Your company’s internal communications will have little chance of success if your CEO isn’t 100% behind them. Photo by Mapbox on Unsplash.
You can have the best internal communications program money can buy. A polished intranet. A company newsletter. Company town halls with catered lunches.
None of it matters if your CEO isn’t 100% supporting and leading the charge.
A research study by Lippincott, a global consultancy of brand strategists, content strategists, designers, creative writers, and software engineers, examined how world-class companies communicate with their employees. Through in-depth interviews with internal communications executives at companies — including IBM, Compaq and FedEx — a clear, consistent finding surfaced:
Without demonstrated support from the top, even the most well-designed internal communications program has little chance of success.
Why Your CEO Must Lead Internal Comms
Yes, your head of corporate communications or public relations oversees the execution of internal communications, but it won’t mean anything to the rank and file if it’s not clear the CEO is 100% supportive.
Here’s what it looks like in practice:
- Employees Take Their Cues From the Top – When the CEO is visibly invested in communicating with employees — sharing good news, addressing bad news head-on and consistently reinforcing company goals and values — employees take those messages seriously. When the CEO is absent from that conversation, the vacuum fills fast. With what? Well, let’s start with rumor, disengagement and distrust. As the Lippincott study plainly stated: “You cannot win if your employees do not know where the company is going.”
- Authenticity Has to Start Somewhere – There’s a trap every leader faces: assuming employees are receiving and embracing the messages being sent. The Lippincott study cited a candid observation worth quoting: “Often a CEO assumes everything he or she says is picked up by employees and digested with enormous enthusiasm. Unfortunately, employees are frequently not on the same wavelength or even tuned in at all.” The solution isn’t louder messages. It’s more authentic, more frequent and more human communications.
- Mission and Values Need a Champion – IBM’s transformation from a traditional corporate giant into a consumer-focused innovator didn’t happen by memo. It happened because CEO Lou Gerstner introduced a new set of principles that he then publicly, consistently acted on. One IBM executive noted in the Lippincott study: “And since then he’s shown that he is acting in strict accordance with those principles.” Culture changes when leadership models it. Not when it’s announced. Leadership must walk the walk.
- Two-Way Communication Is Non-Negotiable – The best internal communications programs aren’t broadcast systems — they’re dialogues. The Lippincott study found that world-class organizations build what it calls “commutual communications” models: structured systems where feedback flows up and down, where front-line employees can reach senior management and where managers at every level are trained to be communicators themselves. The old top-down model is a relic.
- What Happens Inside Eventually Goes Outside – Internal culture doesn’t stay internal. Employees talk. They post. They review your company publicly. They refer, or don’t refer, talent to your organization. The Lippincott study found evidence that a company’s reputation for how it treats employees meaningfully influences investor decisions. Happy employees make for stable and more profitable companies. Stable companies attract attention and capital.
Your CEO’s involvement in internal communications isn’t a nice touch. It’s a business imperative.
3 Big Takeaways
- CEO involvement is the single most critical factor. The Lippincott research found that without top-level support, even the most well-designed internal communications program will struggle. Everything else is secondary.
- Internal communications must be a two-way conversation. Top-down broadcast models are outdated. World-class organizations build systems where employee feedback actually reaches leadership — and where managers at every level are equipped to facilitate that exchange.
- What happens internally shows up externally. Employee satisfaction influences investor confidence, talent acquisition and brand reputation. The culture you build inside your organization becomes the story the world tells about you.
What does your organization’s leadership do to stay genuinely connected to employees? Do share!
Stay authentic — and lead your internal communications like your brand depends on it. Because it does.
Jeffery E. Pizzino, APR (seen here in a vintage photo circa 1983 serendipitously doing a Clash impersonation in a since-forgotten location) is a spin-free public relations pro who is passionate about telling the why of your story with clarity, impact and authenticity. He began his PR career in 1987 at Ketchum Public Relations in New York City but has spent the majority of his career as a solopreneur. He’s the Chief Authentic Officer of the Johnson City, TN-based public relations firm, AuthenticityPR. He also functions as the fractional CCO for his clients.
Jeff has an MBA in Management from Western International University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications — with an emphasis in PR — from Brigham Young University (rise and shout!). He’s also accredited in public relations (APR). This Milwaukee, Wisconsin native holds an Italian citizenship and plans to live and work there someday. Jeff and his storyteller wife Leticia have four children and four grandchildren. In his extremely limited nonwork hours, he studies Italiano, practices guitar, write songs, gardens, works out, disc golfs, reads, listens to New Wave music, serves as an assistant communication director in his church, watches BYU football, enjoys watching the original Mission Impossible TV series, and plays board games (mostly Dominion and Seven Wonders). No, this guy’s never bored and looking for something to do. Email Jeff.
