Transcript
[00:00:04.850] - Imogen
Hello and welcome to Dear Comms, the coffee break podcast where we tackle your biggest corporate comms challenges. My name's Imogen.
[00:00:13.740] - Amanda
And I'm Amanda. We're here to give you practical, no-nonsense advice so you can focus on the things that will really drive influence, engagement, and impact.
[00:00:22.580] - Imogen
Today's question comes from Alex. Alex says, I don't know what to do. My leadership team constantly ask me for updates on communications, but when I try and take them through my strategy, they either glaze over or look confused. I need to work out how to make them feel involved without overwhelming them. How do I balance thorough and concise?
[00:00:42.530] - Amanda
This is a question of too much or too little. I think it's more a case of misaligned expectations.
[00:00:51.100] - Imogen
Yeah, I mean, think about the last presentation you sat through where you glazed over. The reason for that, I think, is probably because you weren't being told what you wanted or needed to hear.
[00:01:02.410] - Amanda
Yeah, and it was probably too much. It's good that the leadership team wants updates, but they don't necessarily want or have time for a full deep dive, even though you're tempted because you get in front of them rarely, FaceTime.
[00:01:19.430] - Imogen
Yeah, and also what's interesting and compelling to you as a communicator might not be that interesting or compelling to them. Or they might be looking for completely different information to what you're actually sharing.
[00:01:34.050] - Amanda
We have to remember that, you know, you get to a high-level leadership position, for the most part, you're going to be processing information differently. Yeah, they have to, it's part of the job. So, when we're updating leadership, we need to make sure that we're telling them the right story.
[00:01:53.470] - Imogen
The first step really is to to shift your mindset a little bit, isn't it? It's not presenting an update. We actually have to move to delivering insights that matter to them. If your leadership don't automatically understand why your update matters, they're going to tune out. It's the same with any communication. They need to understand the why. So, as my best friend Simon Sinek has been known to say, you know, that's, that's where you start. Start with the why.
[00:02:23.680] - Amanda
Yeah. Before diving into the details, explain why the information you're giving is important. How does this align with their business goals? How are you aligning your comms efforts with company success? I mean, link it to your global business strategy, your long-term plan. And I think you're a big fan of this. Give them a headline, something that they connect with. And I say, yeah, I see how this is important. I'm going to listen. It's the signal for me to, you know, hear more.
[00:02:57.380] - Imogen
Absolutely. If they can connect with that, that big headline and say, this is something that is important and I can understand why it's important, they're much more likely to listen to the rest of your update. When it comes to that main bit of the update, the bulk of what you have to say after your headline. We need to think about whether we're communicating the right thing. I read a comment from Stuart Reese Thomas on LinkedIn recently, and if you're not following him, you really should be. I'll put his link and our LinkedIn links on the show notes. Anyway, Stuart pointed out that in the most recent State of the Sector report, comms professionals stated that the purpose of internal comms was to create clarity around company purpose and vision.
[00:03:46.160] - Amanda
And that's what businesses were holding comms accountable for: vision and strategy awareness, behavior change, employee engagement.
[00:03:56.030] - Imogen
Right, but the metrics that comms reported that they were tracking, and presumably then reported back to their leadership, were things like budget and employee retention, turnover, and that sort of vague employee engagement, which Personally, I don't think is one metric, and I'm not sure, not sure how you measure it as one number, but that's, that's another episode probably. Anyway, so while these metrics, budget, employee retention, turnover, et cetera, they are really important. If your business is holding you accountable for one thing and we're measuring something else, it's no wonder that they glaze over when we start giving updates. It's just not relevant to them.
[00:04:38.040] - Amanda
No, and I think the other thing we need to think about is put ourselves in their shoes. What's in it for them? Like we do with any communication, before your update, have a think, how does this information support our company's strategic priorities? Maybe how does this make our leadership's lives easier, save them time, drive business results?
[00:05:02.150] - Imogen
Right, going back to what you were saying before, A lot of us might not get that face time with our leadership that often. And then when we do, we may only have sort of 10 minutes to give them an update. And it's really tempting to want to tell them everything we know.
[00:05:22.020] - Amanda
And if you were given 10 minutes, by the time you get there, it's 6 or 5.
[00:05:27.510] - Imogen
Absolutely. So, we have this pressure on us to tell them everything we know about everything, and we don't have time. We don't have time, the leadership doesn't have time. So we really want to think about what do we want our leadership to do with the information that we're giving them.
[00:05:45.650] - Amanda
Do you know, there's a really good structure for this and it's, it's got 3 points really. Number 1, what's working? So share the quick wins and measurable impact linked back to the business. What's challenging? Number 2. You know, highlight the roadblocks that might affect business goals. What solutions have you come up with to overcome the block and how can they help? And then finally—
[00:06:12.730] - Imogen
I think that's, just jumping in, I think that's really important about giving solutions to problems. So don't just go to your leadership with a list of problems that you need them to solve. Actually go to them with some solutions and then get their buy-in to deliver on those solutions.
[00:06:27.990] - Amanda
Yeah. And then if they're given the opportunity to comment or provide some advice, then they're bought in, right? And then finally, outline your upcoming priorities and where their input is needed. It's a good strong close.
[00:06:45.060] - Imogen
I think it's about simplifying and prioritizing so that your audience doesn't have to. Don't focus on the outputs. Do they, do they really need to know the minutiae of your day-to-day? How many posts you wrote, how many press releases you put out. They don't care, frankly. That's you doing your job. What they do want to know about is the outcomes and what those outcomes mean and what they mean to the ongoing success of the business.
[00:07:14.780] - Amanda
Yeah. You know, if you're making changes, it doesn't really happen overnight. So, when you're giving your update, you might get the sense of, yeah, yeah, we heard this. Before.
[00:07:26.500] - Imogen
And that's certainly the case if you're lucky enough to have a regular slot with them, you might not have anything new to share with them.
[00:07:34.670] - Amanda
Yeah, and if it's a bit samey, present it differently. Switch it up, case studies, testimonials, a dashboard, you know, maybe use your time to be the conduit between the boardroom and the shop floor.
[00:07:52.970] - Imogen
I'm a big fan of speaking truth to power and bringing up topics that you know your employees are worried or thinking about. So maybe instead of presenting to them about what you've been doing and the results, why not use your time to ask them a question which will then invite discussion?
[00:08:12.390] - Amanda
Yeah, it's going to make them feel engaged and not just passive participants sat there whilst you're presenting your flowchart.
[00:08:19.610] - Imogen
I like a good flowchart though. I think justifying your salary, the work of your team, which is really what you're doing when you're giving these updates to leadership, it's not easy, but you can make it compelling and it can help you build the relationships you need in order to bring comms into the room and bring them into the fold.
[00:08:43.500] - Amanda
Yeah, just shift your mindset. You know it's not working. So don't keep doing the same thing. You know, use your updates so that leadership see and hear the impact and not just the process. That's when they'll sit up and take notice.
[00:08:59.580] - Imogen
And hopefully give you loads more money and budget and resource. And that's it for another episode. Balancing information and insights with brevity is the key to making your updates more impactful. Keep it simple, focus on the outcomes, and show leadership how your work moves the needle on things that they care about.
[00:09:22.530] - Amanda
So if you've got a comms, leadership, or general work problem you'd like some common sense advice on, you know where we are.
[00:09:30.880] - Imogen
Until next time.
[00:09:31.520] - Amanda
Until next time.
[00:09:33.240] - Imogen
Jinx!
)
