Getting senior leaders to interact with each other

Getting senior leaders to interact with each other

Megan Taylor, group manager of internal communications at Sensis, shares the following ideas used within her organization:

Senior leadership meetings: Every week, the company's top 80 leaders meet for a one-hour live video- and tele-conference to get updates from the CEO and to discuss revenue updates, customer performance, competitive intelligence, product development, etc.

Senior leader workshops: Two to four times per year, the top 80 leaders take part in a one-day workshop to discuss business updates, critically review and develop the strategy and provide feedback on business initiatives. They then share the key messages to come out of the workshop with their employees.

Leadership summit: On an annual basis, the company hosts a leadership summit, which involves all the company's 460 leaders (from executives to team leaders). The two-day event is designed to build business literacy among all leaders by exposing them to decision-making at both a corporate and a business-unit level. Leaders are expected to share the outcomes of the summit with their employees, so helping to cascade important business information throughout the company.

Leadership breakfasts: These informal breakfast gatherings provided the wider leadership team an opportunity to hear the business leaders from outside the company talk on a range of pertinent topics. Taylor believes these events help leaders build rapport and increase business knowledge.

CEO scholarship program: In January 2005, an annual scholarship program was launched to encourage the development of up-and-coming leaders within the company. Based on the demonstration of Sensis Leadership Capabilities, each senior executive nominates one leader from their team (there are 15 teams). The CEO then selects the top five performers to receive a scholarship, which offers them the opportunity to develop their career and leadership capabilities through professional development (e.g. through a university course or international benchmarking in their chosen field).

Source: Delivering effective senior leadership communication.