Counsel Sometimes Falls on Deaf Ears

An online public relations and communications forum I occasionally follow recently kicked around the question of why CEOs don’t always follow our advice. Good one. But the answer is not simple, and none of the responses was brief. Let me answer here by way of a first-hand experience.

The CEO of a multi-site manufacturing firm asked for our help regarding an evolving internal situation. This union environment was facing stiff offshore competition, a new and increasingly difficult threat that was stealing long-time customers. But the employees didn’t appear to be responding with appropriate urgency. The CEO wanted us to assess the internal environment and make recommendations to achieve desired behavior changes.

During our first visit, we spoke with the senior leaders one at a time to get a sense of the story behind the story, and the messages they had been trying to get out to the employee audience. I was struck by something the CEO said. With complete confidence, he told us that his messages were well understood across the organization. When we asked how he knew that, he replied that he was the CEO. As the CEO, he had said what he said, so it was heard and understood. (See my earlier blog entry, I Speak, You Listen.)

Ignoring his overt arrogance, we sought and received permission to conduct informal discussions with groups of employees at several locations to determine whether the key messages were in fact getting through to the intended audience and, more important, whether those messages were understood.

As we learned, the CEO was wrong. What he thought he was communicating achieved the opposite effect of what he had sought. There was a disconnect somewhere along the lines of communication, a barrier to the full import of leadership messages reaching their target audience with their intended effect. In the end, the urgent messages about the changing competitive environment were being met with skepticism and, in some quarters, open ridicule.

After a thorough analysis, we presented our findings to the CEO, along with recommendations for implementing an aggressive new internal communications strategy intended to address the credibility problem head-on. He thanked us for our work, promised to study our recommendations, and said he would get back to us.

Fast-forward 12 months. We hadn’t heard from the CEO so we assumed he and his team had implemented our recommendations without our assistance – which was certainly their prerogative.

So imagine our surprise when he called us in a panic one day. Union negotiators had walked out of contract negotiations and threatened to strike if their terms were not met. How could we help?

Long story short, our recommendations had not been implemented and management’s lack of credibility had continued to fester, until it reached a flash point around contract talks when they sought to inject marketplace realities for a new, less restrictive contract.

The union opposed what it saw as “give-backs” and was arguing its case in the local media. Meanwhile, the company remained silent publicly, refusing comment when the media sought it. The result was a one-sided story, with the company portrayed as the bad guy.

After completing our quick assessment, management enacted our recommendations to go public with the full story, countering the union’s case point-by-point through a series of full-page “advertorials” in local newspapers, as well as face-to-face meetings between the CEO, his negotiators and the local press.

The tide quickly turned and the company got control of the public dialogue. Ultimately, the new contract was approved with the necessary changes. But the original internal credibility problem still existed.

When the dust settled, we reintroduced our original recommendations to address the inherent problem of credibility. This time, lesson learned, they were enacted.

So the short answer to the forum topic is that, as outside consultants, we certainly hope and expect the CEO to enact our recommendations. But in the end, the CEO will do what he or she thinks best in the larger context in which the company operates. Sometimes, however, it takes a dose of the real world to bring our counsel into sharp focus for our client to act on it.