Communication Adjustments for the C-Suite

Matt Kucharski is president at Padilla, a strategic communications agency

The general status quo of organizational communication might not be the best way, or the path to satisfy critical needs and other important ones.

Matt Kucharski, president at Padilla, a communications agency, talked about — How C-Suite Leaders Can Adapt Their Approach To Communication, in Forbes magazine.

This article touches on some of the points in that article.

“A Harvard Business Review study of data from executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates revealed that companies have significantly increased emphasis on social skills in their C-Suite job postings and decreased emphasis on more traditional hard skills,” Kucharski wrote.

“Its findings reinforce the importance of skills needed in the future for leaders to succeed, including being ‘top-notch communicators in every regard, able both to devise the right messages and to deliver them with empathy.’”

This appears to be a significant — as findings and maybe, a calling for improvement to benefit organizational executives' relationships with their people. The question is how will it play out in practice? And will more leaders be hired for such strengths or develop them on the job in a way that resonates well?

“We’ll most definitely see the emergence of leaders who not only have the traditional skills you’d find in a CEO — vision, decisiveness, courage, financial acumen — but also what have traditionally been considered ‘softer’ skills like empathy, compassion, communication and relatability,” Kucharski says.

This is more than being gentle with people, he asserts.

“It’s not just about being nicer. It’s about relating to people in a way that creates a change-resilient culture,” Kucharski says. “Because after all, most companies hire leaders in the interests of driving transformation.”

There is a frequent expectation for transparency in leadership communications. Kucharski uses the word “translucency,” meaning, he writes, “providing enough information about the changes that are afoot, but at the same time managing expectations that everyone can’t be involved in every decision.”

He adds that it should not be considered a burdensome task because its use can prove helpful in relationships.

“People need time to process and prepare, and while giving stakeholders advance notice of pending change can create some anxiety, it can also reduce the surprise factor when the change actually takes place,” Kucharski wrote.

This skill might not be ready to go in all leaders so developing it, getting comfortable with it and applying it successfully may require knowledge, practice and adjustments.

“It doesn’t come naturally, especially to leaders who got where they are today by showing confidence, competence and communicating only when they had things figured out,” he points out.

“On the flip side, letting everyone see the sausage as it’s being made creates the impression that chaos reigns. It takes judgment, patience and repetition: judgment in the form of knowing what people need and want to know, patience with regard to the fact that you’ve been thinking about the topic for a long time and they may not be as far along as you are, and repetition in that people need to hear things multiple times before they sink in,” Kucharski elaborates.

Surprising to many maybe, he wrote in Forbes about a different and encouraging mindset about human interactions, in at least some organizations.

“My company’s research also found they’re adopting a more nurturing approach, acknowledging and deliberately expressing empathy and admitting deficiencies,” he began, adding his recommendations, “As a leader, ensure you’re showing flexibility, kindness and compassion, and sharing more of yourself, even if it feels uncomfortable to disclose personal attributes.”

If that seems confusing, he offers suggestions.

“One way you can do that is by tying observations from your non-work life to business initiatives and priorities, whether it’s a post on social media or during in-person conversations. You can also share that you, too, sometimes struggle with the challenges of the day and then provide guidance for overcoming those struggles.”

A regular look at LinkedIn comments and tweets on Twitter reveal numerous complaints about insensitive, selfish and ugly behavior from companies. A general lack of humanity in leaders or the entire culture. This wears on employees and they don’t like it, eventually growing resentful.

“It gets to the heart of the purpose of a business and the ideal employer-employee relationship. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that we’ve moved well beyond the simple ‘honest day’s work for honest day’s pay’ relationship into something much more substantial,” Kucharski says.

“But companies exist on a spectrum — from being a place that values its workers but maintains a level of separation between work and home — all the way to companies that want the workplace to feel like home.”

Where a company plans to be on that line or ends up mindlessly settling affects what employees might experience. Kucharski has promising news about what the research shows and he’s noticing.

“Where on that spectrum the company lies is going to determine what it does to inject more of a humanity into the culture. I can tell you for certain that more and more companies are moving that direction, not just because we’re in low unemployment, but because there’s plenty of research showing that a strong culture of happy workers drives better business performance,” he says.

A strong talking point Kucharski made in his article was about an evergreen topic, “Accepting And Responding To Criticism.” He wrote about how one leader communicated, “Listening to a lot of voices is chaotic, but it gets to better outcomes.”

Kucharski analyzed it.

“You might experience a range of feedback, including candid criticism, from your employees, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you made a bad decision on behalf of the company,” he wrote, suggesting, “Listen to your stakeholders to broaden your understanding of what matters most to them. This will improve your overall communication and leadership style.”

It’s a tall task to balance criticism — valid or not — and choosing to interact skillfully instead of ignoring it and continuing to operate towards the mission. Yet when it is done, serious problems could be prevented or mitigated.

“I’m finding that this is one of the biggest wake up calls for today’s C-suite leaders,” Kucharski says. “Right or wrong, leaders have historically been surrounded by advisors who, by and large, shielded them from criticism or at minimum, filtered it.

“Now that criticism comes unfiltered, unvarnished and at full volume.”

Its intense heat for anyone to experience and endure, emotionally and psychologically. It also creates risks of significant errors and problems.

“That’s tough for some leaders to take, and it can cause them to be reactionary or adopt a ‘they have no idea what they’re talking about’ stance,” Kucharski says.

However, he has a potential antidote to that habitual reaction and mindset.

“Instead of assuming all criticism is bad, some leaders look on that criticism as an opportunity to improve understanding,” he has found.

To lessen the frequency of criticism or address it effectively, there is an understanding to gain and a practice to implement.

“We’ve found that the employees who understand the complexities of the business are less apt to criticize and more likely to appreciate that difficult and unpopular decisions are a necessary part of running a good company,” Kucharski states.

Finally, he spoke about the value of trusted advisors for C-suite leaders when it comes to adapting communication, writing, “How leaders are showing up and communicating today affects who should sit at the leadership table with them.

“As a leader, ensure you are surrounding yourself with courageous, high-EQ (emotionally intelligent), resilient professionals who are comfortable existing in the gray.

“Look for good communicators, active listeners and people who acknowledge that part of being at the leadership table is recognizing that the traits that got them there may not be the ones that keep them there.”

Of course, that’s wise and beneficial yet intent is not commitment or accomplishment on this front. In reality, it’s a difficult task to accomplish. To find, hire, promote and empower such difference makers requires buy-in, ego management and consistency. There’s more, Kucharski says.

“I think it’s going to result in a new approach to screening candidates, both those who join an organization and those who rise up through the organization,” he says.

“Many businesses have been in this crazy low-unemployment, battle-for-talent environment so long that their hiring criteria have been boiled down to ‘does the person have a heartbeat and can they do the job?’”

He admits while critical skills are being overlooked or not sought out, the reality is a little more nuanced than what he states, because of pressure to identify and hire for necessary “technical” competency.

“I’m being a little bit fictitious, but there’s no question that soft skills run the risk of taking a back seat when there’s pressure to fill a roll,” Kucharski says.

The research, his experience and professional opinion lead him to believe and confidently state that a change is going to come.

“I think that’s going to change and we’ll start to see more focus on soft skill assessments as part of senior hiring,” he says.

Yet it has to be about more than identifying skills that haven’t been previously and frequently prioritized.

“And don’t forget ongoing training. One of the biggest gifts my leaders gave me throughout my career was the opportunity to assess and develop those skills over time,” he remembers. “I’m not perfect (now), but I’m better because I had the opportunity to learn and improve.”