How can the CEO talk have meaningful conversations with their direct reports? 

John Wilson: Well, the biggest lessons, George is to become a better listener and by being a better listener. I can communicate better with the CEO’s that I work with and it's something that I see in all the successful CEO’s that I’ve had the privilege of working with they are really good listeners. The other thing that they have as a skill is they really connect with the people that they're leading and you know one of the ways they connect is they connect one-on-one with the people that they're, that who are in their company. Particularly the people that are their direct reports and really connecting with those people and then leveraging that to connect with all the employees in the company so, now that's something I’ve learned. 

Listen to this conversation with John Wilson here

https://yourintendedmessage.podbean.com/e/o1-john-wilson/

 

George: Now, a CEO needs to send to communicate many different ways but I’m curious about this one to one. What is that all about and how important is that to the success of the organization?

John Wilson: It's hugely important. This is one of the most powerful communication tools that any CEO can have in their toolbox and it's one that I’ve noticed over the years I’ve been working very closely with CEO’s. It's one that gets avoided for whatever reason and so when we work with CEO’s in CEO global network one of the things that is absolutely essential is that the CEO have a two-hour one-on-one meeting with every one of their direct reports every month. And I have CEO’s say to me oh John I don't have to I see these people every day why do I have to have a two or one to one with them because it's different that's why and it's much more effective. Sure you see them every day but you don't see them every day and sit down and talk about the things that you're going to talk about in a structured two-hour one-on-one every month. And so, it's just a tremendous leverage point for any CEO who is trying to get more connected and communicate better with the people they work with.

George: Two-hour meeting every month sounds like a big investment of time and I imagine that the CEO’s you advise to do that say ‘John I don't have that kind of time I’m busy already’ how do how can they make the time to spend two hours with each of their direct reports?

John Wilson: They got to find the time, you just got to find the time and so here's the advice that I give to the CEO’s that say exactly that to me just like what you said, George. I say look you've got, let's pick a number you've got 10 direct reports. You know like how am I ever going to get 20 hours a month to meet with those 10 direct reports and here's what I say ‘if you will have the discipline to have that two-hour one-on-one with every one of those direct reports it'll save you time’. How so? ‘I’ll tell you how it saves your time number one you're going to be talking about the five most important things for you and every one of your direct reports. 

You're going to talk about the five most important things. We can maybe talk about that a little bit later. The other thing though is it saves you time because of instead of you having a lineup at your door of people wanting to meet with you and interrupting you from your CEO job everyday people know oh I’m going to meet with John next Thursday at 10 o'clock and we've got our two-hour one-on-one meeting that day. So, instead of me going and talking to the CEO right now I’m going to put that in my folder for our meeting next week. 

So, all of a sudden instead of you being interrupted from the really important priorities that you should be working on every month, instead of being interrupted people are they're now saying I’m going to talk to John about that at our one to one meeting and that's how it makes your time. Instead of instead of all kinds of interruptions throughout the month and talking about them on the run as you're going to another meeting somewhere they're going to save it okay, they're going to save it. 

The other thing is you're going to get alignment around your most important priorities in the company and their most important priorities and you're going to get clarity around what they should be doing with their time. And so, what it does it's a two-hour investment in time that will save you many more hours than that every month. Okay so, you basically earn time by spending time. I’ve seen it all and I’ll say to someone a CEO just have faith try it out and then let me know how it goes and I say ‘okay’ because I tell them what an important tool it is to get them time and to communicate properly and they try it and they will come back to me and say ‘John, you were right this is saving me time’. 

George: So, this sounds better than people who, some people brag that they have an open door policy but that open door policy can be just an invitation to interrupt and actually be disruptive instead of positive. So, here's a way to have that intimate communication because it's planned and it is regular and both parts must come to that meeting with a commitment to make the meeting a success. 

John Wilson: No question about it. Yeah, there is a value in being available being approachable okay but you can get to the point as the CEO or you're just over doing that, right? You've got a job to do you've got to be able to have time to do your job and so it's really important that you can hardwire in things that are time savers for you. You'll still have the odd interruption at the door okay that's okay you'll have less, you will have less because those 10 people who report to you they know they got your time. People who report to you the number one thing they value is you and time with you. 

