The other day I was talking with a client company’s head executives. I let them know that things were underway on my projects with the project leaders and was just cc’ing them to say hello and keep them in the loop, but promised I wouldn’t trouble them with further emails unless absolutely necessary.

Not a minute later, I had a reply from the CEO asking me to actually go ahead and cc them, no matter the issue. 

At first, I was floored — wasn’t that a waste of their increasingly valuable time? Who in these days asks for more email?  This organization is growing extremely fast. Does the CEO really have time to click through unnecessary emails?

She clarified: by cc’ing her and other key execs in, they could keep an eye on the tone and content of messages with additional or new parties that might become involved.  This is how they ensure consistent messaging throughout their growth. It also enables them with the reflexes to react quickly if something written isn’t quite on point.  Simply put, it takes much less time for them to quickly flip through email messages than it does to do cleanup for messy or improper communications down the line. 

I’m the last person to try and add to your email pile, but an important cost-benefit analysis was taking place here at their executive level:  Given that they’re in a sensitive industry and their funding depends upon the establishment and maintenance of strong relationships, they have made an extremely smart communication choice – the only one they can make, really.  Speaking in a consistent, warm, and properly informed voice is a make-or-break issue for them, so constant oversight of the messages being sent on behalf of their organization is more than worth the minimal time investment by key leadership to scan emails being sent on their behalf.  This has become so second-nature that the leadership incorporates it into their management tasks. To be clear, they don’t usually reply to the conversations, because they usually don’t have to. But if they did, they could.

Note: This isn’t in the marketing department- this is an organization-wide policy!

Do you have a communications policy at your organization? Who is cc’d on emails? Is everyone clear on who should be involved in certain communications? Do they comply?

Do your co-founders, colleagues, or employees have a shared understanding of what the tone and content of your messages should be? Do they actively incorporate your organizations message into their work?

Do you renew the team’s understanding of messaging as it might have grown or changed with time?