John Baldoni, a leadership consultant/coach/speaker describes the various communication problems that beset leaders and CEOs (via the Harvard Review Blog), which got me thinking of (yes, you guessed right) CEO blogging. (Read more posts from me on this topic).

While John’s post talks about four kinds of behaviors that cause communication problems and three ways to avoid them within the company, I evolve these principles to their rightful conclusion – how to communicate effectively both within the company and externally to the public.

Four types of behaviors that cause communication problems

1. “There is no listening and very little learning.”

Whether CEOs blog or not (is debatable) but CEOs should monitor brands (e.g. through google alerts, tweetscan, friendfeed, etc…) – here’s how-to?

2. “Not all managers feel that way and they do not share information with certain people on their team.”

3. “Say you discover information that will help solve a critical bottleneck in the company. You may wish to share it, but your boss refuses to allow you to do so.”

4. “Managers within the organization understand communication deficiencies but do not do take action to make it better.”

Three tactics to avoid communication problems

1. “One, acknowledge that problems occur. Take responsibility for things you can change.”

External Blog: Want to find out how to acknowledge problems and take responsibility on a corporate blog. See how Mark Zuckerberg (CEO, Facebook) acknowledged “messing this one up”

2. “Be available to your team and individuals to exchange ideas.”

Internal Blog or LinkedIn News: A good way to make that happen internally would be through an internal blog within the firewall of your company. Maybe share thoughts via LinkedIn News (which allows you to share your thoughts privately only to your colleagues within the company. (Yes, I work at LinkedIn)

3. “Initiate dialogue with individuals in different functions about issues that affect you and your team. Share information with them and ask for information in return. Keep talking.”

External Blog: I definitely won’t recommend CEOs blogging, but I think it’s a good idea for a CEO to communicate effectively (maybe contribute a monthly series on the company’s blog) and most importantly take that blog post seriously and make it a point to respond to user feedback on that post.

Does your CEO blog? Would you like him/her to? Leave a comment.

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