1. Leadership
Communications
Baruch College

2. 2
Leadership Communications
“Communication is the backbone of leadership.
People need direction and leadership, and
without constant communication you have no
leadership.”
Harvard Business Review*
Effective Leadership Communications

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Leadership Communications
“In a 2002 survey of 1,104 employees around the
country, 86% of the respondents said that their
bosses thought they were great communicators.
But only 17% said their bosses actually
communicated effectively.”
Harvard Business Review*
Is One Dimensional Communication Limiting Your Leadership?

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Leadership Communications
“We thought there was a communications
gap, but it turned out we were totally
wrong. It’s not a gap, it’s a chasm.”
Boyd Clarke, author

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The Fallout
• Confidence in business
leadership is at an all
time low
• Employee surveys
consistently rank
communications and
lack of faith in senior
management among the
top concerns.

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The Fallout
• Businesses that communicate
poorly do not perform as well
as those that do:
– Effective communications can
add up to 3% to ROI
– Poor leadership
communications is a
competitive disadvantage
• Top talent gravitates to
businesses that have great
leaders and leadership
communications.

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Great Communicators

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Poor Communicators

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Contrasting Communicators
Tony Hayward, BP
John Chambers, Cisco

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A Failure to Communicate
• Business leaders have little
incentive to communicate
– They’re paid to increase
profitability, not win
popularity contests
– Many don’t like to
communicate
– They view communications
as an expense, not an
investment
– There’s not enough time
– Communications is often
delegated to subordinates.

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A Failure to Communicate
Result: In many businesses, leadership
communications is poorly executed and often
relegated to e-mail and Power Point
presentations.

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Effective Communications
Effective communications is often
embedded in an organization’s culture
and is a central to its core values.

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Leadership Communications
There is no single, right way to
communicate …

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Leadership Communications
It’s a combination of many elements,
many leadership styles, applied at the
right time.

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But There is a Wrong Way
• Communicate one
dimensionally:
– Focus only on facts
– No passion
– Ignore symbolic
messages
– Sugar coat the message
– Practice double-speak
– Communicate after the
fact or not at all
– Say only what is required.

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Leadership Styles
• The leader as:
– Meaning maker
– Story Teller
– Trust Builders
– Direction Setter
– Linking agent
– Provocateur, critic
– Commanding General

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A Failure to Communicate
“When your intent is to move people
to action … you have to have all
three: facts, emotion and
symbolism.”

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Leadership Communications
The Dimensions of Leadership
Communications

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Communicating Effectively
• Effective leadership
communications is
multi-dimensional:
– The best communicators
use more than just one
platform or approach
– They recognize that
communications is much
more than just speaking
or delivering information.

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Communicating Effectively
What is effective leadership
communication?
– What you say and how you say
it
– Whom you talk to
– How you get people talking
with you and with each other
– Keeping an organization’s
vision clearly focused for
customers and employees
alike
– Are designed to gain
commitment from
stakeholders and create a
bond of trust between leader
and follower

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Communicating Effectively
• Richard Teerlink revitalized
Harley-Davidson with frequent and
relentless personal
communications with dealers and
owners.
• Herb Kelleher traveled coach to
learn about the state of business
from front line employees and
passengers.

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Communicating Effectively
• Steve Jobs has architected
Apple’s turnaround and
leadership position in consumer
technology by:
– Acting as a visionary
– Keeping employees and customers
energized and loyal
– Relentlessly focusing on customers.

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Great Communicators
Winston Churchill
• Grab their attention
• Repeat regularly
• Bring language to life
• End powerfully
• Use simply gestures
• Pause

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Chapter 1: Text
What is effective leadership
communication?
• Message of significant
importance that flows from the
leader to key stakeholders:
– Employees
– Investors
– Public
• A message from CEO on the
future of the organization is a
leadership communication
• A memo from the CEO
rescheduling a meeting isn’t.
John Baldoni

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Chapter 1: Text
What is effective leadership
communication?
• What you say and how you
say it.
• Whom you talk to.
• How you get people talking
with you and with each other.
• Keeping an organization’s
vision clearly focused for
customers and employees
alike.

