Improving C Suite Communication With All Company Levels

Reaching the C Suite is considered the ultimate goal of many employees working in the business world. The C suite, also known as the upper management department houses top senior executives within a company.  Once you’ve reached the C Suite level, you are charged with maintaining a demanding workload and making high stakes decisions regularly.

As a member of the C Suite maintaining communication with those at lower levels of a company can become a struggle, but it doesn’t have to be.  Below you will find ways in which you can improve the communication of C Suite executives with all levels of your company.

Company Levels

Most large companies have multiple management levels tasked with various responsibilities within the organization.

Upper Management

The upper management team is also known as the C Suite.  It’s called the C Suite because most senior executive titles start with the letter C including…

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
• Chief Operating Officer (COO)
• Chief Information Officer (CIO)

Middle Management

The middle management team is composed of the heads of a division or department.  They are responsible for managing other middle managers or the lower level management team.  They often have the titles of director or Vice President

Lower Management

The lower management team oversees the daily business operations of a company.  They have titles such as supervisor and office manager.

Communicating With Discretion

When talking with those at lower levels, you must understand what can and can’t be shared. Many conversations held at the C Suite level are sensitive in nature and are not to be revealed to those outside of the C Suite for various reasons.  While you want to communicate with those outside of the C Suite on a regular basis, you want to ensure that you are not leaking sensitive information.

Terminology

Those within the C Suite often utilize terminology that differs from those on lower levels.  You want to refrain from using complicated verbiage and acronyms especially if you feel those in lower level positions won’t fully understand what you are referring to.  Instead, use layman’s terms. You don’t want your employees to feel as though you are disconnected from them and who they truly are. One of the best ways to ostracize yourself is to communicate in a way that doesn’t connect with whom you’re having a conversation with.  

Understand The Culture

Every company has its own corporate culture, and quite often various departments and company levels have their own mini company culture as well.  The way things operate within the C Suite will often be different than how things are in the lower management realm.  It’s crucial that you develop a general understanding of the culture that’s present in all areas of the company.

This is similar to the role of a United States President.  He/she must be flexible, able to eat lunch with the ruler of a nation and a school teacher within the same week.  This wouldn’t be possible without an understanding of the culture of the various people in society.

Remain Visible

Visibility is crucial to maintaining communication with various levels of the company.  

Obviously, every employee should know who you are by name and face. However, they should also have the opportunity to speak and connect with you when possible.

As the size of your company grows, that can become increasingly difficult, but it isn’t impossible.

Send newsletters to employees addressing topics that are important to them. Record video messages regarding various issues which allows you to connect in a more personable manner than a print message.

Have roundtable discussions with members of the lower levels.  This is best done in a smaller group setting maybe via a brown bag lunch series or departmental meeting.  When you schedule these meetings ahead of time and make them a priority, you can ensure you’re getting face to face time with those in your company to maintain visibility.

Stay Connected

Above all else, you must develop an understanding of what’s going on on the ground floor of your company, both good and bad.  Acknowledge the positives that are taking place with praise. Also, acknowledge the struggles and concerns and put steps in place with the person responsible for those issues to make necessary improvements.

You can stay connected by remaining visible.  When your employees are used to seeing you and interacting with you, they are more likely to feel comfortable communicating with you about what’s going on within the company.

You can also stay connected through the use of surveys, polls, questionnaires, etc. to collect information regarding what’s working well and what’s not working well within the company.

This qualitative data is sometimes more impactful than focusing solely on quantitative metrics in business.  It helps to maintain a human connection with those in the company.

Above all else remember that you are a human working with humans.  Despite your title. Despite your salary. Despite the high impact career level you’ve risen to, everyone should be treated with the same respect and human connectedness across the board.

Moving Forward

As a C Suite Executive, you have a great deal of responsibility on your plate. Maintaining strong communication skills with those in your company should remain a priority throughout your tenure.  

To ensure it maintains a priority, make it a mission in your strategic planning process and revisit the progress you’re making overtime.

A strong and successful company is built from the top down, so establishing a culture with highly engaged employees who produce amazing results begins with you. A little communication can go a long way as a C Suite executive.

Top Reasons for Leaving a Job – Why Good Employees Quit

Finding a highly skilled, hardworking and consistent employee to join your team can be a difficult task.  Some companies find it just as challenging to decrease turnover rates of their best employees.

The reason an employee chooses to resign can vary widely.  Some get married and move to another state. Others decide to start their own business.  They might have a baby and decide to stay home or even win the lottery. Those are all based on circumstances that have more to do with their personal lives and less to do with the decisions made by their managers.  

