In my experience, a company's communication architecture is a key responsibility of the CEO. However, many CEOs will only communicate to the entire organisation on an ad-hoc basis or rely heavily on all-hands meetings for communication.
Whole-team meetings can be effective, but they're not enough.
Firstly, all-hands meetings lack the personal touch. These meetings are a collaboration of senior leadership, and while the CEO is involved, the meetings are not exclusively their voice or their priorities.
Secondly, meetings lack permanence. While meetings can be recorded, they do not have the same permanence of emails. They can also cover a lot of topics very quickly, so it may be difficult to recall everything that's been said.
So how should you structure a CEO email and what should it say?
Your weekly CEO email should have three segments:
1. Top of mind – Decide what topics are off limits to discuss with such a broad audience, due to their sensitive nature, then be candid and transparent about everything else. Don’t forget no one knows your company better than your employees so no BS.
2. Performance update – Your organisation should have a handful of key goals or initiatives that it's tracking towards. Write about these. Be honest about their progress and ensure this section is informed by those responsible.
3. Miscellaneous – The first two sections are mandatory, this one is optional and flexible. Use it as an opportunity to communicate further with your teams. For example, you could give kudos, ask questions, share feedback from customers or reviews, or announce new hires.
A CEO email is best sent weekly, or at the least fortnightly, but anything less is not enough. Your team will benefit immeasurably by hearing from you regularly.
TAKEAWAY: Start planning your weekly CEO email today! Keep it authentic. Keep it personable. Keep it vulnerable. Create a real connection.