Are CEOs aware about activities in their organizations?
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 04 January 2010, 23:09 IST   |    19 Comments
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Are CEOs aware about activities in their organizations?
Bangalore: Many things happen inside an organization, and CEOs are the last people to know about what is happening in their organizations. Moreover, it's not an easy task for anyone to give CEOs negative feedback - particularly if the feedback might relate to the CEO's poor judgment or bad behavior, reports Bankok Post. The article shares some of the things people inside organizations wish their CEOs knew: People do not believe in "too positive" a message: During the crisis, if your captain does not believe that the organisation can prevail, there is a slim chance to survive. Unfortunately, some CEOs have delusions. They are too positive. Some CEOs also know that the facts are not as good as they make out. In any case, people do not believe in "too positive" information. They need more than words. Sometimes too much positive information makes people ask,"What about the reality?" It is a good idea to communicate factual information even though it's negative. Show your team that you are honest and have the integrity to let people know the real situation. There are too many poor performers in the "average" and "good" ranks: This might happen when a CEO has a direct report who does not give the complete picture about the performance of the people on his or her team. The department head might say he has only excellent and good performers - but can't explain clearly why his department is performed so badly. People at the operational level are screaming for help from the top - but some organizations have very good gatekeepers who usually prevent bad news from reaching the CEOs. Few people talk to CEOs: CEOs have only limited channels of communication. Some companies have a "skip meeting" process. Basically, managers who have managers report to them will have regular meetings with people two levels below themselves. This will create an opportunity to learn things that might be distorted or intentionally hidden from direct-report managers. "Boss's insecurity equals insecurity": Some CEOs might only show strong emotions at the direct-report level and be kinder to people on the front line. But people are not stupid; rumours travel fast: "Do you know that your boss was shot down by the CEO in the executive committee meeting this morning?" This kind of message might make people feel insecure, which has to affect their performance. Many people decide to escape by looking for a new job. "There are other causes to our problem": When times were good, everything seemed to be okay. But when a crisis comes, reality presents itself. Sometimes the CEO might focus only on one or two issues as causes of the problem and try to fix it. In fact, there are correlations of several things. Have you or your team really understood the situation? People, process, system, structure, strategy, organization culture, etc. Also, some leaders don't know how to motivate other generations in the workplace.

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