The other reasons good employees quit their jobs are often directly related to their employer.  Poor management, lack of advancement opportunities, and the inability to maintain a work/life balance are some of the reasons given by good employees who choose to quit their jobs.

When you are dedicated to keeping the employees you manage satisfied and employed with your company, you must first develop a firm understanding of the top reasons why good employees leave their jobs.

Poor Management

Wendy Durante Duckrey, Vice President of recruiting at JPMorgan, is famously quoted as saying,  “most people don’t quit their jobs; they quit their boss.”

It is also one of the top reasons good employees give for leaving a job.

When an employee feels supported, encouraged, and motivated by their superior, they will work harder for them, and remain more dedicated to their position.

If they feel their needs are not being met and their concerns are not being addressed, they are less likely to remain with the company, not due to the job itself, but due to management issues.

Unfortunately, there appears to be a lack of proper training for many who enter into managerial positions.  It involves more than paperwork and tracking metrics. Managers must have strong people skills and the ability to develop relationships with those who work under them.

Otherwise, employers who struggle to manage their employees will continue to face the harsh reality that goes along with high turnover rates.

Feeling Undervalued

There’s nothing worse than going to work every day, doing your job to the best of your ability, being expected to go above and beyond your required tasks, and feeling underappreciated and undervalued by those at your job.

It is one of the fastest ways to decrease employee engagement and to lose a good employee.

You can make your employees feel valued in many ways including:

• Acknowledging their hard work publicly
• Providing them with a physical token of appreciation
• Offering incentives such as a half day off after reaching a big goal
• Buying them lunch
• Giving them a card expressing your appreciation

The ways in which you can make your employees feel valued are endless and can fit any budget your company has.

While all employees should be made to feel appreciated, it’s especially important to do this for employees who are continually working hard and taking on additional responsibilities beyond what they’ve been hired to do.

Lack of Advancement Opportunities

Most employees want to feel challenged in their career.  Being in a job with no advancement opportunities, be it their position or a significant salary change, will often lead to the search for new employment, especially when they recognize their value as an employee.

It’s important to give employees an opportunity to stay with your company as they improve their skills and advance in their career.

You can do this by making new job opportunities known to employees within the company, so they have first dibs before bringing in outsiders.

Also, check in with your employees at minimum once per year to discuss their career goals.  This will allow you to gain an understanding of how your employees are feeling regarding their current position and hopes for the future.

Also, offering educational opportunities and tuition reimbursement opportunities can provide your employee with a reason to remain with your company while gaining skills that can lead to advancement in the future.

Feeling Overworked

Today more than ever, the desire to have a career that still allows for flexibility, time with family and friends, and a healthy personal life is at the top of many employees’ list.

When employees are overworked, it reduces their ability to maintain a healthy a work/life balance.

It’s often found that good employees who show their ability to handle their job and take on additional responsibilities find the weight of their department placed on their shoulders.  While it might be seen as a way to show your trust in the employee, it is actually a form of punishment. It shows that when an employee performs well, they are rewarded with additional work and no salary increase.

When you want to give an employee additional responsibilities, it should be a non-negotiable that a salary increase or position advancement comes along with those added responsibilities.

Keeping Good Employees

If your goal is to keep your good employees working with your company, it’s crucial that you stay abreast of their needs and wants career wise.  In most situations, a highly skilled employee will be able to find another position, so you must consider what you need to do to keep them with your company.

Understand that you are working with people. People who have families.  People who have personal lives. People with dreams, wishes, and goals. People with feelings.

When you keep that at the forefront of your mind, you will treat your employees like real people and your good employees will recognize your humanism and be more likely to stay around.

When you treat them like they’re disposable, they will dispose of their position and find another.

As you work to ensure your employees remain within your company, it’s also vital that you keep employee engagement high.  It is one of the key factors to maintaining low turnover rates within a company.

If you’re searching for a resource that will help you maintain a workforce that is highly engaged, download a free copy of my book, 5 Tips to Improve Employee Engagement which features best practices for getting your employees involved in your company’s success.

Managing Generational Differences in the Workplace

Many of today’s companies have employees that represent various generations, and this can lead to many generational differences in the workplace.

Having differences in business can be a benefit because homogeneity often leads to a lack of new ideas and fresh perspectives.  However, if those differences are not appropriately managed, it can lead to division and a lack of engagement within the company.

