Put in effort upfront
You need to start out right when it comes to communication. The best way to do that is by conveying to employees your style of communication. It’s one of Killion’s priorities when taking over in a new location.
“I’ve always found it’s important to find a way to communicate what your style is — without acting arrogant, without acting like you’re very self-centered — just be able to tell people how you work, how you think, what you expect out of them,” Killion says. “When a new executive moves into an organization, there’s some sense of urgency. Either it’s a turnaround, takeover or the last (CEO) wasn’t doing a good job. Even if it’s a smooth transition, there are still some differences.
“You want people to have the advantage of you telling them early on what you expect, what your style is in communicating. Do it at a high level, then, ultimately, so that other people can follow along. People will accelerate on the learning curve and understand what the new leader’s hot buttons are.”
Communicating across the board to employees can be a time-consuming process, especially when so many decisions are fighting for your attention. But if you haven’t articulated what your communication style is to at least the highest levels within the organization, you’ve missed a primary step in engaging employees. See it as a time to immerse yourself in the organization and get employees comfortable talking with you.
Reach out to employees by communicating in a manner that speaks to your style. You may also find scheduling staff communication on a regular basis helpful.
“What we said last year — and what I think I would have done even if I was new to the organization — was there was going to be a year of change because the recession was so strong and we need to do (all-hands meetings) every quarter, along with that we could then talk about financial results,” Killion says. “Some predictability like that is good to a newcomer.”
That same effort that goes into explaining your communication style to employees should go into crafting your message. Killion puts preparation into all of his internal and external communications, whether it’s an all-employee meeting or customer presentation.
“I don’t just write some slides and say, ‘Here, go do it; put it on the projector,’ and it’s ready,” he says.
You need to take time to prepare a message that is not only clear but the right kind of message. For example, as B&W PGG moves into growth mode, segments of its operations are contracting and changes are occurring. The last thing Killion wants his employees to think is the company is trying different flavors of the month as it works toward its goals.
“We’ve communicated that there’s one sustainable growth plan here and a strategic plan that has variations, and we adapt as we go along,” Killion says. “But it’s not tearing up our basic strategy and starting all over again. We avoid anything in communication that suggests we have a complete failure and we’re going back and starting all over again.”
To ensure you’re conveying the right message and doing it clearly, you should consult with others within your organization. Think about what people or departments might be able to add insight to the topic of your message and who is well connected with employees throughout the organization.
For any internal communication, Killion brings in his internal communications manager, the financial controller, human resources, the people who will prepare the message and whoever else might have an important background based on the topic. One of the most important pieces to the conversation is that B&W PGG has trained communication experts on hand to help develop the message. Whether or not you have that expertise on staff, you can’t undermine the benefit of collaborating with colleagues.
“It’s a group that will come together and openly talk about what are the topics of interest, what should we be putting (in front of employees),” Killion says. “There’s some give and take, and some discussion on that and a little bit of debate. Then, we put the message together and we review it significantly from different viewpoints to make sure that it’s clear and the right message is coming across. As you know very well, there are different ways to say something to get the right results.”
The process is an effort to really narrow down the core talking points. At the same time, Killion and his group discuss what they’ve heard going around the rumor mill and whether or not the issues need to be addressed during all-employee communication. If it’s a rumor about job security or benefits, chances are a fact-or-fiction slide could make its way into a presentation. They also spend the time discussing stories or analogies that will allow employees to better relate to the topic.
The same steps take place with basically the same group when it comes to external communications at B&W PGG.
“So what goes out is consistent with internal communications,” Killion says.
