The leader's blog is spreading like Japanese Knotweed as company bosses look for (but more often than not are dragged into) new ways of communicating with employees. It sounds like a good idea but the results are often miserable.
A company I've worked with has a number of executive bloggers (and it gets very competitive when it comes to readership stats); each has their own style, but the blogs are not as varied as the authors themselves. There's a little too much holding back; not enough risk-taking. One exec's journey is interesting though.
In the beginning his weekly posting was a barely disguised "it's been good so far, now do better" missive. While this is an easy place to start it gets dull pretty quickly, which readers know but writers often don't. With some help he had the confidence to talk more about himself and his job, giving readers an insight into what it is to be him. Not surprisingly it became a much more engaging read.
In fiction and drama this is known as show, don't tell. By sharing his thoughts and actions, rather than telling people what to do, he led by example.
Try these other tips for a successful leader's blog:
- shed some light on your non-work life - it makes you human (which is a good thing, whatever you may think). Talk about the things that are important to you, that have meant something; it will come through in what you write
- don't shoe-horn tedious domesticity into your blog in order to make some simplistic analogy. The following is NOT good: "I was doing the dishes last night and it made me think about the importance of keeping on top of governance every day, rather than saving it up for a periodic spring clean ..."
- show people what it's like to do your job. They'll respect you for it and will be more inclined to listen to what you have to say. And don't forget to include the stuff you don't like doing - nobody believes "I love every minute" fairytales
- be predictable in your timing but not in your content. If people know when to expect something from you, they're likely to form a reading habit. If they already know what they're going to get, they won't.
If you're not blogging, start soon. And do it well.
