Decode your execs: Managing upward for communicators 

Comms leads are expected to make executives sound good, keep messaging clear and consistent, and ensure internal messaging doesn’t turn into an unread email graveyard. 

Executives have big ideas, strong opinions, and — let’s be honest — a tendency to believe their own press releases. Your job is to translate their vision into something employees and the public can actually engage with while filtering out the fluff, the contradictions, and the self-congratulatory jargon. 

Managing up is a necessary part of protecting the credibility of your company’s messaging, keeping leadership from walking into preventable PR disasters, making sure important initiatives don’t get derailed by mixed signals from the top, and safeguarding your own career. Here’s how to do it. 

Getting to know your exec 

When you’re just starting a relationship with an executive, take a moment to interview them about their communication style. Longtime comms pro Ronald J. O’Brien, who’s joined five organizations alongside new leadership during his career, including 12 years as senior director, corporate public relations at Thermo Fisher Scientific, recommends probing early and often to build that understanding.  

Use prompts like: 

• Tell me about your priorities. 

• What do you hope to accomplish over the next 3, 6, and 9 months? 

• What is the worst thing that could happen in the near term? 

“In the beginning, staying as close as possible is key to getting to know an exec you’ve never worked with before,” said Erin Gaddis, founder and principal at Bridge Media Group. “This will allow you to understand what that exec cares about in the context of the organization, as well as how to best position them for potential thought leadership opportunities.” 

This will also help when it’s time to draft a quote as well. 

You’ll also need to get an idea of the following: 

• Do they understand the value of strategic messaging, or do they think they’re natural communicators? 

• Are they transparent, or do they expect you to clean up contradictions on the fly? 

• How and to what extent do they prefer to receive feedback about messaging? 

Once you understand their priorities, you can pair them with a communications framework that adapts to their communication style and serves both the message and the messenger.  

Earning trust 

Most executives have no interest in micromanaging, but some feel they need to if they don’t have someone they can trust to make decisions without them. The more they trust your instincts, the more they’ll defer to you. 

O’Brien’s advice: Create a blueprint they can trust and return to. “I would include each of these elements in a ‘message map,’” he said. A message map or framework typically takes the form of “a one-page document that outlines talking points for each element of the strategy and can be adapted to any situation.”  

Explain why the message didn’t land, and offer a better path forward. 

Gaddis also suggests streamlining executive communications through consistent messaging in an easy-to-read format.  

“Send a weekly or quarterly recap about how things are going and have a ‘wins vs. Opportunities’ section,” she said, and frame “bad news” as opportunities for growth. “If you have a consistent cadence of communication, it’s easy to not get too high on the highs or too low on the lows.” 

Other trust-building strategies: 

• Underpromise and overdeliver. (That is, verbally set expectations slightly lower than what you know you can accomplish. You’ll exceed those expectations every time.) 

• Know what to escalate and what to handle yourself. 

• Bring solutions, not just problems. 

• Save them time by anticipating challenges and solving them before they reach the executive’s desk. 

“You’ve won if your exec sends you a request to evaluate before they hop in and respond to press,” Gaddis added. 

Predictability through feedback 

Executives might improvise, go off-script, or make bold statements in all-hands meetings and then contradict them in interviews. You’re there to keep the message consistent — even when it’s evolving. 

Your job is to provide that throughline without stepping on toes. Get their buy-in early, frame edits as refinements, and give them headlines and talking points rather than drafts. And if they’re determined to wing it, lean back on that message framework that gives them flexibility without losing clarity. 

When giving feedback, O’Brien said, “lead with data. Most leaders have a financial background, and they want to understand the impact on the business. Marketing may offer insights, but communicators focus on measuring perception.” 

In other words, make it measurable. Bring defensible metrics, or those with clear data behind them, and frame your feedback in terms of impact and outcomes.  

Playing catch 

Every comms pro has stared down a sentence or decision so bad it made their soul leave their body. Your job? Fix it before it leaves the room, and do it in a way that keeps the relationship intact. 

“Honesty is the best policy,” Gaddis said. “There’s no room to skirt around the issue when the brand is at risk. We are all professionals with our respective lanes, so sharing honest feedback reduces the brand risk and also builds trust with your exec.” 

O’Brien recommends modeling, or spelling out what outcomes might result. “Modeling provides leadership with a sense of quasi-certainty when evaluating actions that may have harmful consequences,” he said. “While some business decisions may yield short-term benefits, they could ultimately be detrimental in the long run.” As an example, he cited some companies’ struggle to get buy-in for rigid back-to-office mandates and the need to weigh potential productivity gains and camaraderie against talent retention and on-site costs. 

If hypotheticals don’t work, fall back on testing, data and reframing. “I see what you’re going for. What if we refine it a little to make sure it lands?” 

Then again, some executives don’t want to be managed and aren’t interested in feedback. Some believe their instincts override strategy. Some just don’t listen. 

O’Brien offers a pragmatic solution when direct coaching doesn’t work: “Surveys can provide valuable insights into expected outcomes. If conducting an actual survey is impractical, useful information can be gathered through an AI-based prompt to assess potential outcomes.” 

Translation: When they won’t listen to you, give them data they can’t ignore. 

Ultimately, O’Brien says communicators must align closely with leadership to create a sense of shared purpose by reading the room, understanding risks and surfacing what matters most. “Effective communication is not always immediately visible or measurable,” he said. “But when leaders receive information supported by defensible metrics, they can be confident in the accuracy and reliability of the data.”