Don’t Follow Twitter’s Lead for Stakeholder Communications

Follow these best practices for communicating and leading through change

Last week, Twitter was a case study in poorly managed stakeholder communications, and the implications that can have on company reputation and confidence. You may have read articles like “Can a Purge of the Executive Suite Help Fix an Ailing Twitter?” in Fortune, where the exodus of top leadership was compared to a bloody episode of the Game of Thrones. If you read more than one article the day the news broke, you likely noticed most were based on speculation. Executive level leaders were either being pushed out of the company or were choosing to leave on their own accord. We can’t know for sure what transpired, but in either case the company had the opportunity and responsibility to proactively communicate to employees, investors and the media when and why these changes were taking place. They let information leak, and lost control of the message. CEO Jack Dorsey felt obligated to respond to media speculation and “clear things up” on Twitter even before his own employees were informed. I’d argue this added no value, and I’m not the only one. If you want to read more about the entire botched communications process, I recommend Erick Jackson’s piece in The Street.

Change is not necessarily a bad thing in business. Change may be exactly what Twitter needs (who are we to know?). Unfortunately, Dorsey missed the opportunity to take charge of the change and communicate to important stakeholders — his employees, customers, investors and influencers — why the change was happening, and what positive results it will deliver for the business. His job as CEO is to inspire confidence and lead with a vision for that future. This opportunity was not just lost; in the process, communication was fuddled so badly it created a deficit of confidence.

How could Dorsey have avoided this fate? How can you avoid these mistakes managing change within your own company?

1. Know and respect your stakeholders. When planning communication, it’s important to identify all stakeholders who need to be addressed, and in what priority. In this case, I would suggest employees are number one, followed by external stakeholders including press, analysts and investors. If you’re worried about confidentiality or news leaking outside the organization, brief management first under non-disclosure and schedule broad employee notifications with external communications. Employees should hear the news from you, not The Wall Street Journal (or your Twitter feed).

2. Determine your communication objective. With change, your main objective is to inspire confidence in the company and the direction you’re taking. At best, this may be an opportunity to get people excited about a vision and strategy; at minimum, your goal should be to avoid losing confidence in your ability to lead the organization through a challenging time. What else are you trying to achieve? Know the answer to this question before you begin communicating.

3. Prepare to persuade. Company leaders must provide context for company changes, and more importantly — help stakeholders understand the future. What will happen next? Why is this change in the best interest of the company? Ask yourself, what do my stakeholders care about? What will their objections be? What do I need to share or explain to help bring them on this journey with me?

4. Manage your timing. Part of owning the message is keeping score of how the message will be delivered to each stakeholder. This may require tight coordination and collaboration amongst PR, HR and legal. Make sure your management team and everyone “in-the-know” understands their confidentiality obligations. Under no circumstances should information be leaked to the press by “sources close to the situation.” This insubordination is a sign of a poorly managed company.

You might consider these recommendations common sense, not rocket science. But it’s surprising how often business leaders get it wrong. The first step is for a leader to recognize the importance of stakeholder communication to their brand reputation — and ultimately their business valuation. Twitter’s CMO appointment of long-time American Express communications executive Leslie Berland is a good sign.

Disclosure: I am a Twitter user. I hope if anyone @Twitter reads this they understand it as constructive criticism. I don’t want the Elon Musk treatment.