Executives: Here Are 4 Things Your Internal Comms Team Isn’t Telling You but Should…

Dear Executive: 

You present a stellar speech at the quarterly all-hands meeting.

You receive a byline in a popular industry publication. Your star account executive lands a new client. You excitedly share the sales report, which exceeds projections.

And none of it may matter.

Why?

Because other outcomes matter more.

• That great speech doesn’t matter if you’re exclusive, dismissive, or cliquish at the office coffee bar or your virtual, weekly meeting. It’s through your day-to-day interactions where you build trust, where employees decide to engage in the mission, where team members feel valued…or not.

Employees believe the authentic you shows up through daily behaviors, not a scripted speech. And they’re right.

• Sure, it’s cool to have a byline in an industry publication to showcase your expertise, grow your visibility in the marketplace, and distinguish your organization.

But the byline matters less than the actual experience employees have in your organization.  As you know, your employees’ experiences influence your branding and reputation more than any industry article.

• The account executive who lands the new client should be celebrated, right? …It depends. How are they showing up as a leader? How are they influencing the success of their team members? How self-aware are they when it comes to managing their emotional triggers?

I hear stories of toxic senior leaders who stay in their role because they are valued more for the money they bring in or the creative product they develop than how they lead their team. (Yes, there were tears shed during the telling of these stories.)

What you value is communicated more in your leadership decisions than in your new client list.

• Congratulations on the sales report that exceeds projections! 

Though there’s concern that no one understands it.

ARR. SKO. CCR. ICP. QoQ.

Oh dear gawd. What?!

It’s easy to forget your audience isn’t as familiar as you are with the industry or department jargon. And your employees may hesitate to share that they don’t understand the countless company acronyms. 

Here's a friendly reminder to write for the employee who started yesterday and isn’t familiar with your industry or department. That way your audience will appreciate your impressive sales figures.

Your internal communications (IC) team may be awesome—authoring that speech, ghost-writing the industry article, developing the materials for the client pitch, designing the sales report. But are you having the strategic conversations with them that are needed?

Perhaps you could ask your IC team members a few open-ended questions:

• What stories are the employee engagement and communications data telling us?
• How can I better influence engagement in the organization?
• How can we best partner together?
• What’s one communications tip you’d share with me?

This conversation takes courage – on both sides – but it can clarify your intentions with your internal communications efforts and help refocus the team on what matters most…