges, 36; performance, and information fl ow measurement, 172; in reporting leader’s message to employees, 123–124

Matrix organization: complex design and mistakes in, 48–49; example of “why not” in, 90–91

Meeting organization. See Consider-dialogue-solve (CDS) framework

Memory game, 104; and insights on leadership communication, 186–187

Miller, G., 104

Nardelli, R., Home Depot change strategy of, 117–118

NASA’s nonnegotiable around safety, deterioration of, 53

National Benchmark Study, 17 Newsletters, as communication vehicle,

199 Nonnegotiables: defi ned, 51; as integral

to leadership communication and direction, 51–54

On Strategy communication, 145–166; applied principles of, 4; articulation of leadership’s direction on, 26–27; and bottom-line results, 23–24; connected to business results through research, 170; Conversation Platform as fi lter for, 106, 149; defi ned, 222; and depth of information employees need to know, 31; determining focus

of efforts in, 42; emotional (Feel) aspect of, 16, 31–34; focus on big goals and signifi cant activities in, 28; forum for message promotion of, 148; framing of complex business direction in, 15; greater engagement and knowledge sharing through, 29; information sharing system for, 145; and intrinsic motivations, 31–34, 79; and Know portion of Action Equation, 30–31; locations and opportunities for, 200–203; long-term benefi ts of, 3–4; meaningful conversation in, 15–16; motivational triggers in, 79–80; overview of, 25–44; as philosophy of internal communication, 2, 23; practical strategies and tools in, 4; setting self-expectations in, 42; simplicity in, 16; three strategy steps in, 3fi g1.1, 27, 43–44; undertaking big fi xes in, 3–4. See also Action equation

On Strategy direction: elements of, 47–57; enabling employees’ decisionmaking, 46; and identifi cation of “critical few” strategy goals, 57–58; and nonnegotiables important to company health, 58–59; and organizational complexity, 48–49; and requirements of good direction, 46–47; simplicity and clarity in, 47–48; strategic action to pursue goals in, 59, 60tab3.3

One-on-one interviews, and poor movement of information, 172

Open communication: business performance and, 17; as leadership tool, 13–14

Open profi le companies, performance of, 18

Operating communication channels: defi ned, 222; and On Strategy message promotion, 148

Operating performance, and production of quality products, 171

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214 INDEX

People Channel, 34–43, 131, 133; and alignment up and down the organization, 38–39; channels for keeping managers/supervisors in the loop, 136–137; and complementary leader assignments, 141–143; and contexts for information delivery, 34–35; coordinated with communication vehicles and tactics, 40–41; defi ned, 27, 222; and delivery of consistent strategic message to employees, 34; and expectations around communication, 41–43; expectations of top leadership in, 176; identifying and incorporating informal leaders into, 125–126, 195–196; interpersonal skill training in, 140–141; and leader conversations on strategy, 39–40; and learning opportunities, 135–136; major announcements and changes communicated through, 138–139; promotion of ongoing leadership conversation in, 139; Q&A documents provided for, 137–138; and rote cascading of information, 35–36; and support of local leaders, 135–139; traditional communication vehicles in, 35, 147–148; and updating of leaders, 135–139

Performance issues, and improvement of leadership communication, 21–23

Personnel announcement, used to reinforce desired behaviors, 149–150

Posters, as communication vehicle, 200 Product “Ride and Drive,” as

communication campaign, 156 Production reports, as communication

vehicle, 200

“Red face” test: Conversation Platform and, 123, 124, 125; process in, 193–195; purpose and results of, 123–125

Reporting-and-Discussion profi le, and performance problems, 18

Resource guide, 179–203; on alignment interviews and use of Situation Snapshot, 187–190; on conducting discussion groups, 179–185; for generating conversation on diffi cult topics, 187–190; for insights into communication and memory, 186–187

Rumor profi le companies, performance of, 18

Senior leaders. See Top leadership Senn Delaney Leadership (consulting

fi rm), 83 Situation Snapshot: creation of, 122;

defi ned, 222; illustrating agreement or disagreement about strategy, 189–190; quote format in, 190

Societal issues, importance of answering employee questions on, 69

Strategic communication function, 158–165; building your own capabilities for, 159; company goals as responsibility of, 162; and critical questions around decisions, 163; and staffi ng competencies, 159–161; tactical level in, 159, 164

Strategy: in Conversation Platform’s fi ve-point story, 37; execution, and employees’ self-interests, 30; good communication’s role in improvement of, 19–20; and leadership alignment, 38; ongoing organizational conversation on, 15; and true leadership alignment, 118

Strategy communication: and complementary leader assignments, 141–143; content review in, 132–133; Conversation Platform introduced into, 132–134; development of, 130; executive delivery of, 130–131; and feedback on process, 134; and knowledge of

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Index 215

leaders beyond the top echelons, 70–71; and On Strategy training, 130–135; and practice for use of Platform, 133–134; process review in, 134; question of who needs to know in, 70–74; recognizing and strengthening weak links in, 139–141; setting expectations about responsibilities in, 131–132; support for leaders in, 135–139; tools and training for, 39–40, 129–144

