Yes, your employees actually do want to hear your voice.
When executives only communicate with employees to deliver big, organizational news, employees are being conditioned to associate executives with bad news. Consistent executive communication, builds a healthier culture. And luckily, it’s never too late to make the change.
How the CEO Becomes the Harbinger of Bad News
Picture this scenario: a CEO has addressed the full company a handful of times in the past year. Those times included:
- A greeting at the holiday party
- Discussing structural changes
- Announcing a long-time senior executive’s retirement
- Touching base after layoffs
Individually, these instances seem like smart times for an executive to come forward and address the company. But combined, they paint a dismal picture— the CEO only shows up to deliver news of uncertainty or unstable change.
A greeting at the holiday party: While nice, this is a formality that doesn’t build trust with employees.
Discussing structural changes: When organizational structure changes, employees get shuffled in the mix too.
Announcing a long-time senior executive’s retirement: Any top leader’s departure comes with mixed feelings. Will their replacement be someone they can trust? Are jobs safe?
Touching base after layoffs: Executive communication here is necessary, but will rarely build culture.
Frequent Communication from Leadership Eases Qualms
In each of these scenarios, the executive communication is either negative or neutral. Employees associate the CEO with their own feelings of fear, anger, or confusion.
Your employees actually want to hear from leadership. A CEO’s visibility has a direct correlation to how much employees trust leadership.
Shrinking the distance in your corporate hierarchy is easy thanks to video. It’s a time and space-bending medium, allowing executives to be anywhere, any time. Whether that looks like live video feeds or routinely recorded video messaging, executives can develop a real human connection.
Regularly scheduled town hall meetings invite employees to ask questions and share feedback. When employees feel their voices are being heard, they’re more likely to feel connected to the company’s mission. If you don’t have an answer to a question, assure the asker that you will circle back to it after the Q&A—and then actually follow through. You’re building trust and proving yourself to be the source of strength that your company needs you to be.
Communications from the top don’t have to be showy. They don’t have to announce anything major each time, either. In fact, it’s often comforting to hear, “All is well, thank you for your hard work.
