Communicating a CEO Transition: Lessons from the Tumult at Twitter

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter dominated the news for most of the past year, and the unfolding drama has put CEO transitions front and center in the public eye. While not every CEO transition will garner so many headlines (thankfully for Communications leaders everywhere!), each one is a major event for the affected organization. As such, we regularly advise our clients on how to effectively communicate a leadership change to ensure a successful transition for all involved. Five key considerations include:

Recognize the Value of Communications

This likely goes without saying, but it’s easy to forget that the first step towards effectively communicating a CEO transition is acknowledging the need for intentional communications in the first place! In most cases, this means marketing and communications executives should partner closely to ensure leaders take a proactive role in thoughtful execution of the transition communications strategy.

Identify and Prioritize Key Stakeholders

Communications leaders managing a CEO transition should proactively develop strategies to reach a diverse set of stakeholders, including the board of directors, senior leaders, employees in different business units and investors, to name a few. They can also engage individuals from these groups as advocates to support and amplify communications, so that the new CEO is not the sole “source of truth” during the transition.

Transparency Matters

Executives are uniquely positioned to not only share updates about company strategy but also provide visibility into how decisions were made. We advise our clients to prompt executives with a series of questions that they can answer to demonstrate transparency around why they may have taken a particular course of action or made a certain decision. This can help employees to feel more confident in their leadership on this issue and trust how they will handle future challenges.

Engage Employees in Dialogue

Our research tells us that a key driver of successful executive messages that drive employee action is providing meaningful opportunities for dialogue between leadership and the workforce. We have profiled many organizations who have effectively managed tactics like dialogue-focused town halls and “ask me anything” sessions where leaders actively respond employee questions and concerns. These activities also provide invaluable listening opportunities for communicators and executives to gather real-time feedback from employees during times of change.

Consider Your Employee Value Proposition: The Human Deal

Our research into the “Original Postress-releases/2020-05-25-gartner-hr-research-shows-organizations-must-reinvent-their-employment-value-proposition-to-deliver-a-more-human-deal">Human Deal” – an updated, reimagined Employee Value Proposition for this changing world – posits that employers should treat each employee as a whole person, taking into account their life experience and ultimately, the feelings the human deal creates. The new human deal comprises five attributes, including holistic well-being and radical flexibility. As new executives take the reins of their organization, they have the opportunity to demonstrate to employees their personal commitment to this approach. Consider making this a key aspect of your new executive communication strategy.

Recommended Reading:

• How to Communicate a CEO Transition
• Improving Organizational Trust with Executive Communications

Communicating a CEO Transition: Lessons from the Tumult at Twitter