CEOs should embrace information democracy

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Share it: Actuates Terri Brown says chief executives need to acknowledge that social media have brought about a situation where information is more freely available to everyone. This means that their power base has been eroded and they need to find other ways to establish their authority.

Terri Brown

There was a time a few years ago when talk was all about the “democratisation” of information – wider access that new technology was sure to deliver.

Well, that time is here.

Social media have democratised information.

What does this mean? It means that in the past some people (usually authority figures) had information and others didn’t.

And those who had the information – or access to specific information – had more power than those who didn’t.

In the corporate world, this meant that the chief executive (and the executive team) used to have access to a bigger volume of credible information more quickly than anyone else.

They also had absolute control over what information was disseminated to employees, and when it was done.

But social media have made the information pyramid much flatter – we can easily access information about companies, competitors or the broader industry from a variety of easily accessible sources.

We hear everything from rumours to comment and analysis on social media.

Twitter-savvy staff can communicate with journalists or even the CEOs of rival companies to solicit different opinions.

All of this means that employees are far more independent thinkers and are less likely to be accepting of what the executive team says.

It also means that the CEO has to be more responsive, act more quickly and be more authentic and positive in communicating a message – or risk completely losing influence over key stakeholders, including employees.

The biggest issue is, of course, that there is no place to hide any more. The CEO has to build trust and be brave enough to be transparent because he is up against a medium that has a natural credibility that CEOs don’t always enjoy.

So, most employees understand that the CEO has an agenda.

He is incentivised to persuade you of his beliefs and goals while social media can be agenda-less or can aggregate the views, beliefs and agendas of lots of people – creating a more balanced view.

Likewise, employees often feel that they can’t relate to the CEO. The conversation in their heads goes: “He is not like me – in education, generation, social position, etc. I can’t identify with him.

“I can identify with and trust sources and people who are like me. They are the people who get me. And these are the people who I speak to on social media.”

And while the CEO has a sense of authority that has worked in the past, these days it’s the opposite.

Employees feel that executive management speaks down to them whereas mediums like Facebook are on the same level, speak a common language and give employees a chance to express their views.

Therefore, while the CEO may with every good intention make a formal announcement to staff – the chances of him being believed as a credible source and the chances of him being able to change behaviour are much slimmer than in the past.

This means that the CEO, if he wants to be effective, has to broaden his communication style – embracing new ideas that boost credibility and authenticity.

This might mean using mediums such as Twitter which is timely and appears more “genuine” – less structured.

It also gives the CEO the opportunity to read and respond to the comments of employees and to invite their participation.

But these principles are not limited to social media.

More informal, personal conversations with employees – whether in the corridors or in chatrooms – inspire confidence and trust.

The rule of thumb is less mediated, structured, published communication and more spontaneous, short, sharp interactions.

In summary, today’s CEO should strive to engage employees in two-way conversation rather than dictate to them.

And the only way to build trust and engage employees is to opt for more unmediated communication than in the past.

The alternative is to battle against all the other sources of communication out there for the employee “vote”.

l Terri Brown is the director of Actuate, an internal marketing and employee engagement organisation. For more information, call 011 021 400 or visit the website at www.actuate.co.za.