Internal communications and goal achievement: The CEO’s perspective

Abstract

By effectively utilizing internal communications, CEOs are able to influence organizational culture and communications, inspire employee loyalty and engagement, and build brand image at both company and personal levels.  In fact, some scholars believe that the CEO is more responsible for fostering forthright, transparent internal communications than the organization’s actual communications function.   CEOs who are successful in promoting internal communications can positively influence organizational stakeholder relationships and better achieve their strategic goals.

Through interviews with five CEOs, this paper determined that two-way internal communications was regarded by senior leadership as being necessary for organizational cohesiveness, strategy development, strategic reputation management, boundary spanning, and preemptive problem prevention.  The CEOs interviewed also considered it their responsibility to model and nurture internal communications and regarded the function as contributing to the achievement of their organization’s strategic goals.

Keywords: internal communications, IABC Excellence Theory, CEO, senior leadership, goal achievement