Structured conversation approach. See Consider-dialogue-solve (CDS) framework

Tent card, as communication tool, 200 Time, C., 118 Top leader’s role, 167–177; aggressive

communication and monitoring expectations set by, 167–169; and alignment of senior teams, 118–126; and communication expectations and priorities, 175–176; and corporate bureaucracy, 117; and delegation of daily work, 169; and improvement accountability, 169–170; and leaders’ focus on important metrics, 170; and leading by example, 176–177; and major communication events, 167–169; and management of strategy communication impact, 168–173; and measurement of information fl ow and communication effectiveness, 169–170, 172; of orchestrating communication delivery, 169; People Channel management of, 167–177; and reward or discipline for managers’

communication behavior, 174; and strategy training delivery, 130–135

Traditional communication channels, defi ned, 222

Training session, as communication vehicle, 148, 199

Video, as communication vehicle, 199

Wagoner, R., 48 “What do you need employees to do”

question, and good leadership direction, 45–46

“Why” questions, 64–70, 74; answering, 68–70; conversations revolving around, 66; importance of leadership response to, 65–66; on issues of public concern/specifi c to operations, 67–68; prioritizing employee audiences for, 64; and productive dialogue between employees and management, 66; and questions beyond goals and strategy, 66–68

“Why Nots,” 87–100; defi ned, 33, 222; examples of, 34; exploring and addressing root causes of, 92–98; and group think, 91; inaction and the blame game in, 90; involving leadership candor and motives, 89; and lack of critical due diligence, 91; and management’s commitment to strategy, 89; and motivational reasons, 33; and new experience to drive new belief, 92–95; resulting from experiences and beliefs of the Behavior Chain, 88–92; and strategies for employees’ work area, 89–90; research to identify, 96–98

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Beyond the Babble: Leadership Communication That Drives Results

Acknowledgments
The Authors
Foreword
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Power of Communication

ON STRATEGY COMMUNICATION CUTS THROUGH BABBLE
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION GETS RESULTS
WHY COMMUNICATION MAKES A DIFFERENCE
SUMMARY

Chapter 2: On Strategy Communication: An Overview

THE ACTION EQUATION
THE PEOPLE CHANNEL
SUMMARY

Chapter 3: What Do You Need Employees to Do?

THE ELEMENTS OF ON STRATEGY DIRECTION
SETTING A CLEAR PATH FOR THE LAND OF OZ
SUMMARY

Chapter 4: What Do Employees Need to Know to Take Action?

THEY NEED TO KNOW WHY
WHO NEEDS TO KNOW?
THE LAND OF OZ KNOWS
SUMMARY

Chapter 5: What Do Employees Need to Feel to Take Action?

BE AN ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST
GETTING THE INSIGHTS YOU NEED
THE LAND OF OZ GETS EMOTIONAL
SUMMARY

Chapter 6: The “Why Nots”: What’s Getting in the Way?

THE BEHAVIOR CHAIN
ADDRESSING A “WHY NOT”
BE AN ORGANIZATIONAL ARCHEOLOGIST
THE LAND OF OZ CONFRONTS ITS DEMONS
SUMMARY

Chapter 7: Package: Turn the Action Equation into a Conversation

CONVERSATIONS ARE “IN THE MOMENT”
THE MEMORY ISSUE
THE CONVERSATION PLATFORM
THE LAND OF OZ GETS READY TO ROLL
WHEN ISSUES ARE THE ISSUE
SUMMARY

Chapter 8: Align: Make Sure All Leaders Are On Strategy

DON’T BE FOOLED
START AT THE TOP AND WORK TO THE FRONT LINE
PROMOTE OPEN DISCUSSION AT MULTIPLE LEVELS
INCLUDE INFORMAL LEADERS IN THE PEOPLE CHANNEL
SUMMARY

Chapter 9: Equip: Give Leaders the Tools They Need to Communicate On Strategy

TRAIN LEADERS AS IF STRATEGY DEPENDED ON IT
SUPPORT LOCAL LEADERS AND THE PEOPLE CHANNEL
RECOGNIZE AND STRENGTHEN THE WEAK LINKS
COMPLEMENTARY LEADER ASSIGNMENTS
SUMMARY

Chapter 10: Drive and Support: Orchestrate and Sustain On Strategy Conversation

CREATE A DRUMBEAT
TO RAISE THE VOLUME, RUN A CAMPAIGN
HOW COMMUNICATION (THE FUNCTION) CAN HELP
SUMMARY

Chapter 11: The Top Leader’s Role

EXPECT A LOT
MEASUREMENT
REWARD, RECOGNIZE, AND HOLD ACCOUNTABLE
PRIORITIZE
LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Chapter 12: “How to” Resource Guide

CONDUCTING DISCUSSION GROUPS
THE MEMORY GAME
ALIGNMENT INTERVIEWS AND SNAPSHOT
THE CONSIDER-DIALOGUE-SOLVE PROCESS
CONDUCTING A “RED FACE” TEST
IDENTIFYING INFORMAL LEADERS
SELECTING VEHICLES: OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND

Glossary of Terms
Notes
Index