Tribe Topics July 2017 TRB-147 July Topics | Page 2

LEADERSHIP
MAKING YOUR CEO
MORE RELATABLE
There are plenty of reasons to do more than provide a
headshot next to each title on the executive leadership
team. For one, engagement increases when employees
feel they know a little about the person behind the titles.
For another, we all trust people we know more than we do
the people we don’t, so helping employees get to know
the top execs can help build trust in management.
There are a few topics employees prefer to hear straight
from the top. In Tribe’s research with employees of large
companies, respondents indicated they were comfortable
getting communications on most subjects from their direct
managers. But when it comes to the company vision or any
major change, they prefer to get the news directly from
the CEO — at least at first. After the CEO has introduced
the topic, they’ll often take follow up questions to
their managers.
Your CEO may prefer to share the load with other
leadership team members. Instead of focusing all your
leadership communications on the big cheese, you might
rotate through the various members of the executive team.
Split up a list of site visits to cover more company locations
with less stress to the CEO’s calendar. Give each person
on the team responsibility for a blog (one they actually
write themselves) or for appearing in a video or recording
a podcast. Featuring a range of personalities can provide
a nice balance.
Be sure to consider the comfort zone of the individuals
on your leadership team. Some people are at ease
speaking to large groups but freeze up in front of a video
camera. Others cringe when they hear a recording of their
own voice, which might rule out podcasts. You might
want to talk initially with each exec to see how he or she
prefers to communicate — and then do what you can to
accommodate those preferences. The more comfortable
they are, the more authentic their communications will
feel to employees.
Interested in humanizing your leadership team? Tribe can help.
CHANNELS
1
None of the channels below are new, yet each of them can be used
creatively in ways that build human connections with employees.
VIDEO
The key to leadership videos is to keep them conversational and authentic. Instead of writing a
script and feeding them lines on a teleprompter, make an outline of the topics you’re hoping they’ll
cover. Unless your CEO is a professional on-air personality, a teleprompter is almost always a bad
idea and will make the performance feel stilted and fake.
Try just asking them questions and letting them respond. You can use someone sitting just off
camera that you’ll edit out later, or include an employee or customer on camera as the host in a talk-
show format.
We’ve had a lot of success shooting entire leadership teams on a range of topics in one day. Each
executive spends 20 minutes or so being videotaped responding to maybe six or eight questions.
Then we edit into six or eight short round-robin videos, each featuring several different members of
the leadership team. That can provide months and months of video content for the intranet.
2
PODCASTS
Listening to someone’s voice can build strong connections, particularly when they’re passionate
about the subject matter. Case in point: FDR’s radio fireside chats built public confidence and hope
in the face of the banking crisis and WWII, and also gave him a chance to outline his strategies and
counteract rumors.
Podcasts work well for explaining the company vision or the business reasons behind a major
change. They also can be a great way to let your leadership team tell personal stories with concrete
details that make them more relatable to employees. What was their first job? What did they learn
from their best boss? Their worst one? What leadership lessons did they learn from mistakes along
the way?
3
PERSONALITY QUIZ
Especially if your CEO and/or leadership team are especially reserved, offering a few personal
details can help employees see the person behind the title. You might put together a list of five or
six questions and publish the answers from a different leadership team member each month. We’ve
used this format in employee magazines and on intranets, but it could also become digital signage
or posters.
Even the most staid executive can be persuaded to share answers to questions about the last book
they read, favorite movie, current pets or personal hobbies. Or you might try asking more creative
questions, like if they have any secret talents, or what career they envisioned for themselves as kids,
or which famous person they’d most like to meet.
4
SITE VISITS
Getting your top executives to show up in person at the company’s far-flung locations can make
a powerful statement. Particularly in manufacturing plants, distribution centers and other facilities
that house a lot of non-desk workers, employees can feel invisible to company management.
If you’ve got a major change afoot, that’s a great time to get the CEO out there with the people,
but visiting just to say hello can be even better. Have him or her grab a hard hat and get out there
to walk the floor, meet employees, shake hands. Bring in doughnuts or pizza and hold a Q&A so
employees can express concerns and ask questions. Or put employees’ names in a hat and pull out
six or eight names to join the CEO for lunch in the cafeteria.