One of the most frequent screw-ups of a novice company leader: internal comms.
Recently, a novice COO approached me with a question: "What do I need to do to make things better in the company?" The best way I could help now was by sharing my screw-ups. So, I want to share one of them with you.
Back when trees were tall, COVID was unheard of, and the world wasn't entangled in so many wars, I had just become a COO. Without prior experience in this role, I naturally asked everyone I knew where to start and what mistakes they had made.
One critical insight sounded like this: "We decided to cut costs on internal comms. It seemed like some vague role. How do you even measure its effectiveness? We already have HR. With that money, we could hire another developer/marketer/salesperson. People can talk. We've always had good communication. Then we grew to 100 people and found ourselves in a mess. Teams didn't know the company's goals, people weren't reading our Slack channels, and they weren't even reacting to the CEO's posts. Engagement was plummeting. So, Liza, whatever you do, don't make the same mistake. It's going to be expensive and painful."
I listened and, of course, did the complete opposite. It made sense, after all. Who knows what an internal comms person would do, and how do you measure their effectiveness? Budgets are tight, and the role seemed more like a support function.
At the end of the following year, we found ourselves in a mess: teams didn't know the company's goals, and people weren't reading our Slack channels... You get the picture. We hired an internal comms person. That's when the magic began.
The engagement started to rise. People began reacting to the CEO's posts. Team members started actively posting and reading.
The moral of this screw-up:
1. Your own experience is valuable, but sometimes it's costly. Sometimes, you should learn from others' mistakes. When you see results, there's no shame in borrowing and reusing others' solutions.
2. You should hire an internal comms role if your company has 100 people or more. Please take a look at how this role works. In the end, you'll save much more on transparent communications, and your team's efficiency will grow more than by hiring another developer/marketer/salesperson.
#chiefpeopleofficer #chiefoperatingofficer #internalcommunications #screwup #leadership #womaninbusiness
