Chief Reminding Officer

Q: Why don’t all leaders do this?

There are two reasons: 1. Many leaders are afraid to over-communicate. They fear that it’s redundant, which they see as wasteful and inefficient. Or they fear that it’s going to be insulting to their audience. 2. Some leaders haven’t clarified what they need to be communicating.

matthew0268
3 days ago
20 min read

Every leader needs to be a CRO

Whatever your leadership position, I believe every leader needs to be a CRO.

A Chief Revenue Officer I here you question? But no on this occasion I am meaning a Chief Reminding Officer.

This phrase was coined by one of my favourite authors Pat Lencioni in his book “The Advantage”. So many people speak about the importance of communication as a critical part of leadership, but do not go further to explain what they mean. I think the critical part is to communicate constantly and continually remind the team on what is truly important to the point that you feel sick of repeating yourself.

Why is repetition important?

The Rule of Seven is a concept I remember from my marketing studies that says a person must see a message seven times before it gets their attention. This applies to not only marketing messages, but all communication.

Psychologically, the brain processes information through two memory systems: working memory (short-term) and long-term memory. For information to move from short-term memory to long-term retention, it needs to be repeatedly encoded and retrieved. Humans also naturally forget or lose focus over time. This is partly due to the Forgetting Curve, a concept introduced by psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, which shows how quickly memories fade without reinforcement.

Repetition, through reminding, ensures that the information results in long-term learning and behavioral change. I certainly subscribe to the theory that there is no such thing as overcommunication for important messages for your team.

Some people don’t do it because they fear being repetitive may be insulting to the audience or they are not clear what messages need repeating. Lencioni explains that leaders must take the time to answer the six critical questions at the heart of organisational clarity –

Why does the organization exist?

How do we behave?

What do we do?

How will we succeed?

What is most important—right now?

Who must do what?

Once defined, leaders need to remind their teams repeatedly, to combat the natural forgetting process, reinforcing essential messages until they become ingrained.

At the point you feel you are being overly repetitive, this is the stage that usually the team members are fully taking it in and internalising it. The best situation I find is when the team are repeating back these messages in conversations – that’s when I know the overcommunication is working.

A question for everyone reading this – are you being an effective CRO yourself?

Always interested to hear your thoughts and comments.

Leaders acting as CROs leverage this process to help their teams align with the organization's goals.

And in today’s world of electronic distractions, when it comes to communication, some say we need to hear messages 15 to 20 times before it really sinks in. You need to be your own living version of a Post-it Note.

The important messages to consistently remind the team of

Why is repetition important?

The Rule of Seven is an old marketing concept that says a person must see a message seven times before it gets their attention. This applies to not only marketing messages, but all communication. And in today’s world of electronic distractions, when it comes to communication, some say we need to hear messages 15 to 20 times before it really sinks in. You need to be your own living version of a Post-it Note.

If this is true, what does it mean for the way you interact with your team?

I frequently hear executives say “Why don’t they understand. I told them once.” Once is not enough. In fact, when you get to the point where you just can’t imagine saying it one more time, the message is only starting to sink in.

We’ve heard the guidelines to preparing an effective speech.

1. Tell them what you are going to tell them.

2. Tell them.

3. Tell them what you just told them.

Repetition is critical.

Serving as a Chief Reminder Officer requires some finesse. It won’t be effective if you simply repeat a sentence multiple times like a robot. You need to incorporate the intention of the message into various forms of communication. You might mention it at the morning huddle. Include it in follow-up emails or texts. Post it on the bulletin board or in the coffee room. Write about it in the company newsletter. And one-on-one meetings are also a great reminder venue.

The topics worthy of reminding are unending. At the top of the list should be your vision. Whether it’s the company’s vision or your department vision, incorporating this into as many different messages as possible helps to keep the team focused on the end goal.

Equally important are company values, important project deliverables and anything else you want everyone to embrace.

The key to effective reminding is to do it in a way that team members will hear. Don’t be condescending. If people feel you are talking down to them, it doesn’t matter how many times you say it, the message will be dismissed.

If you want to be sure your message was received, ask others to repeat what they think they heard. Explain you want to be sure you said it correctly and didn’t leave anything out. This approach puts the onus on you as the communicator and not on the other person as the receiver, which is less threatening.

Don’t forget to focus on how you say your message. Be enthusiastic. The team takes its lead from the leader. If you seem bored by the message, you’re telling others “this isn’t worth your time.” Enthusiasm is contagious. When you are able to reinforce the message with energy and conviction, the team will pick up on that energy.

It doesn’t matter what your official title may be. Add Chief Reminder Offer to how you want to lead. CRO needs to be part of every leader’s responsibility.

Leaders as Chief Reminding Officers (CROs) are crucial because they serve as constant sources of alignment, focus, and direction for their teams. The concept emphasizes that effective leadership is not just about creating a vision but continually reinforcing it.

Humans naturally forget or lose focus over time. Studies show that people need to hear information multiple times to truly absorb and internalize it. This is partly due to the Forgetting Curve, a concept introduced by psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, which shows how quickly memories fade without reinforcement. When leaders remind their teams of core values, goals, and strategies regularly, they are combatting this natural forgetting process, reinforcing essential messages until they become ingrained.