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Chapter 1: Text
What is the purpose of
leadership communication?
• Designed to gain commitment
from stakeholders
• Establish or continue to build
a bond of trust between leader
and follower.

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Chapter 2: Text
Critical communications issues
that leadership must address:
1. Commitment to the organization
and goals – building trust
between employees and
management, including
immediate supervisor.
2. Building awareness of
organizational goals and
priorities, especially during
periods of change and
transition.
3. Helping their organizations
become better.

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Internal Comms Channels
Formal Communications
Channels
– email
– intranet
– webcasts
– text messaging
– Voice mail
– newsletters
– blogs
– podcasts
– speeches
– town halls
• (Credibility levels vary)
All Employees/Key
Internal Stakeholders
Organizational Cascade
(Word of Mouth)
- CEO
- Senior Level Execs
- Middle Mgmt
- All Employees
• (Credibility is high)
All Employees/Key Internal
Stakeholders

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External Comms Channels
• Advertising
• Promotions
• Sales
• Business Development (Primarily Consulting)
• Public Relations via
– Media (Broadcast, electronic, print)
– Investors/Analysts
– Speeches
– Website/Webcasts
– Thought Leadership
• Organizational Performance
All External Stakeholders
(Media/Dealers/Clients/Suppliers/Investors/Government, etc.)

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Chapter 3: Text
Leaders as meaning-makers:
1. They create focus and context
for the work of their
organizations.
• Framing the messaging
• Conveying a sense of
belonging
2. They offer channels for
employees to act in ways that
will increase their feelings of
significance and contributions.
• Employees want to feel a sense
of status, respect
• People want their work to be
meaningful and have a
purpose.

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Chapter 3: Text
When I Grow Up

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Chapter 3: Text
Meaning makers communicate:
• A sense of inclusion in a close
knit community (American
Express, US gov’t after 9-11)
• Build relationships by staging
frequent community dialogues
• Encouraging people to make
their commitment to the
organization public
• Clearly frame big picture issues
and provide context
• Engage employees in mission

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Chapter 4
Leaders as story tellers:
1. Commitment to the organization
and goals – building trust
between employees and
management, including
immediate supervisor.
2. Building awareness of
organizational goals and
priorities, especially during
periods of change and
transition.
3. Helping their organizations
become better.

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Chapter 5
Leaders as trust builders:
• Communication is central to building trust, and a critical
element of leadership credibility.
• It’s not only what a leader says, but how it’s said:
– To build mistrust: Talk with others about problems you are having with
a peer without doing everything reasonably possible to solve the
problem through direct communication with that peer.
– To build trust: Solve problems through direct communication at the
lowest equivalent level: yourself and peers; yourself and your direct
manager; yourself, your manager and her manager.

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Chapter 5
– To build mistrust: Make a pretended or "soft" commitment, e.g., "I'll
respond later.“
– To build trust: When in doubt about taking on a commitment, air your
concerns with the relevant parties. When engaged on an ongoing
commitment, communicate anticipated slippage as soon as you
suspect it.
– To build mistrust: Manage/supervise from behind your desk only
– To build trust: Spend "informed" time mingling, asking non-assumptive
questions, making only promises you can keep , working back through
existing lines of authority.
– To build mistrust: Be unclear or not exactly explicit about what you
need or expect. Assume that anyone would know to do/not do that.
– To build trust: Be explicit and direct. If compromise is productive, do it
in communication, not in your mind alone.

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Behaviors of Trusted Leaders
1. Talk Straight
2. Demonstrate Respect
3. Create Transparency
4. Right Wrongs
5. Show Loyalty
6. Deliver Results
7. Get Better
8. Confront Reality
9. Clarify Expectation
10. Practice Accountability
11. Listen First
12. Keep Commitments
13. Extend Trust

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Chapter 5
Strategies that make leaders more
effective communicators, trust
builders:
• Be seen as an individual
• Being informal is a big deal
• Critique ideas/decisions, not
people
• Be visible, make your thinking
visible
• Admit uncertainty when not fully
informed
• Don’t ignore failure – analyze it
• Do what you say

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Chapter 5
Barriers to creating community
trust:
• Bureaucracies put distance
between people.
• Create “caste” distinctions in the
workplace and inhibit productive
communication.
• Result: Bureaucratic organizations
undercut trust and undermine
community building efforts.

