Building an Internal Connection Forum for Your Leadership

These days, there is increasing awareness of the merits for tangible connections with senior leadership. To create an 'internal' CEO forum for improved connection with employees, it requires clarity and foresight.

In this article, I share insights on launching and consistently managing an internal leadership forum, be it a face-to-face conversation, chat, 'walk the talk' video version or even a podcast.

You may have different internal communication objectives to have such a forum; either to improve the leader's image or start a dialogue for the leadership to understand the pulse.

Here are some of my recommendations on crafting a suitable program:

Get your purpose right

Before diving into the logistics of the forum, know the business objective and how you want to measure progress.

• Are you gauging the 'pulse' of the organization?

• Are you breaking hierarchy?

• Do you want to make the leadership visible?

• Is it a structured meeting or an informal chat?

• Is it a 1:1, many-to-one forum?

• What are the key messages you want employees attending and those not attending to take away?

• How much time does the leadership have to spare?

• Are you confident of consistency and continuity?

Another point to remember is to put emphasis on conducting face-to-face sessions if you need to choose between an online version and a direct 'in the face' conversation. Also, if you have your workforce located in one or two locations in the same city, getting them together at one site is better than creating an expensive online set-up.

Planning and setting expectations

Announce the objectives ahead of starting the forums. Set expectations on:

1, Format (duration, timing, is there involvement of video footage being captured, number of employees per batch, and so on);

2. Logistics

Venue

• Will you serve breakfast or lunch?

• Will the form be held on a weekday or a weekend?

• What if there are drop-outs? Can others join in their place?

Be sure to have a checklist which contains, among other elements, the communication plan, timelines, registration guidelines, reference material and the CEO's thank you mailer template.

Brand the forum but avoid the pitfalls

Coining a name and designing an innovative direct mailer to invite participants can work wonders for gaining awareness. However, avoid the temptation to take-off on popular TV chat shows. I remember one organization which used an adaptation of 'Koffee with Karan' - a celebrity talk show in India and it resulted in employees believing that the communication team lacked creativity and wisdom. The focus shifted from learning more about the program to what was going to come next - 'Jiving with Jane', 'Tea with Theresa', 'Dosa with Dasappa' 'Talking with Tony' or 'Parathas with Pandey'!

To avoid such a scenario, I would recommend sticking to something distinct, clear and easy to relate to depending on how 'formal' or 'informal' you believe the forum should be. It could be something as direct as 'Meet the CEO', 'The CEO Breakfast Forum' or CEO Connect Session'. While you make events such as these exclusive, it may also result in a backlash from employees who think it is all 'stage managed' and 'propped'. Transparency and directness is what will make such forums impactful.

Measure what you do

This is easily the forgotten piece of the puzzle. Unless you monitor participation, feedback from employees and regularly improvise, these forums run the risk of dying a natural death. It is vital to measure based on agreed parameters like format, content, delivery, assimilation of messages and overall image change of leadership.

Involve employees

It is important to garner support from employeesfor such forums to aid in percolating messages via informal networks and also to gauge impact. Considering you may not get all possible views coming in from your surveys, it makes sense to tap into the 'watercooler' conversations.

Report out when you finish

This particular element of the event ensures robustness and clarity. Reporting event summaries which include questions and key themes discussed, internal communication news snippets, photographs on the intranet or Portal, updates to the senior leadership and results of the survey, guide how the event gets branding and improves focus.

As long as you stick to the three key themes of transparency, consistency and measurement, you are sure to drive successful internal leadership connection forums.

Aniisu K Verghese has ten years of experience in the evolving internal communication arena, social media and in corporate communications. He currently works as an Internal Communication Lead for a global interactive and consulting organization, where he oversees communication planning, employee communication and change management initiatives. Prior to his current role Aniisu worked for organizations such as Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, i-flex solutions and Accenture.

He has won several employee communication awards and writes regularly for management and industry publications. Aniisu is passionate about engaging fellow communication practitioners through workshops and presentations.

Visit Aniisu's blog at www.intraskope.wordpress.com