To ensure the latter does not occur, it’s essential that all companies with employees from multiple generations be diligent in ensuring each generational sector feel appreciated, welcomed, and vital to the success of the company.

Generational Subsets

There are currently 3 generations most likely to be employed at this time.

Baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964.

Generation X was born between 1965 and 1980.

Millennials were born between 1981 and 1996.

There are some Traditionalists still employed, though most have passed the working age.  They were born between 1927 and 1945.

Generation Z is entering the workforce in higher numbers being born between 1997 and today.

Each generation is likely to come to the company with different wants, needs, and viewpoints.  Taking everyone’s opinions into consideration and treating each employee as an essential member of the team are the high-level keys to managing generational differences in the workplace.

Below you will find more specific tips regarding managing these multigenerational differences amongst employees.

Review Your Company Culture

You can start managing generational differences in the workplace by reviewing how your company culture treats all generations within the company.  

Is the environment inclusive? Are there opportunities for collaboration amongst employees of various generations? Do members of different generations feel as though their needs are not being met or considered?

The review and adjustment of your company culture should not be a process only completed by those at the top of the company hierarchy. Every member of the team should have input regarding the creation and implementation of the company culture.

This can be done by having an in-person conversation or receiving input and feedback via digital formats such as surveys.

Also, offering opportunities for employees of multiple generations to be visible within various departments and levels of the company allows for a more heterogeneous culture overall.  

Consider Your Communication Style

An employee born in 1964 likely prefers to communicate in a different style than one born in 1994.

To offer an inclusive environment, provide communication methods that would make everyone within your company feel comfortable and considered.  

The IBM Center for The Business of Government posted a study highlighting the common communication preferences of members of the different generations.

• Traditionalists often prefer personal notes and letters.
• Baby Boomers prefer phone calls and face to face meetings.
• Generation X is more comfortable with emails.
• Millennials utilize text messages and blogs to communicate regularly.

This doesn’t mean you should stereotype your employees and assume Baby Boomers don’t text or Millennials don’t like phone calls.

It just means you should consider communicating in various ways to meet the possible preferences of your employees who represent different generations.  

You can gain a clearer understanding of communication preferences by getting feedback directly from your employees.  This can be done by sending out a digital survey to your team or bringing up the topic during your next department meeting.

Another communication topic to consider is whether there are open lines of communication amongst everyone on the team.  

If a millennial employee feels uncomfortable bringing ideas to the table, their skill set is not being utilized properly.

Also, if a Generation X employee believes his ideas are not taken seriously, he won’t be as motivated to stay fully engaged in the company.

Consider What Motivates Your Multigenerational Employees

You will likely find that each generation is motivated by something slightly different due to their background.

To determine what motivates your employees, gain feedback from them regarding what would make them feel more satisfied at work and what can be done to increase engagement with the team.

Motivating your employees should lead to increased employee engagement, but if you’re seeking additional methods to improve the engagement rate of your employees, download a free copy of my book, 5 Tips to Improve Employee Engagement.

In the same study referenced previously, the IBM Center for The Business of Government also highlighted the various rewards employees from multiple generations prefer.

• Traditionalists tend to prefer loyalty symbols such as plaques and certificates.
• Baby Boomers prefer promotions and other forms of recognition.
• Generation X is motivated by professional development opportunities or certifications that will advance their careers.
• Millennials prefer awards or monetary rewards in the form of bonuses or raises.

Again, you shouldn’t stereotype your employees based solely on their generational status, but instead, use this information as a guide. Ultimately, gaining feedback from your employees regarding precisely what would make them feel more satisfied allows you to get real insight into the factors that motivate them.

Promote Team Building

Engaged employees are happy employees, and happy employees feel comfortable amongst their co-workers.

Team building should be initiated regularly whether your company employs members from multiple generations or not because it’s good business practice. When your employees are from numerous generations, it can be even more essential to building a positive business culture than usual.

You want to incorporate team building as a way to connect employees of all generations and to connect members of the company who are at all hierarchy levels.

A team building activity can be as simple as going to happy hour after work for an informal opportunity to connect outside of the office, or as detailed as planning a team building program at an off-campus site.

Whichever route you take, remember that a team built on trust, consideration, and mutual respect is more likely to succeed.

Moving Forward

As you make the steps to manage generational differences in the workplace remember that your company is blessed with the opportunity to have employees representing various generations.  Their knowledge can serve and support your clients and customers in invaluable ways.

