Fractional VP Engineering, Leadership & Executive Coach, Mentor, Organizational Developer, Advisor, Speaker, Moderator | Former SaaS founder, CEO
When as a CTO (or other high-level leader) should you communicate big decisions directly, instead of relying on team leads as messengers? Here’s my opinion on this: Communication from both the leadership team and the team leads is needed for the best outcome. While the CTO/CEO communicates the big picture, rationale, and importance, the team leads can then follow up, connecting that decision to specifics about how it will impact their team's day-to-day work. This approach balances top-down ownership with the personalized touch of a direct manager. In my experience, a combination of both is usually most effective for communicating decisions that affect a large portion of an organization/company: First, the CTO/CEO or similarly high-up leader communicates the big picture. Then, managers/team leads connect with their teams with more specifics about what it means for them. That's usually a good combination of leaders taking ownership, while also empowering line managers and helping them tailor communication to the specific needs of their teams + reports, both of which are really important. The prerequisite to this sequencing of information is that managers/team leads are briefed *beforehand*. (You can find more about how to do this and a template in my playbook for managing in difficult times, linked in the comments).
Fractional VP Engineering, Leadership & Executive Coach, Mentor, Organizational Developer, Advisor, Speaker, Moderator | Former SaaS founder, CEO
4mohttps://www.lenareinhard.com/articles/a-playbook-for-managing-leading-in-difficult-times-crises