Have you ever played the telephone game? The one where you whisper something like, “The secret meeting went off without a hitch,” into a person’s ear, they whisper it to the next person, and on down the line. At the other end, the last person says the message aloud. Usually the result is similar to, “Purple monkey dishrag, pill power waist-band.” Hilarious!
What’s not hilarious is when companies play the telephone game. Their version usually involves the CEO voicing a good idea in a meeting, the Vice-whatevers distill that into memos for the managers, the managers do presentations for their team leaders, the team leader tells their group of employees, and the employees shake their heads about the latest confusing, crazy idea from upper management.
“’Cascading’ - unless it's a waterfall - doesn't work. Managers are not being brought into critical business discussions and given a chance to delve into the subject to gain the confidence necessary to engage their own teams.”
That sums things up nicely doesn’t it? So if the corporate telephone game doesn’t work, how can a CEO or any upper management leader get the word to the trenches effectively, and for huge companies, efficiently?
Conference calls are the answer. Not only can the CEO speak to every employee “personally” at the same time, it’s also possible to have multiple conferences, breaking the mass of employees into their respective teams. And by addressing each team rather than the company at large, the CEO can put things into direct context for that particular team. More importantly, the CEO is accessible with each small group for questions and good give-and-take dialog.
Are you shooting your kayak over waterfalls? How have the results been? Try addressing each team individually then come back and tell me how things worked out.