Building Corporate Culture By Design, Not Default

Designing the corporate culture of a business is a crucial component of long-term success.   It’s not enough to just let it develop over time without care, thought, or purpose. You must think about how the culture should look and feel within your company.  This should not be one more thing to add to your to-do list, but instead an integral component of your company, just like your products, services, and employee choices.

Understanding Corporate Culture

Before you decide to cultivate the corporate culture of your company, you must have a firm understanding of what corporate culture is.  According to Investopedia.com, corporate culture is the “beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions.”

You can read more about the specific benefits of creating a corporate culture and how it impacts various businesses here.

Determine Foundational Values and Beliefs

Creating the corporate culture of your company should involve an open conversation between everyone in the organization from the top down, but it shouldn’t start that way.  

Begin the process by having a meeting with the leaders of  your business to develop a baseline understanding of what the foundational values and beliefs are related to

• Goals
• Strategies
• Customer interactions
• Investor relationships
• Community
• Dress code
• Business hours
• Office setup
• Employee benefits
• Hiring decisions

While there’s no guarantee that the ideas you develop during the beginning of this process will make it to the final stage of your corporate culture plan, this is a great place to start before you involve your full team.

Gain Employee Insight on Corporate Culture

After developing a foundational overview of the values and beliefs of your organization, it’s time to bring in your employees.

Depending on the size of your organization and the current culture, this can be done anonymously via a digital format, or in person by having a traditional roundtable conversation.

If your company is smaller and used to open communication, an in-person roundtable meeting might be best.  

If your company is larger, or you believe some employees might not feel comfortable giving their honest opinions in the open,  it might be best to send out an anonymous digital survey.

Whether this stage is completed in person or virtually, you must set the purpose for the conversation.  Explain why you are gathering this information. Ensure they understand the end goal and why their input is essential.  Explain to them your next steps in the process.

This helps them become fully engaged in the development of the corporate culture and allows them to respond to the questions with the background knowledge and foresight necessary to give their best responses.

Gain Buy-In

Once you have a conversation with your employees and flesh out the final corporate culture of your company, it’s time to gain buy-in.

Everyone might not be excited about the new culture you’ve set in place.  Maybe it’s because they feel the current culture is good enough. Perhaps it’s because they don’t want to see change.  

Whatever the reason, it’s crucial to gain buy-in, if only from a few employees to start.  This is because when you start a new mission or process, those who believe in it will start the domino effect of support.  These supporters will act as role models and express to their co-workers in a peer to peer conversation the benefits of this new initiative.

You might need a bit more of a boost in increasing employee engagement in the corporate culture process.  If you are seeking additional support, download a free copy of my book, 5 Tips to Improve Employee Engagement where I share best practices for getting your employees engaged in your company’s success.

Implement the Corporate Culture

Now that you have a corporate culture in place that you’ve designed, it’s time to implement it.  Setting a plan in place is the simple part. Incorporating it in your day to day business practices will test whether you can maintain this culture.

Make sure you stay focused on your ultimate corporate culture goals, and if necessary, you might need to teach and reteach your employees how to operate within this new culture.

Lead by Example

Here’s a bonus tip as you’re designing your corporate culture and expecting your employees to buy-in to the process and follow along.  You must with no doubt lead by example.

Remember that you are being watched at all times by your employees.  Everything in business comes from the top down, so your employees will follow your lead.  

If you start out strong in modeling the new culture then get lax around month 2, they will believe the initiative is not very important, and they will get lax as well.  However, if you’re serious about it and model the culture on a daily basis, they will see you and hopefully become more serious about it as well.

Make the culture a part of who you are as a leader.  Be the biggest cheerleader and supporter of the new corporate culture and hold yourself to a higher standard than your employees.  That means if you want your employees to shoot for the stars, you need to be on Neptune. It wouldn’t be the expectation that the majority of your employees land on Neptune with you, but some will rise to the occasion, others will fall short, but at least they won’t still be on planet Earth.

Above all else, remember, your energy is contagious. It’s your role to guide your employees in the design and implementation of your company’s corporate culture.

From Hire to Retire: Infusing Corporate Culture Through The Process

The corporate culture of your company should be taken into consideration in all stages of your relationship with your employees as it sets the foundation for the values, beliefs, and decisions your business will stand by.  

From the hiring process to company celebrations, to administering raises and promotions, infusing the corporate culture throughout the process helps to maintain consistencies and develop a solid belief system.

