Nationwide’s
online “CEO chat”
Making leaders accessible to employees is a task faced by many communicators. At Nationwide, an online chat forum allowed employees to put burning questions to the CEO.
In December 2002, as part of an ongoing drive to increase the accessibility of the senior management team and improve employee feedback, the Nationwide Building Society developed an online chat forum. During the forums, the CEO is available for comment in a chatroom on the corporate intranet for two designated hours over lunch. Employees are able to log on from any of the company’s 700+ sites and talk to him about benefit programs, employment issues, operational programs or ask any burning questions they have.
Employees can submit questions during the week leading up to the event and anytime during the online conversation. Questions are prioritized by the communication team, with the CEO typically answering about 40 questions during the allotted time frame. After the chat, a transcript of the conversation is posted on the company ’s intranet.
During the forums, the CEO is available for comment in a chatroom on the corporate intranet for two designated hours over lunch.
Making the online chat successful
Kevin Chapple, communications manager at Nationwide, gives two pointers
to make sure the online forum is a success:
1. Provide the CEO with plenty of support during the chat to keep
it running smoothly. This includes tech staff to help mitigate
any technological difficulties,
communication people prioritize incoming questions and business
experts to assist the CEO in answering detailed questions he may not
know
the
answer
to off the cuff.
2. Help the CEO convey his personal voice. Since words appearing on a blank screen don’t easily communicate a level of intimacy, it’s important to coach the CEO to “speak” in his own language – using a conversational tone – so employees know they really are speaking to their top leader.
According to Chapple, “This has been a great way for us to involve a large number of our employees at different locations in one discussion with the CEO.” Feedback from employees about the conversations has been overwhelmingly positive. “People love being able to ask our top leader the questions that matter to them.”
Since the kick-off event in December 2002, the company has hosted four such chat forums. Although they have temporarily been put on hold while the communication team transitions from an external service provider to building their own internal service, Chapple hopes that they will continue the forums in the future.
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