In 2007, McKinsey & Company wrote an article on the CEO’s role in leading business transformation. More than a decade later, its central message still rings true:
"The role of CEOs is unique in that they stand at the top of the pyramid and all the other members of the organization take cues from them. CEOs who give only lip service to a transformation will find everyone else doing the same. Those who fail to model the desired mind-sets and behavior or who opt out of vital initiatives risk seeing the transformation lose focus. Only the boss of all bosses can ensure that the right people spend the right amount of time driving the necessary changes."
In summary, the most effective CEOs are those who stand in front of their companies to assert meaningful change. Businesses undergoing digital transformation take note – if you want to increase adoption of new technologies, it must come from the top. Executives need to be visible to reinforce behaviors and values that make new ideas stick – Live Video can help.
Changes to the Global Workforce Driving Live Video Adoption
Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, Owl Labs reported that 52% of employees around the world worked from home at least one day a week. In the time since stay-at-home orders and social distancing were put into place however, millions more have transitioned to working remotely. Gartner recently surveyed 317 CFOs and business finance leaders and found that “74% of those surveyed expect at least 5% of their workforce who previously worked in company offices will become permanent work-from-home employees after the pandemic ends.”
This shift to remote working has significantly increased adoption of collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams – the platform added 31 million users in one month – and employees are increasingly turning to Live Video as a means of communicating with coworkers and leadership. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “As COVID-19 impacts every aspect of our work and life, we've seen two years' worth of digital transformation in two months,”
This can partly be explained because Live Video offers many of the same benefits as face-to-face meetings. Whether you need to energize your company’s culture, navigate through challenging times or are trying to achieve buy-in for a corporate initiative, Live Video lets you leverage emotion and bond with a distributed workforce.
Employees Want More Communication from Leadership
Although 88% of employees say they’ve already heard at least a little from their employer regarding COVID-19 and business continuity, there is an appetite for more. Put simply, there is no such thing as overcommunicating.
Now is the time for CEOs and other business leaders to step into the spotlight to share regular video updates with employees. As the demand for communications continues to rise, it’s important to retain the quality of your Live Events. Ad hoc All Hands Meetings or CEO daily messages still need to be delivered professionally and without interruption.
Download the Visible Boss White Paper
The seamless incorporation of video into enterprise communication strategy and toolkits needs to come from the top. The Kollective team has developed a white paper, The Visible Boss, to provide practical advice from business leaders on effectively communicating via video.
Download it now to increase executive visibility and learn how to become a more visible boss.