Moreover, reminding ensures clarity and consistency, reducing misunderstandings and fostering a shared sense of purpose. Repetition also creates psychological safety—when team members consistently hear the same goals or values, they feel more secure and clear about their roles and expectations. This also strengthens team unity and motivation.

Leaders who act as CROs understand that effective communication isn't a "one and done" task. The brain retains information better when it’s revisited in different contexts, and when leaders adapt and reinforce key messages, they make them stick.

Why do humans need repetition to remember? Psychologically, the brain processes information through two memory systems: working memory (short-term) and long-term memory. For information to move from short-term memory to long-term retention, it needs to be repeatedly encoded and retrieved. Repetition, through reminding, ensures that the information passes through this cognitive process effectively, resulting in long-term learning and behavioral change. Leaders acting as CROs leverage this process to help their teams align with the organization's goals.

In summary, leaders acting as Chief Reminding Officers help combat human forgetting, reinforce organizational priorities, and foster a sense of psychological safety through repetition, making sure everyone is aligned toward the same vision.

Everyone talks about communication being a critical part of leadership, but all too often they don’t clarify what that means. When it comes to the leader of an organization, whether that is a CEO running a company or a manager leading a department, the most critical part of communication has to do with constantly reminding people what is truly important.

The best leaders understand that they are CROs (Chief Reminding Officers), and that there is no such thing as too much communication. The best organizations in the world are the ones where leaders are constantly reiterating the organization’s culture, strategy and priorities.

Why don’t all leaders do this? There are two reasons:

1. Many leaders are afraid to over-communicate.

They fear that it’s redundant, which they see as wasteful and inefficient. Or they fear that it’s going to be insulting to their audience. Great leaders must realize that no employee has ever left a company with the complaint, “that leader just communicated with me too much!” In fact, it’s not until a leader is so tired of communicating a message that employees are just starting to believe and internalize it. I like to say that you aren’t communicating enough as a leader unless your people can do a good impression of you when you’re not around.

2. Some leaders haven’t clarified what they need to be communicating.

The purpose of over-communication is not simply about volume—flooding employees with e-mail, text messages, videos or posters—it’s about getting in front of them as often as possible to intentionally remind them about what really matters. To do that, leaders must take the time to answer the six critical questions at the heart of organizational clarity (Why does the organization exist?; How do we behave?; What do we do?; How will we succeed?; What is most important—right now?; Who must do what?). The answers to those questions form the basis of almost all the substantive communication that a leader must convey.

So, whether you’re a CEO, a CFO, a CMO or just a manager, do yourself and your employees a favor and be the CRO that they, and the organization, need.

To learn more about communicating clarity, click here.

When you join a leadership team, part of your job gets easier. Your new gig comes with perks, including an official pardon from cold-calling prospects, writing code, and double-checking excel formulas. Congratulations. You now work on the business instead of in the business.

But don’t get too excited. Excelling at your job is now a lot harder. Your grade is now based on someone else’s homework. Yes, you get to build the plan. That’s the cool part. But making the plan happen — and the frustrating, tedious, cat-herding labor it requires — also falls on you. For most, this requires a new set of muscles. You’ve spent your career doing the work. Now, for the first time, you’re directing it. Funny. No one tells you more responsibility comes with less control.

There’s another career path out there that follows a similar arc: Professional sports. Many great athletes turn to coaching after their playing days are over. But many fail as coaches for a simple reason: The game is different when you’re standing on the sidelines. Literally banished from the field of play, coaches have only a limited set of tools to influence their team’s performance. But they don’t let this hold them back. Great coaches lead by influencing their team, keeping them focused, and yes, reminding them — over and over — of what it takes to win.

When I work with executives on building their Chief Reminding Officer toolkit, I start by asking them to think like coaches. We talk about the techniques and skills that all great coaches use. Then we focus on clarifying and practicing three coaching disciplines:

Feedback — Directing people to “do this, not that”
Recognition — Praising the right behaviors
Repetition — Sharing memorable cues that spur action

After working on these three tactics, people leave with a visceral, concrete understanding of what effective, focused coaching feels like. You can’t coach everything, I tell them. You have to pick your spots. Together we clarify and prioritize a short, powerful list of coaching opportunities and messages they can focus on.

Here’s the framework that forms the backbone of my training.

The framework is simple. That’s why it works. As author George Bernard Shaw said, “The biggest problem in communication is the illusion it’s taken place.” By clarifying and practicing these three techniques, we give executives a short, manage-able list they can use informally and “in the moment” with their teams. Communicating in this way — informally and spontaneously — is unnatural for many leaders. Formal opportunities — your town hall, your all-hands, or the employee newsletter — can seem more important because they’re more visible, and executives are often front-and-center. But these formal broadcasts only happen so often. The informal stuff — the little unscheduled opportunities to communicate with our team — is way more powerful. Taking advantage of coaching, recognizing, and reminding in the moment can make a huge difference in helping an idea, a behavior, or a strategy stick. When someone you’re connected with — someone you work with or for everyday — coaches you, praises you, or starts to repeat something, you take notice. Huh, you think. That seems important.

