How to Introduce a CEO to Employees

theEMPLOYEEapp conducted a survey that found that 23% of Americans who work at companies with over 500 employees aren’t sure what the name of their CEO is and 32% wouldn’t even be able to identify them in a lineup. In this article by Arik Hanson, he talks about the problem this poses for communicators reaching their deskless workforce and why a clear leadership-to-employee communication strategy is so important. 

Introducing your company to a new CEO is no easy task. Nowadays, CEO turnover is much higher than it used to be. If you’re not able to effectively handle the transition and communicate the changes with your workforce, you could be heading down a path of failure before the new CEO even gets a chance to start. 

An Employee Communication Issue

The big problem is that 25 – 35% of employees have no idea who their CEO is. And that creates a big problem for communicators and companies because:

• Employees need a leader. Especially today, employees are looking for their employers to take a stand on social issues and lead the company in a direction they believe in (Edelman). 
• Employee alignment with business objectives is essential to growth and profitability. But only 55% of employees feel like they understand the company’s mission.
• CEOs are one of the most important customers for internal communicators, so keeping the C-Suite happy is of paramount importance.

Internal Comms Best Practices

So, what can internal communication professionals do? Here are some employee communication best practices to leverage for your executive comms plan: 

• Don’t rely on text communication like email. You need platforms that support video and audio so your leaders can be seen by all employees. Face-to-face is ideal, but what about your deskless workers who will never get that chance?
• Target internal influencers to help inform the CEO on what the employee body needs and wants.
• Create a social advocacy program (if possible).

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Read the full article for tips on how to introduce your new CEO to your employees and make the transition go as smoothly as possible.