with what to say and how and when to say it. Is no communication better than poor or misleading words? Is it better to deny redundancies will happen with a fudge until they do? Or say up front they’re a possibility, and scare everyone, most of whom will not be leaving? Do you embrace best practice with a senior management consultation process only to obfuscate the answer and leave the team wondering what will happen next? Something? Anything? Nothing?
At Capital Radio, my predecessor had a good reputation for communicating. Luckily, I could learn from him. I enjoyed the challenge of getting the message across and being questioned on what I’d just said. Many people don’t share my enthusiasm and often, unfortunately, increased seniority results in self-inflicted isolation and distance from the people they should be close to.
As my career developed, I adopted the opposite stance to withdrawal and isolation. It’s interesting because until my twenties I was hopelessly shy. Yet as time went on, I grew in confidence and I relished letting everyone know what was going on and why. If in doubt, I said more not less. I tried to avoid surprising people by paving the way for what might be on the horizon:
“OK everyone, it’s approaching budget time and sales have been difficult, we’re going to be prudent and assume that will continue. We need to be responsibly cautious. We’re doing everything we can to build the business, but we can’t assume the market will change. So please don’t factor in more people or increased costs because we’ll not be doing that this year. Those exciting new projects will have to wait I’m afraid.”
That was part of a regular update I gave all 300 people at our headquarters in London. In addition to me, many others would speak giving brief updates and we all took questions.
The problem I had was the other 1,500 people who worked in the company weren’t in the building. They were spread across the UK from the West Country to central Scotland. So, I decided to do two things. I scheduled regular visits to each of our other locations, as did my colleagues. But to ensure current information reached everyone quickly, more or less at that same time, we created The Horse’s Mouth.
I was the Horse and if you heard it from me, you could assume it was important, true and happening. I did this by conference call with the management at each of our locations, sometimes in groups. Prior to speaking, they had each asked their teams for questions for me to respond to. Which I did. We noted all the calls so we could make sure we addressed common themes and could respond with more specific answers when needed.
In addition, we used email and the occasional video to support our communication efforts. But anything of significance was always face to face or the closest we could get to that. We built a culture which supported not saving things up.
I wanted to avoid being a place where all the news was stored and delivered in an untimely way.
I remembered in my days as an engineering draughtsman being on the end of a critical probationary review. If only I’d been told, as a new person, what I was failing at, I could have corrected it. But no one let me know and I was fired.
My personal approach is much more transparent and straightforward. I always let people I work with know where they stand. Appraisals and reviews contain no shocks or revelations. Too many times people approach these badly conducted affairs with a great deal of trepidation. Why? Because until that meeting, they really didn’t know how they’re viewed and valued. No real communication at all. “I thought I might get fired but they said nice things and gave me a pay rise.” Oh dear. What a very sad way to run a company.
If you’re the type of leader who could easily die at the thought of standing in front of your people, you need to get help. Because it’s not optional. Being senior is about many things. And in your case, communication and leadership are inseparable. I always used to say anyone can give good news, but I’ve even seen that go wrong. If you recognise help is needed, there’s plenty out there and it really is possible to make significant improvement. Find an expert to develop your skills (you have them) and build your confidence.
As a child and teenager, I was the goofy ginger-headed kid with little confidence. When it came to reading in class out loud I hated it. School plays and assembly were strictly no-go areas; I went off sick. Somehow, I managed to circumnavigate this problem until my career necessitated presenting information to others in a formal setting. The only thing I could do was write a script and read it without looking up. But what soon followed was the requirement to face an audience with charts and free-form speech. Insomnia took over for the weeks and days beforehand.
But luckily, help showed up when my boss suggested we both went on a two-day course. Our trainer was exceptional and gave me the confidence to present, ad-lib, handle questions and get my key points across. It took many years to perfect and I’m still a “work in progress”. But I’ve gone from total avoidance to seeking out opportunities to communicate. When I don’t do it, I miss it. An extraordinary turnaround. Proof that in spite of what we believe about our own capabilities, in the right hands, others can see potential that we fail to spot.
As a leader, communication isn’t optional. People need regular information and if you’re at the helm of a public company the calendar of these events is published as a matter of record. If you’re stewarding someone else’s money, then a whole set of rules are in place to ensure you do the right thing. Anything that might influence the share price needs to be announced when it’s known. Otherwise the shares are trading in what’s known as a false market. And that’s not on. As my chairman used to say, “get this wrong and you’ll end up in prison. And you won’t want to share a cell with me”. He was right!
Listed companies, almost without exception, retain the service of a specialist communication company to help manage the messages and logistics. Often these work in tandem with the chief executive’s in-house team in order to get all the ducks lined up. For me this worked pretty well. We had a good team all round and we kept it simple on announcement days. Clear messages backed up with supporting evidence and a well-rehearsed question and answer plan.
A tip I’ve used many times is to always write a concise, one-page, press release. Not because it would be released, necessarily, but to provide clarity and focus. The thinking goes that if you can’t write the rational explanation of whatever it is on a one-page release and make sense, then what you’re about to do is probably a bad idea.
My reputation, I’m told, is one of a good communicator. Clear, brief, timely, honest and prepared to be questioned. To provide balance I’m also described as blunt, heavy-handed and sometimes insensitive. In that the message is fine but the packaging could be better. I’m working on that.
I’ve worked with many impressive people, like my friend and previous boss at Capital, Richard Eyre. I often wish that I had his eloquence and turn of phrase. In presenting a critical appraisal to a colleague he’d say: “I’d like to help you avoid the mistakes I’ve made.” That type of sentence would have been unlikely to have found its way out of my mouth, sadly.
Being the type of leader who’s visible and accessible is generally a good thing, I believe. We’ve all worked with or know people who couldn’t tell you what the management look like, or what they do all day. I made a point of telling people about my week. But it can occasionally put you in a difficult position when you least expect it.
I was invited to celebrate a birthday at an after-hours office drinks party by the guys who ran one of our radio stations a couple of floors away. I enjoyed these moments so was very happy to show up, recognising a few short words might be needed. On that occasion they weren’t, but the team were very keen for me to meet a guy who unfortunately I didn’t recognise. Thinking he was a new team member, I asked him if he was a programme or a sales colleague. To which he replied in an American accent that he was neither. The small crowd around us were amused, shocked and embarrassed,