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Chapter 5
Closing Gaps/Barriers
• Engage senior management in
communicating change throughout
the organization.
- Communications cascade
- Supervisor has voice in
decision making process
• Emphasize face-to-face
communication as often as possible.

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Internal Comms Strategy
Formal Communications
Channels
– email
– intranet
– webcasts
– text messaging
– Voice mail
– newsletters
– blogs
– podcasts
– speeches
– town halls
• (Credibility levels vary)
All Employees/Key
Internal Stakeholders
Organizational Cascade
(Word of Mouth)
- CEO
- Senior Level Execs
- Middle Mgmt
- All Employees
• (Credibility is high)
All Employees/Key Internal
Stakeholders

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Chapter 5
Closing Gaps and Barriers:
• Share airtime: Be seen as a listener
as well as a direction giver.
• Position yourself as a colleague:
It’s “us”, “we” … we share a
common fate.
• Invite criticism and push back (and
be prepared to use it).
• Empathize: Listen to people’s
stories, tell them you understand
how they feel.
• Ask questions about non-work
matters.
• Don’t be afraid to share your
personal side.

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Elements of Proposal Letters
• Intro paragraph stating reason
for writing.
• Paragraph explaining
qualifications
• Needs paragraph
• Solution paragraph
• Uniqueness paragraph (why this
approach is unique)
• Request for funds paragraph
• Closing paragraph
• Signatures
• Attachments, if allowed

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Elements of Proposals
• Simple Cover: Title, date, to whom.
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary/Abstract
– Briefly state the problem,
significance, objectives, method,
and anticipated outcome. Typical
length is 150-250 words.
• Statement of Need: Why is this project
necessary?
• Project Description
– Introduce Applicant: Establish
credibility particularly in the area of
funding is being sought
– Problem Statement: Discuss the
condition the applicant wishes to
change; give evidence of the
problem; explain why solving the
problem is important to the grantor,
the applicant, and others.

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Elements of Proposals
Project Description (cont’d.)
– Objective: States project's specific
desired outcomes; relates objectives
directly to problem.
– Methodology: Describes activities to be
performed to meet the stated objectives;
defends choice of activities; discusses
who will perform activities; includes
timetable.
– Personnel and Facilities: Details
qualifications of key project personnel
and describes the facilities available or
promised for project.
– Evaluation: State plans to evaluate the
project; indicate who will conduct the
evaluation (project personnel or a
consultant?) and what will be done with
the results.
– Long-term Project Plan: Describe
plans for the project after the requested
funding period; if it will continue, what
has been done or will be done to ensure
support.

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Elements of Proposals
• Sample Budget (usually one year)
• Vitae/Resume/Biographical Sketch
– Includes vitae for project director and key personnel. Keep them
short--two to five pages is adequate.
• Other Support
– Indicate key personnel's current and pending funding for this
and other work. Include granting agency, project title, amount
awarded or requested, project period, percent of effort
committed by the individual, and project location. Some grantors
also require a brief description of the project.
•Appendices (also called Attachments)
– Sections that are too detailed or dense to include in main
proposal; often includes rationale or factual records. Some
grantors do not allow appendices.

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The Leader as Navigator
•Most basic form of leadership is
to tell people what needs to be
done and help them do it.
•Three navigator roles:
– Direction Setter
– Transition Pilot
– Linking Agent

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Chapter 6
The Leader as Direction Setter
• Sharing direction is a fundamental
task of leadership.
• To do that, leaders must:
- Attract and retain attention
- Build awareness and
understanding
- Persuade people to act.

