Having assessed and coached hundreds of executives including over 100 CEOs and presidents over the years, I have an idea about what ticks them off. One of their daily irritants is the way many people choose to communicate with them. The top three are stalling, withholding information and offering too much detail. Can you guess which one of these three has the highest potential to get an employee fired?
Communication allergy number one is Stalling.
When a person responds to a CEO’s question they should try to refrain from using phrases such as “It depends” and “I’m not sure but..”
The truth is that when a person responds in this manner, they state the obvious and then confirm that they either really don’t have a clue and can’t actually answer the question or that they don’t necessarily want to tell the truth.
If you want to keep your CEO happy, give a direct response in one to two sentences. Be honest, brief and intelligent. If your boss wants more of an explanation, they will ask for it.
Communication allergy number two is Withholding Information.
Your CEO is there to help solve problems and manage risks. If you decide that you know what you’re doing and deliberately try to solve a problem with a key account before involving the CEO, you are probably going to be looking elsewhere for employment and perhaps a bit more education. It’s amazing how many managers actually do this, risking their jobs and reputations at the same time.
Why would someone hide important information from the CEO? Simple, they know the CEO will blast them with questions: “Why didn’t you anticipate this? Why didn’t you do X, Y, and Z to prevent it? Why haven’t you done A, B, and C to fix it?” If you want to keep you CEO happy, summarize each situation that presents adversity, do a PPA on it and seek input from your boss – perhaps there is something that s/he can do to influence the outcome of this threat. A successful Swiss CEO that I know well used to have a boss who would send an army of analysts to question the team if he suspected that one of his directors was not telling him the whole truth. In order to put a fire out before it even got started, this successful CEO told his former boss during the first month of his employment at the firm: “I hear that you don’t like negative surprises, so I promise to keep you in the loop within a few hours of identifying and verifying that we have a problem. Please give me a day or so after that to investigate why it occurred and then I’ll get back to you with what we believe to be the most probable cause, what we’re doing to get back on track and how we plan to prevent it from recurring.” My friend and current CEO of the very same firm, was never was visited by that army of analysts.
Communication allergy number three is Too Many Details.
CEOs typically guard their time vigilantly so try not to waste a single moment with details on ‘how’ you plan to do something unless you are asked for such details. Use your time wisely and come to the point as quickly as possible. Never use suspense as a tactic when delivering information or responding to your CEO’s queries. This may sound like a no-brainer but it is amazing how many people choose to bore CEOs to death with details rather than getting straight to the point delivering information directly, honestly and succinctly – yes, even bad news. The folks that wish to justify their verbal output in some way before actually responding to a question are primary targets during downsizing cycles… need I say more?
So in summary, don’t stall, don’t withhold information and don’t bury your boss in details. Just prepare in advance, do some careful thinking prior to the meeting and then present your case concisely so that you encourage input, guidance and a solid basis for decision making. Feel free to test the above with Clients as well… it could possibly improve your closing rate.
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