In the last entry of Strategic Leadership Communication, we pointed out something probably self-evident already, and aptly demonstrated by the show Undercover Boss: those at the top are out of touch with the reality of those on the front lines. The important question is: what is to be done?

The good news is that there are answers, they’re not rocket science, and most of them are already in use. Here are three simple suggestions for CEOs who would like to know what the heck is actually happening on their front lines:

Suggestion #1.  Go to them and ask.

Okay, this sounds simple to the point of ridiculousness.  And conceptually it is.  But doing it can be ridiculously hard, with CEOs enormously resistant to the idea.  Why? For one thing, they think they don’t need the input and think they already know what’s going on (see the blog entry on power and persuasion for some context.) For another, it requires a not insubstantial investment of their most precious commodity: time.

Additionally, getting information out of front-line employees takes work.  First, and foremost, you have to ensure that local managers haven’t filtered their employee selection so that you’ll only get to talk to employees that will tell you what their managers think you want to hear. Second, it can take real effort to elicit honest feedback from people who are likely to be so intimidated by your title and position that they’ll also try to tell you what they think you want to hear.

Nonetheless, many CEOs make it a habit to meet regularly with front line employees. How? Simple: They regularly incorporate into their schedule an informal meeting with front-line employees either at corporate headquarters or on a visit anywhere near one of their corporate locations. Here’s what that might look like:

Forms

• Breakfast meetings, or lunch (sometimes that might mean taking your lunch in the company cafeteria and simply sitting at some random table).
• Roundtables built into empty spots between meetings.
• Some end-of the day format. The CEO could join in an already scheduled activity. (I’ve seen a CEO have a beer with a bunch of employees.)

Content

• Spontaneous. The CEO simply asks what is on people’s minds. (Not recommended; the intimidation factor makes this risky.)
• Questions and Answers (with questions submitted beforehand directly to the CEO’s mailbox to make it both easier to ask, and harder to filter.)
• A prepared proposal/project/message/issues/set of questions that the CEO brings in order to receive feedback.

Participants

• Random selection.
• Local “influentials” as selected by local management; or you could have someone on your staff do a bit of research on influential front-line employees.
• Existing groups, like a first-level supervisor forum.

 Process

• Guided discussion, with the CEO facilitating.
• Active listening.

Suggestion #2.  Have them come to you.

This also sounds silly; who’s going to have front-line members of a global workforce travel to corporate headquarters on a regular basis?  But there’s an already successful formula:

Create a council of front-line “influencers,” that is, front-line employees highly respected by their peers.

Form: Bring them together for a one-time only, face-to-face meeting with the CEO. From then on, have them meet via phone or videoconference on a monthly basis.

Content: Whatever issue needs input or reaction from the front lines. This group can serve as a focus group for testing out messages, plans, processes, etc.  Its participants serve as both a source of information from their peers, and as a source of information to their peers, so information sharing is important.

Participants: This should be a diverse group of front-line employees to whom others listen. A sampling of local management will often surface the right person.

Process: This group can be run or moderated by your internal communication leader, with the CEO making a quarterly appearance, or simply providing a 5-minute charge to this group on a monthly basis.  The CEO sets the agenda.

This works.  It gets around most of the filters the keep CEOs out of touch with the front lines, and provides them with a direct link to influential front-line employees. Why doesn’t every organization have this?

Suggestion #3. Have someone else do it.

Most companies survey their employees on a regular basis, gauging their level of engagement in one form or another (e.g., many companies use the Gallup Engagement Survey, which is succinct, comparable, and offers trend data.) As an initial framework for understanding what’s going on at the front lines, surveys work.

But do employee engagement or culture surveys give you a sense for how feelings are running on your front lines?  NO. Do they provide the context needed for gauging the impact of important decisions dependent on the front lines for execution? NO. They point to potential problems, but they need to be supplemented if you’re going to get at the texture and meaning of your survey results.

How to do this?  Not easily. Investing in gauging the emotional texture and meaning of what’s going on with your front lines can be time consuming and expensive.  But, if you’re engaged in a major change effort with serious business repercussions and need to enlist your front lines, it’s necessary.

What can be done? Here are some already suggestions that have already been shown to work:

Form: A series of focus groups and/or one-on-one confidential interviews.

Content: Driven by your most urgent business needs. But beware: developing the right interview schedule for this kind of discovery is both an art and a science. If you don’t want your effort to go up in smoke, we would recommend either an outside professional, or your marketing research group.

Participants: Probably randomly selected from impacted front-line employees.

Process:  As noted, we suggest outsourcing the process to an independent firm or trusted advisor, someone who is:

• Not a direct report,
• Doesn’t have a vested interest in any outcome, and who
• Has built a relationship of trust with you.

As a rule of thumb for figuring out who should do this, I would avoid your Human Resources function, even if the lead HR person already has “trusted advisor” status with you. As a corporate function with whom all employees interact, HR professionals are likely to have a higher threshold if they are to achieve needed trust and credibility.

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That’s it: three simple suggestions. As I said, this isn’t rocket science.  Many, if not most CEOs already do at least one of these. Doing it is not hard. Deciding to do it is. But that’s another subject altogether.

Note: Strategic Leadership Communication wishes all of you a wonderful and wholesome holiday season, and a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year ahead.