We have witnessed the rise in the role of the Corporate Communications teams and their leaders over the repeated seismic shocks of the last 24 months: COVID-19, George Floyd, country elections, the Great Reset and now the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The latest Corporate Communications Practices research from The Conference Board reflects this rise with 46% of CCOs now saying they report directly to their CEO. In 2015, a similar survey from Korn Ferry put that figure at 37%.

CEOs are pulling their CCOs closer and involving them directly in their business strategy. But CEOs themselves, are getting more involved in communicating that strategy to the wider array of stakeholders that are expecting to see them show up, talk out, take action and report back.

In the 2022 version of the Edelman Trust Barometer, of the institutions studied, business was once again the top of the list of those most trusted (61%) whilst Governments were much lower (50%). At the same time, people expect more from businesses on societal issues such as climate change (52%), economic inequality (49%), workforce reskilling (46%) and trustworthy information (42%). The role of business in society is here to stay – and the CEO is the actor that takes the lead role in that purposeful play.

To bring that into sharper focus with Edelman, when considering a job, 60% of employees want their CEO to speak out on controversial issues they care about and 80% of the general population want CEOs to be personally visible when discussing public policy or work their company has done to benefit society. In particular, CEOs are expected to shape the conversation on jobs and the economy (76%), wage inequity (73%), and technology and automation (74%). Research by The Conference Board found that 99 percent of more than 800 global business leaders believe that organizations should respond to social change issues at least some of the time (72 percent of survey respondents believe unequivocally that organizations should respond, and 27 percent believe organizations should respond “sometimes”).

But how does that role for the CEO play out to the best possible outcome?

Our learnings from our members and our research suggest the following six steps to shape your best possible role.

1. Strategically define the criteria that determine if you should talk up on a topic: Less than a decade ago, most Boards of Directors were cautious about taking positions on topics that were not of direct consequence to the business of their companies. There were exceptions like Nike, Ben & Jerry’s, and Dove, of course. Then, there was a sudden switch in the forcefield, and it became a risk not to speak up. But not all businesses must talk up on all topics. The criteria for decisions fall into the same two categories for everyone and whilst the data and the discussions will vary widely from company to company and from situation to situation, they are:

a. The expectations of your stakeholders and the relative force they have in shaping your actions. Your employees, your Board, your investors, your partners, your regulators, your customers, and your consumers. Their views might be shaped by your competition and the commentators in the media, but get their thoughts directly on what they want and why they want it.

b. The implications for the long-term and short-term operations of your business. These will be very hard to determine but data from previous situations can help you predict the impact of your actions in different scenarios.

2. Creatively articulate how you will talk up on a topic: This is where the CCO and their Teams become so important. Their super-power lies in helping shape the narrative that will be used. This must feed off the intelligence gathered on your stakeholders’ expectations but also on the situation evolving. Trusted sources of intelligence are diminishing but for any emerging situation you have two starting points:

a. Your enduring company purpose and what it is that you and your stakeholders know that you stand for - your raison-d’etre – and the points of intersection between this purpose and the current situation.

b. Your current business performance and whether the implications of acting or not acting have an impact that will yield an advantage. This sounds at odds with the ethics of your purpose but seeking that ‘golden mean’ between doing the good thing and doing the right thing has to be your ambition in scripting your response.

3. Remember that your soundbites will turn into ‘soundbytes’: This is stating the obvious, but always remain vigilant knowing that your talking points will be archived, searchable and will have an afterlife on the web. Times will change and situations will evolve but what you say will become enshrined in your legacy and that of the company. Two questions to always ask yourself are:

a. Does this story fit into the flow of all that I have already laid down on previous topics and in previous communications? Are there any contradictions?

b. Am I willing to stand by these words – and any actions I commit to – in the future? Will my successor be comfortable with these commitments and comments?

4. Create a cadence that maintains both regularity and relevance: The days of the ‘one and done’ comment from the CEO are long gone. Your stakeholders will want to hear from you as issues arise, they will want updates and even ‘after action reviews’. This was especially true for employees in the first year of the pandemic. However, balance must be struck between frequency and speed.

a. Having an agile communications team is vital to make sure you get your story out just in time. Time is important. You need enough time to craft what you will say but you need to say it soon enough to satisfy the audience.

b. The harder challenge is to communicate just enough. Talking too much can lead some stakeholders to question what else you are doing. Not talking enough leaves a silence that people will fill for themselves.

5. Ensure your leadership team knows what you are saying: This is a simple step, but it is a vital one. The rest of the C-Suite need to know what you are about to say and what you actually said so that they can reinforce it, repeat it and act on it.  Get your communications people to circulate your talking points and disseminate the reports, the soundbites, and the media clips to your team.

6. Stay in character: Finally, remember that you became the CEO for a reason. People believe in who you are and what you stand for. Have confidence in your character even in the most difficult of circumstances. The great CEOs of history are people you can conjure up in your mind. Even though you are playing a role when you are communicating, the role you are playing is you. Stick to it. Jeff Harmening, the CEO of General Mills, put it nicely when he said, “Crises do not shape your character; they reveal it.”

Communicating at all times is important. In times of crisis, conflict, and concern, it is vital. What you say shapes your company today and its performance in the future. Words do make a big difference. They reach further and get repeated more often than ever before but it is the actions that those words that will lead us to a better place.