And so, if we can engineer that into the month and say okay I’m going to have two hours with George torok you know I got him. I got and he's in the moment he's in the moment at that time he's listening to me by the way the tip for the CEO at that two hour one-on-one eighty percent of the meeting you're listening 20% of the time you're talking. So, that's an interesting thought I’m going to be listening for 80 of that meeting and let your direct report talk okay because that's how you really learn that's how you learn and that's how you provide value for them. So, yeah no, it's important to be approachable but it's also important as a CEO to engineer things that will save you time and a one-to-one every month two hours with your direct reports is one powerful tool. 

George: 80% of the time listening, the danger I see in that is that the person will just talk about whatever they want to talk about. How does the CEO make that listening time productive? 

John Wilson: By having an agenda like I mean every meeting needs an agenda, okay and it's got to be a purposeful agenda. So , here's what I’m recommending this is what the meeting looks like it's not an open ended two hours so you know like so, what's going on it's not that kind of meaning it's a structured meaning I’m a big believer in structure you know that George. I’m a big believer in structure why? Because structure helps you maximize the use of your time and work on your highest and best use as a CEO. 

So, here's what that meeting looks like okay there's five parts to it and so, just very quickly here are the five the here's what the agenda looks like by the way the agenda is sent out a week ahead of time. So, a week ahead of time you get an agenda that says you know George, I’m looking forward to our one to one next Thursday at you know at ten o'clock and here's the agenda. And by the way it's the same agenda every month in terms of the big headings there's different stuff underneath the big headings. 

But so, here's what the big headings are the big headings are first question and the direct report knows this is coming because they've got the agenda number one. What is the most important thing we should be talking about today? What is the highest and best use of our time together? That's question one and that's a huge question, okay? And most of the time it'll be about the business. It won't be about the business all the time. 

George: Meaning it could be personal?

John Wilson: It could be personal. It could be about their health, it could be about their family, it could be about relationships beyond that, it could be about I mean I’ve asked that question well over a thousand times to well over and not a thousand CEO’s because I work with CEO’s on an ongoing basis. Many I’ve worked with for almost 20 years so but what's the most important thing we should be talking about today what's the highest best use of our time together boom and you know I need to talk with you about my relationship with someone really important to me in my life. 

I need to speak with you about my relationship; I’d like to talk about my relationship with my spouse. I feel we're drifting apart, okay? I’d like to talk to you about that. I like talking about I went for my annual checkup last week. I’d like to tell you about what my doctor told me, okay? And I’d like you to help me you know hold me accountable on you know doing what my doctor suggests I do. So, but 80% of the time it's about the business and I’m really worried about this, I’m worried about this. So, that's part one, that's one out of five questions. 

The second question is let's look at your KPIS for the business and you're trailing 12-month charts. So, and we're a firm believer in you know I mean one of the biggest reasons that CEO’s fail is they don't get into the numbers enough. They leave it up to their CFO well don't do that you've got to know the numbers well enough to know where you're at and where you're going. So, a part of that meaning with each one of your of your direct reports is look at their KPIS. Everybody has a KPIS even you know if you're running the department, if you're running your digital marketing department you've got KPIS. You spend some time on those let's look at your KPIS how are you doing and much and we were big believers in putting them on trailing. 

George: KPIs? 

John Wilson: Key Performance Indicators, right? Everybody in the company has a key performance indicator. If you don't have one you got to get one right and so, we talk about that and that can be a five minute discussion it can be a 25 minute discussion depending on what's going on in the business and it's a key numbers from your income statement but it's all it can it's it should be key numbers from your balance sheet as well. So, that's part of so how important is that in communicating where you're talking to each one of your direct reports about their key performance indicators. 

George: It sounds critical. 

John Wilson: It is critical. Okay and it's a way for the CEO to stay connected and you know stay connected with what's going on and what an opportunity to communicate you know and fine-tune and you know kind of recalibrate in some cases, right? Which has to happen so then you move to number three out of five and number three out of five is a discussion on your major strategic initiatives and I’m a big believer in and everybody should know what their top five strategic initiatives are to achieve the CEO’s vision for the business, okay? 

So, it starts with the CEO outlining theirs these are my top five and then every one of my direct reports knows what mine are and what are yours, right? So, each one of the people I’m having this one-to-one meeting with have their top five priorities to move the company forward. 

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