Leadership Communication at WorldCom
WorldCom's new CEO, Michael Capellas, seems to appreciate internal communication as a strategic business function. In fact, this article suggests he is initially treating employee communication as his primary business function.
Among the things Capellas is doing right in a tough leadership situation:
(1) Demonstrating a style of communication that emphasizes unadorned facts over "feel good" platitudes. (Especially in tough situations, platitudes make leaders and their speechwriters "feel good," but they rarely do much for employee audiences.)
(2) Communicating probabilities (recognizing that the alternative is to allow rumors and speculation to fill the vacuum) and readily acknowledging when the answer to a question is "I don't know."
(3) Actively surfacing and addressing the toughest questions.
(4) Actively acknowledging that employees will--and should--withhold judgment on his credibility until they can determine whether his actions match his rhetoric.
(5) Treating "listening to employees" as a precursor to developing, communicating, and implementing his turnaround strategy.