At the World Finance Forum’s CFO event last December, a member of the audience raised an interesting question for the panelists. This attendee, who had just been promoted to CFO at the time of the event, said she remembers the days of getting an email from her past CFO and being terrified she did something wrong.
Her question was, how do you properly craft a leadership tone in your communications in a digital world?
For this edition of the Peer Audit series, I posed her question to CFOs and colleagues across an array of industries. To summarize, they said you must know your audience, create a tone with an expected outcome of reaction to your message, and be aware that even the smallest of things — such as punctuation — can carry significant weight.
When communicating digitally, how do you craft tone in such a way that it’s proper in its context, helps carry your intended message, and is received correctly?
Ilana Esterrich, CFO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (health services provider)
I think the number one thing is to know your audience. I have a different tone when I am working with the people who report directly to me because we have our own sense of camaraderie, openness, and a very publicly stated sense of physiological trust. This is different just a few layers down in the organization, because of the hierarchy aspects of executive positions.
I never want to scare somebody out of their wits when they see an email or message from me in their inbox. That’s why I use my managing director as a sort of Key and Peele-style reverse anger translator. I have someone on my team who can take a message of mine that I’m unsure about how it will land in the company, and add softening language or terminology that is more acceptable in our organization. This has been a huge help for me.
"I use my managing director as a sort of Key and Peele-style reverse anger translator."
Ilana Esterrich
CFO, Planned Parenthood
But, when I need to deliver a serious message, I don’t really care about tone. It comes down to knowing your audience and the level of importance of your message.
Nick Araco Jr, CEO and chairman, The CFO Alliance (CFO leadership group)
I’ve discussed this a lot with CFOs. I like to relate this idea to the Hermann brain dominance instrument. You’ve got to determine how people prefer to naturally receive information to process that information and make decisions with that information.
Neuroscience tells us that most finance leaders today have a natural preference to receive facts, figures, and numbers as the primary way to receive information. Secondary [preference] would probably be process orientation. CFOs tend to struggle with the upper right quadrant of the brain, the creativity side.
If a CFO gets the sense that a person they are [communicating with is] more upper right quadrant-orientated, they should start that email or message with a good morning, good afternoon, or good evening. Ask them how their weekends were. If the person is more numbers orientated, like how I mentioned many CFOs are themselves, that may not be necessary.
It’s important to resonate with the thought processes of the people you’re speaking with to develop tone.
Chantal Wessels, CFO, Apex Fintech Solutions (fintech infrastructure facilitator)
Email can sometimes be dangerous when it comes to using punctuation. If there’s exclamation marks, people tend to take that as aggressive or something like that. What I tend to do if I’m frustrated with something is to write an email and not send it right away. Then, I will come back and reread it to make sure my message is getting across without a tone that reflects my emotional reaction.
When it comes to sending an email with a serious tone, I think it’s important to follow up with some type of call.
We live in a very virtual world nowadays as we all know, so being in the same room isn’t always possible. However, I think getting the tone correct is important because if people take your message the wrong way, it can sidetrack a lot of important decisions to be made or actions that need to be taken.
Anthony Rose, CFO, Kaptius (small business lender)
I have a bit of an issue with the idea of someone being worried by an email or message from me. I see myself as a regular dude. When I hear that a message of mine caused someone to get nervous or stress them out, my heart drops. I want people to get an email from me and say “Oh this is an email from Anthony,” not just the CFO. I hope that I don’t strike fear into people with my communication.
I think it’s important for CFOs to understand that if this is an issue, your tone problems didn’t start in that email. Tone is about how you project yourself to the company.
"I think it’s important for CFOs to understand that if [fear of communication] is an issue, your tone problems didn’t start in that email."
Anthony Rose
CFO, Kapitus
For instance, I engage with people on our Slack channel and I joke around. I like to think that’s my brand. The tone I send in an email is the culmination of everything I’ve ever done or said at the company. Tone is set months or years before you ever send the email where your tone is misheard.
Meghan Ryan, CFO, Treasury Prime (embedded finance and Banking-as-a-Service provider)
For me, tone all starts from a relationship standpoint. What is my relationship with the audience I am communicating with? Are they familiar with the way I communicate? Do they know the types of things I care about? Will they be putting themselves in my shoes to interpret my message?
We are a small company, so I know most of the folks here on my team so that gives me a decent understanding of my audience. I think adjusting your tone such that you get the response you’re looking for, achieving what you want by sending the message, and making sure that what you’re putting out there is indeed the message you’re looking to portray.
Candice Holcomb, CFO, Generation West Virginia (non-profit community development and networking group)
Tone starts with the greeting. A simple "hello" versus "hey," can instantly denote the tone of an email at the first word. In the body of the message, keeping it traditionally formal, such as including an introduction, body, and conclusion, will set a serious tone. Also, regardless of the intended tone, context is always key.
"There's no shame in having a peer review a communication to see how they perceive it, especially if it's a delicate communication."
Candice Holcomb
CFO, Generation West Virginia
Giving someone the necessary background information is generally better than “getting to the point” in order to provide clarity and reduce the chance of a misunderstanding. Also, punctuation is another key in denoting tone. In my opinion, exclamation points and internet slang like “LOL” should be reserved for communications that are not serious. Also, it sends a mixed message injecting humor into a communication that is intended to be serious, so that should be approached with caution.
A serious email can always benefit from a fresh set of eyes, which can be done by coming back and re-reviewing a communication a few hours later or overnight to have a fresh perspective. There's also no shame in having a peer review a communication to see how they perceive it, especially if it's a delicate communication.
Rich Rose, Managing Partner, Rainstar Capital (former CFO) (private equity group and small business lender)
If you’re someone older and you’re sending an email, your tone can be perceived much differently by someone in their 20s than someone your age. These people grew up on social media. They have their own aspects of business communication in a remote world.
I think the onus is on the person who is sending the message to make sure their tone doesn’t inhibit their message from getting across in the proper way. With all this in mind, you also have to remember your audience and the context in which you’re talking to them.