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Chapter 6: Direction Setters
Attributes of Effective Messages
• Message is personalized
• It evokes an emotional response
• It comes from a trustworthy or
respected sender
• It’s concise
• Messages that evoked an emotion
and were personalized were more
than twice as likely to be attended to
as those messages without these
attributes.
• Emails from leaders get attention,
provided they’re not overused.

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Chapter 6: Direction Setters
Tactics that Get Attention
• Personalize the message by using
“our” and “you” and “we” when
appropriate
• Tell people how you feel – let them
know where you stand
• Convey urgency but don’t alarm
• Communicate only where there’s a
reason – skip the regular updates.
• Limit the length of written
communications to one page
• Deliver the message over multiple
channels.

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Chapter 6: Direction Setters
Tactics for Setting Clear Direction
• Focus on a single objective and
show how it fits in with everything
else
• Limit your discussion to 2 or 3 key
points
• Personalize your points to the
audience
• Translate complex strategies into
real world tactics – what people
actually need to do to accomplish
goals
• Repeat yourself
• Invite questions
• Summarize at the end.

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Chapter 7: Transition Pilot
Communicating Transitions
• One of the biggest challenges for
leadership today, given the pace of
organizational change through:
• M&As
• Business unit sales
• Growth
• Downsizings
• Often involves:
• Loss of jobs
• Reassignments
• Restructurings

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Chapter 7: Transition Pilot
Communicating Transitions
• Net result: Transitions strike
fear in the hearts of most
employees
• Fearful employees aren’t
productive
• The best look for new jobs
elsewhere
• They’re especially resistant to
change or “being changed”
• Fearful employees can undo the
best transitional plans
• Daimler Chrysler

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Chapter 7: Transition Pilot
Countering Resistance to
Change
• Full disclosure of plans as
soon as possible (delays are
killers)
• Minimizing speculation (tell
only what you know to be fact.)
• Review career implications
brought on by change
• Discuss steps that can be
taken now to plan for your
future
• Say the same thing to all
audiences (internal and
external).

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Chapter 7: Transition Pilot
Focus messaging on what
people want (not fear):
• Some degree of security and
control over their jobs and
careers
• Connections to networks,
resources, support systems
• Opportunities to be successful
and to advance their careers
• Recognition of their
contributions and talents.

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Chapter 7: Transition Pilot
Transitional Communications
Should Answer:
• What are the organization’s
change plans?
• Why are they important?
• What’s going to happen to me?
And when will it happen?
• What do you want me to do?
• What’s in it for me?

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Chapter 7: Transitional Pilot
Focal Points of Transitional
Communications
• The Business Challenge: What
prompted this change? How
does it answer the challenge?
• The Customer: How does this
help us serve them better?
• Competitive Advantage: How
will this make us stronger?
What will happen if we don’t
change?
• Set new goals and targets
• New resources and support
systems: What do we have now
that we didn’t have before?

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Chapter 8: Linking Agent
• Leaders who cross organizational
boundaries to keep all stakeholders
moving and working together.
• Proponents of “bottom-up
Communications”
•The quality of information declines
as it moves upward through
bureaucracies.
• Emphasize top-down listening.
- Strong feedback channels
- Linking agents that connect
management levels, relay and
translate messages messages to
their own reports.

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Chapter 8
Bottom-Up Communications
Staff Meetings
• Ask for people’s opinions
• Emphasize the value of frontline views
• Use staff meetings as forums for
employee input, not just as
information pass-down sessions
• Tell stories and cite examples of
employee all-stars
• Encourage open dialogue
• Rigid structure is the enemy of open
dialogue.

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Chapter 8
Encouraging Participation at
Staff Meetings
• Develop looser meeting structures
• Sitting around tables is more
conducive than theater style layouts
• Manage discussion by using good
facilitation tactics (8-2 on 154)

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Chapter 8
Encouraging Participation
With Mixed Groups
• Emphasize common
goals/bonds
- The customer
- Enhancing shareholder
value
- Streamlining costs
• Solicit other viewpoints
• Mediate disputes/
disagreements
• Summarize and reconcile
different views

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Chapter 9: Leader as Critic
• Continually questions
the status quo.
• Buck conventional
wisdom, assumptions.
• Often driven by
continuous
improvement.
• Role boils down to
raising the right
questions in the right
ways and following up
on answers.

