Interacting with Senior Executives

Name: Interacting with Senior Executives
Author: Katharine Hansen

Understand the role of senior executives to communicate effectively with them.

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Course: On-Demand

(bright music) Welcome to KnowledgeCity's course, Interacting with Senior Executives. To communicate effectively with senior executives, it's important to understand their role, how your role relates to theirs, and how you can enhance that relationship. In these lessons, you'll learn more about these roles as well as the basics of facilitating informative and persuasive communications with executives. Chances are you probably work with senior executives, or you expect to at some point. These executives form the top leadership tier in organizations that have a hierarchical structure. Organizations with multiple tiers of responsibility tend to be relatively large, though not all large organizations have hierarchical management structures. Employees become senior executives based on several factors, such as having been with the company for a significant amount of time. Executive leadership can sometimes be a reward for those who have demonstrated their loyalty and commitment to the organization over several years. Many executives enjoy privileges that employees at lower levels don't have access to. Their compensation is greater than that of their subordinates, and they may also control the compensation, promotional opportunities, roles, and responsibilities of lower-level employees. Executives often possess vital knowledge and expertise that the organization needs to operate and thrive. That wisdom may spring from the executive's educational level, industry-specific credentials, or their experience in their industry or organization. Executive expertise is usually either operational or strategic. The word operational refers to the day-to-day way the organization is run, while the word strategic focuses on the long term and is usually connected with the organization's mission and vision. But not all senior executives have significant longevity in their current organization. The executive suite can have a high turnover rate, and it's common for companies to seek out executives from other organizations who possess necessary expertise. But there's more to senior executives than seniority and experience. Senior executives know how to navigate organizational politics and often possess a high level of emotional intelligence and strong interpersonal skills. An outstanding senior executive may be an exceptional quantitative thinker with a strong grasp and focus on the organization's numbers, especially when it comes to finances, a visionary with a clear mental picture of where the organization needs to go and how it can get there, along with a holistic perspective on the organization, a quick study who can readily recall information, an exceptional communicator who uses the power of their words to motivate and inspire employees, an innovator who brings new and significant ideas to the organization, or a change agent who isn't afraid to transform the organization to ensure its success. These top-level leaders may have senior and executive in their titles. Others include director, vice president, and head. These words may appear in combination in titles such as executive vice president or senior director. What's known as the C-suite consists of the chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief operations officer, or any other title with chief in it, and they're also senior executives. Members of the senior executive team may all report to the CEO, or they may report to one of the other chiefs.

Intermediate Provider : Katharine Hansen 6 Lessons · 19m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

Characteristics of senior executives present both challenges and opportunities for your interactions with them. Their role as decision-makers is key to your communication with them in such areas as problem-solving, policymaking, risk management, and growth. How does the power differential between you and executives impact the way you approach communication with them? How can your communication benefit executives?

In these lessons on Interacting with Senior Executives, you will discover that to communicate effectively with senior executives, you must understand their role and how yours relates to it. You’ll see how you can enhance that relationship to build optimal communication and you’ll learn the basics of facilitating informative and persuasive communications you may have with them. These lessons can help you discover how to build rapport with executives to make them receptive to your communication. You’ll understand the most common types of communication with executives – communication to inform and communication to persuade – and how persuasive communication can result in increased revenue, lower costs, greater productivity, and an enhanced reputation for the organization.

What You'll Learn

Recognize the role of senior executives within organizational dynamics
Analyze your own role in relation to senior executives
Build rapport with senior executives to make them receptive to your communication
Distinguish between communication to inform and communication to persuade
Facilitate informative and persuasive communications with executives

Key Takeaways

To communicate effectively with senior executives, you must understand their role and how your own role relates to it.
Senior executives act as decision-makers in areas such as problem-solving, policymaking, risk management, and growth.
Building rapport with executives helps make them receptive to your communication.
The two most common types of communication with executives are communication to inform and communication to persuade.
Persuasive communication can result in increased revenue, lower costs, greater productivity, and an enhanced reputation for the organization.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this course cover?

It covers the role of senior executives and how your role relates to it, how to build rapport to make executives receptive to your communication, and the basics of facilitating informative and persuasive communications with them.

What are the two main types of communication with executives addressed in the course?

The course addresses communication to inform and communication to persuade, and explains how persuasive communication can lead to increased revenue, lower costs, greater productivity, and an enhanced reputation for the organization.

Why is understanding an executive's role important for communicating with them?

Because to communicate effectively with senior executives you must understand their role as decision-makers and how your own role relates to it, which lets you enhance the relationship and build optimal communication.

What topics do the lessons include?

The lessons include Senior Executives and Organizational Dynamics, Understanding their Role, Understanding Your Role, Building Rapport, Communication to Inform or Persuade, and a Test Your Knowledge section.

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