Congratulations on your sudden promotion to interim CEO. Here are five communications strategies to not make things worse.
Over the years I’ve consulted several public companies after their chief executive was fired, forced to resign or otherwise run over by that proverbial bus of unfortunate circumstances. Almost always the company names an interim CEO while a formal search gets underway. But even a temporary chief executive must also assume the role of chief communicator for earnings calls, employee gatherings, media interviews and other audiences clamoring for information.
At a time when there are typically more questions than answers, here are five key communications strategies to help the sudden CEO through the transition:
1. Don’t come across like you’re asking permission to be the company’s leader. Be it. Speak with as much authority as you would if you were CEO for life.
2. Be straight with people but convey confidence in the company’s future. This is critical. Even the slightest sign of tentativeness is perceived and magnified by employees, customers, Wall Street and the media. If you aren’t bullish on your company and its future, then don’t take the job.
3. Don’t let a lack of response to the obvious become a new crisis. Answer tough questions before they’re asked, especially the one about whether or not your predecessor’s quick exit means there is another shoe to drop. Say only what you know to be true, but don’t let worse-case assumptions go unchecked.
4. Position the company by the value it creates, not by its process – or by the events that lead to your sudden appointment. Direct an overhaul the company’s investor presentation, press kit, Web site and maybe the advertising. Eliminate or revise any information that doesn’t communicate and validate your key messages. Let people sense that there’s new energy in the corner office.
5. Learn to lead with the bottom line. Tell stories and analogies to illustrate your point. Put every company milestone and industry trend in context to the three or four key messages that you want stakeholders to believe to true. If you haven’t had presentation coaching and media training lately, get it. If you have, get more.
Keeping these strategies in mind, add a senior communications advisor to your brain trust. This can be a staff executive or an outside expert. Either way, it has to be someone who will tell you what you need to hear in the interests of the company, not what they think you want to hear in the interests of your ego.
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