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Chapter 9: Leader as Critic
• Not the easiest of roles.
• How you question will
ruffle feathers.
• Many tend to operate
like bulls in a china
shop.

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Chapter 9: Leader as Critic
Messages Worth Repeating
• Future success requires
everyone improve, even
if causes disruption.
• Those who pinpoint
improvement areas
increase their chances
for promotion.
• Look within for
improvement
opportunities.
• Bests sources for
improvement are
customers, colleagues.

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Chapter 11: Learning Advocate
• Thrive in “learning organizations”
which excel in adapting to changing
environments by reinventing the
rules for success.
• Proponents of conversational
communications that lead to
continuous improvement.
–“Push and Pull” – What can we learn
from you? How can we do it better?
• Much of it is derived from writings of
Peter Drucker.
• Book: Larry Bruozis and revival of
Cadillac.

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Chapter 11: Learning Advocate
• Tell stories about what people in
organization are thinking and doing.
• Seeding ideas that end up being
implemented.
• Use questions and surveys to extract
opinions, check status.
• Create platforms for those who might
not be noticed or listened to.
• Encourage unheard voices to bring
their ideas forward.
• Act as gadfly to stimulate thinking,
advocate positions.
• Move ideas around the organization.
• Recognized initiative takers.

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Chapter 11: Learning Advocate
Benefits:
• Help teams be more receptive to change and
take on new learning programs and business
strategies more effectively.
• New initiatives will have a greater chance of
succeeding and getting off the ground more
quickly.
• Empowers employees and helps morale.
– Accessible leaders often hear comments from the
field that they might not otherwise uncover.

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Chapter 14: Lesikar
Conducting Effective Meetings
• Plan the agenda items
• Follow the plan
• Move the discussion along
• Control those who talk too
much
• Encourage participation from
those who talk too little
• Closely manage the clock
• Summarize appropriately
- Usually at the end of a
section

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Chapter 15: Lesikar
Effective Presentations
• Know your audience
• Have an outline/agenda and
stick to it.
• Be brutal about eliminating
redundancies.
• Know your presentation
– The more familiar you are with
the content, the better you’re
presentation will be
• Use visuals judiciously
– Don’t hide behind PPTs
– Talk to the slides, not the bullets
• Practice

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Chapter 15: Lesikar
Presentation Killers
• Don’t practice (80/20 rule)
• Hide behind visuals
• Hug the podium
• No focus
• Don’t frame the talk
• Don’t recap key points
• Overload your presentation
with complexity
• Veer off the agenda
• Talk for more than 15
minutes
• Talk in a monotone

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Case Study
Good News is Bad News
Goldman Sachs, Wall Street’s
80,000 pound gorilla, has
issued a buy rating on Pfizer
because Ian Read, the
company’s new CEO, is telling
analysts he would entertain
offers to sell off all non-core
pharmaceutical business –
Generics, Animal Health,
Consumer Products,
Nutritionals.

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Case Study
•Wall Street likes what it hears.
•Employees in those divisions
do not and rumors about sales
and potential layoffs are
running rampant.
•The company’s officials
position is it is reviewing and
assessing all business portfolio
holdings and no decisions have
been made at this time.

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Case Study
• Pfizer management has to actively manage Wall
Streets expectations and employees.
• It wants the company’s stock prices to improve but
it can’t risk a drain of top talent at divisional units
that might be sold.
• Come up with a plan for Read to effectively set
direction and manage the expectations of both
stakeholder sets.

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Final Four Classes
• 4/24: Break into Group Presentation Teams
–Finish Leader as Transition Pilot Discussion
–Leadership Communication Analysis PP Slides Due
• 5/1: Group Presentation Teams Continue Working
–Leader as Critic discussion (time permitting)
–Blog 4 due
–Any volunteers to present leadership communication
analysis?
• 5/8: Leadership Communications Presentations
• 5/13: Group Proposal Presentations
–Blog 5 due