Being CEO for the day

TALK to the people

From the comments in the research, it is fairly obvious that many employees feel very removed from what senior management is up to. Since that series of interviews, more and more people have commented to me that there is not enough face-to-face communication between themselves and senior management, and this disconnect - whether real or just perceived - is a major concern. Certainly there are companies who do this very well, but in times of trouble there is a tendency for the CEO and his immediate cabal to circle the wagons on the top floor of headquarters and hunker down for the duration. In a modern-day organisation that is not a recipe for winning hearts and minds. Especially in parlous times senior management need to be out there doing that open , honest communication. It does pay off, if only in holding on to people when the good times come around again. Strange how many CEOs are just not very good at this sort of thing.

LISTEN to the people

What I found of more interest - but just as disturbing as the need for the CEO to talk - were the comments about listening. Again, I hear this all the time: ˜Top management don't pay any attention, they never listen to our ideas or even when we voice concern about issues.' This is, frankly, pretty worrying. Employees on the ground, in touch with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders are the communication conduits of any business. Stop listening to them and you cannot know what is going on in your business world. No matter how well you manage the numbers , if you don't let your people reach you with news, ideas and just plain gossip and rumour you won't be able to take advantage of opportunities or steer around those great big rocks in the road. I constantly hear this complaint of management not listening and once more I think it is vital that senior management address the issue. All the smart managers I know meet with cross-sections of their employees once or twice a week. Of those that do, most say they get lots of good ideas and they also begin to find out what is really going on. Sitting up there in some ivory tower isn't going to glean you much information.

Ask them ˜What should I STOP doing?'

When Clemens Reisbeck of Barclays Capital first suggested this one to me, I didn't really grasp the significance of it - I do now. In fact, this is a very powerful idea. ˜What are the things I do, or members of my top management team do, that get in the way of you doing your job?' All of us should go around our companies and ask that question of a cross-section of 500 people. And if we don't think they'd tell us then we should make it an anonymous contribution process. I am certain than all of us get in the way at one time or another. But we are probably oblivious to the fact that our ˜Well at headquarters it seemed like a great idea' decision, doesn't always play out in the divisions.

I think every business should launch a ˜What should we stop doing?' campaign and see just what happens. For certain you will clear up a lot of problems and long-buried resentments.