Hiring a Cultural Fit

Cultural fit is a term used frequently in the employee hiring process.  It is discussed when considering whether a potential employee would fit into the corporate culture of the company.

The official definition of cultural fit according to JobTestPrep.com is  “when a company evaluates how a potential employee may express the characteristics, language, and values that exist within the current organizational culture.”  

When a candidate’s values, beliefs, outlook, and behavior are compatible with those existing within the company, he or she is likely to be a good fit.

It’s important to have guidelines when looking for a cultural fit without creating a culture where you only hire clones of fellow employees.

If you focus too much on an employee being the perfect cultural fit, it is possible for the company to becomes homogeneous in views and ideas.  

That can create an environment that limits business growth as differing beliefs, ideas, and viewpoints, often spark conversations that lead to ideas that can change the trajectory of a business.

Incorporate Corporate Culture in the Hiring Process

When you consider the corporate culture of your company and seek a candidate who is a cultural fit, it’s best practice to advise them that it will be considered in the hiring process.

Having an open dialogue about this component of the hiring process allows the candidate to understand that they will not be judged based solely on their work experience, education, and employer recommendations.  

Incorporating corporate culture can be done through an interview, assessment, or personality test.

Examples of questions you can ask are

• Do you prefer working alone or as part of the team?
• What is your leadership style?
• How would your co-workers describe your work style?
• What do you think about regular employee gatherings?

Be sure to ask questions that speak directly to the values that are important to your company.

Cultural Fit Onboarding

When you’re onboarding a new employee into the company, having further conversations regarding the corporate culture helps to build cultural competency from day one.

You can do this by offering a company values training that occurs in person or via pre-recorded video. Cultural information should also be included in the employee handbook, though that alone is generally not enough training for a new employee.

When discussing values, be sure to offer real examples of how they can be showcased correctly and incorrectly within the company.

Offer an opportunity to have a conversation after the training has taken place to ensure all messages have been delivered clearly and to clarify any potential questions that might remain.

Continued Cultural Conversations

Beyond the hiring and onboarding processes, maintaining a positive corporate culture is vital to the success of a company.

Team Building

Planning team building activities can build a culture of connectedness amongst employees and showcase the importance placed on that component of the corporate culture.

Here are a few simple examples of team building activities, but there are hundreds if not thousands of options available.

• Put employees in small groups and give each group tape, marshmallows, and spaghetti noodles. The team with the highest structure wins.
• Put employees in small groups.  Participants begin at a starting line and run to a swivel chair.  They sit down in the chair and spin around 5 times then run back to the starting line to tag in their team member.  The team that finishes first wins.
• Put employees in small groups. Set up trash cans 5, 10, and 15 feet from the starting line.  Each “basket” has a point value associated with it. Each participant will get 5 pieces of balled up paper and will earn points for their team based on the number of shots that land in the basket.

Continued Education

Continued education regarding the culture of the company is also an essential piece of the puzzle. Just discussing it during the hiring process is not enough.  Once your employee is in the trenches and facing various situations, those cultural trainings that occurred months years ago are no longer front of mind.

There are many ways to incorporate continuing education into the organization, here are a few tips to consider.

• Make training mandatory for all of those involved in the organization. If it’s not required, many employees may not attend or might question its actual importance.
• Ask for feedback from employees regarding the cultural training. If it doesn’t connect with them, it is a waste of time.
• Use current employees to provide training when possible.  This helps to promote the skillsets of current employees.

Offer Rewards

You can also reward those who demonstrate company values consistently.

This can be done by using values as a part of the criteria when awarding raises and promotions.

You can nominate employees each month for demonstrating the core values of the company. You can present them with a certificate, or highlight their work in the company newsletter or staff meeting.

Making this information public helps to reiterate the importance of corporate culture and values in the company.

You can also acknowledge employees in simple ways by sending an email to an employee who demonstrated good values or leaving a sticky note on their desk expressing your appreciation.

One vital component of continuing cultural conversations is to discuss behaviors that are incorrect. When you see an employee demonstrating culturally inappropriate behavior, it’s essential to have a respectful, open, and honest discussion about why their behavior is inappropriate and what a better choice would be,

Fostering Engagement

Infusing corporate culture throughout your organization is vital to the corporate culture process.  Ensuring your employees are engaged in the corporate culture is a requirement if the process is going to have maximum effect. If you’re looking to improve your employee engagement, make sure you download a copy of my free book, 5 Tips to Improve Employee Engagement. It features actionable steps you can take to ensure your employees are fully engaged in all processes including the corporate culture.