Self-serve executive communication

Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers is like any other busy CEO.

โ€œFor weeks at a time, he may have only a few minutes he can devote to employee communications between important customer meetings and other business activities,โ€ wrote Cisco employee communications manager Desiree Elsharif in her entry into last year’s E2E Communication Awards.

Elsharif and her colleagues wanted to find a way to share Chambersโ€™ energy and ideas with employees without disrupting his schedule. They came up with an elegant answer: โ€œCEO Video E-mails.โ€

More than a blog, which Cisco communicators also considered, video would show Chambersโ€™ personality, his โ€œpowerful demeanor, eloquent language and nonverbal skills, bringing his energy and enthusiasm directly to viewers.โ€

But Cisco is spread across 70 countries around the world. Time differences reduce the effectiveness of live videos. โ€œWhile employees view long format videos-on-demand when they have time,โ€ Cisco communicators reasoned, โ€œa shorter format was needed for messages they should absorb quickly.โ€

Using some of Ciscoโ€™s own communications technologyโ€”itโ€™s handy to communicate for a computer companyโ€”Elsharif and her team created a way for Chambers to make 90-second videos right at his desk and make it available via e-mail messages sent to the whole 100,000-person audience of employees and key contractors.

With the help of a briefing by an executive communication manager, โ€œJohn can easily and quickly compose and produce the video at his own desk,โ€ Elsharif says. โ€œAfter each employee opens the video, it appears that John is speaking to him or her personally, from his own desk.โ€

Topics are limited to those of worldwide priority and requests for direct action. The videos are homespun, โ€œdeliberately recorded directly to a digital low-quality format so the video is easily hosted and streamed,โ€ Elsharif says.

Chambers has taken to it. โ€œHe now records a key message literally in five minutes and one take, from wherever in the world he is visitingโ€”and makes it available to a total possible audience of 100,000.โ€ And itโ€™s catching on with other Cisco execs, too; 25 of them now use the format to speak to their employee groups.

In surveys, employees have said they appreciate Chambersโ€™ videos, one remarking, โ€œWith messages like this you will create a level of intimacy with individual contributors that will drive an amazing amount of loyalty, productivity and commitment to success.โ€

And to end the suspense, yes: Elsharif won the category award.

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