But there’s a problem. Informal communication is hard. Partly because it’s so easy to forget about. As the saying goes, “the unsure mind always says no.” If you’re not sure exactly what to say or how to say it, it’s easy for managers to let these little openings pass by. The hallway conversation, the 5 minutes at the start of a team meeting, or the million other moments scattered around your workday: These are all opportunities to coach, recognize and reinforce what matters with your team. Picking your spots in advance — and keeping the list short — is how you minimize uncertainty and improve the odds you’ll actually “go there” when the situation presents itself.

The three Chief Reminding Officer techniques I teach — feedback, recognition, and repetition — are related, but each has their own nuance. Each works best in a specific type of situation, and each requires a specific supporting technique to deliver it effectively. In the “Chief Reminding Officer” series of posts that I’ll release in the coming weeks, I’ll go deep on each of these three disciplines and how to deliver them. I’ll share the curriculum I use to help executives build coaching skills. And I’ll teach you how to think — and lead — like a Chief Reminding Officer.

The NBA’s Best Coach Loves the Early Timeout

It didn’t take long for the San Antonio Spurs to make their first mistake.

It’s January 28, 2019, and the Spurs have just tipped off a home game against the Washington Wizards. After winning the opening tip, the Wizards’ Bradley Beal runs off a screen and dishes to center Thomas Bryant. The Spurs’ defense steps up to challenge Bryant. But they move slowly. Too slowly.

Bryant capitalizes, slamming home a barely-contested dunk. He flexes at his bench as he runs back up the floor. The San Antonio home crowd falls silent, and the Spurs let the ball bounce a few times before picking it up for the inbound, clearly embarrassed at their early miscue. Whoops.

Then the whistle blows. The players look around, confused. The teams glance towards the ref, then towards their coaches, wondering why the game has stopped. Finally, it’s clear. Gregg Popovich, head coach of the Spurs, walks purposefully onto the floor, clipboard in hand, ready to address his team.

Coach Popovich has called timeout.

A few of the Wizards players chuckle as they walk to their bench.

16 seconds have elapsed in the game. A timeout? This early? Is this guy nuts?

While the sudden timeout raised a few eyebrows, those who know “Coach Pop” weren’t surprised. Popovich calls more timeouts in games’ opening minutes than any other NBA coach — 5x more than the next closest during the 2018 season. His behavior might seem impulsive, even petty, to the casual basketball fan. Why burn a valuable timeout just to yell at your team in the first minute of a game? When asked to explain his habit, here’s what Coach Pop said:

“If I see something that’s particularly egregious based on what our game plan was supposed to be, then I try to do something to get them focused a little bit quicker. It mostly depends on the level of execution deficit, I suppose.”

Paraphrasing slightly, here’s my version of Coach Pop’s philosophy on timeouts. “If we’re falling behind or not doing what we’re supposed to — not matter when that happens — I’m not afraid to stop the action and help the team regroup.”

His approach works. Coach Pop’s track record is astonishing. He is the winningest coach in NBA history, and the longest-tenured active head coach in any major professional sport. He is a three-time NBA Coach of the Year, he has claimed five NBA championships over three decades, all while working with ever-changing rosters and a wide range of player personalities. The man is a master of getting the most out of his team.

How does he do it? Well, for one, he is uncommonly willing to stop the action whenever he needs to — even if it’s a little early or a little awkward — to reorient his team, deliver some focused coaching, and get them back on track.

Gregg Popovich is one of the best coaches on the planet.

Gregg Popovich is not afraid to call timeout.

Maybe those two things are connected.

The Art of Being Selectively Interruptive

Coach Pop has it easier than many of us. He gets an allotted number of timeouts and is encouraged to use them. Everyone on and around the court — players, referees, and fans — expects him to call timeout a handful of times each game. It would be weird if he didn’t. Timeouts are built into how the game of basketball is played. Even how it makes money.

Things are different for businesspeople. The rules for when to stop the action aren’t taught in any MBA curriculum. There’s no allotted number of timeouts to keep track of, and no universal rules for how to use them. But you can’t hang back, hope for the best, and just let things play out. You need to intervene and offer feedback to keep your team on track. People need reminding, even with a great game-plan in place.

There’s an art to this. The art of being selectively interruptive. Constantly critique your team and they’ll stop listening. But pick your spots in advance and get consistent with what you coach — and what you don’t — and you’ll be saying something important. This is what matters. This is how we win.

Selective interruption might be a little uncomfortable at first. But you can do it well by following two simple steps.

Step 1 — Decide on Your Non-Negotiables

The best Chief Reminding Officers focus their feedback and coaching on a short list of non-negotiables: The few, authentic standards they live by and expect their people to live up to. Your non-negotiables are behavioral bars you feel strongly about — so strongly that you’re willing to call timeout and offer feedback right then when they aren’t met.

When I help leaders brainstorm their non-negotiables, two distinct buckets quickly emerge:

Operational: How you expect your team to do their work
Cultural: How you want your people to “show up”

The key is staying balanced. 1–2 operational non-negotiables and 1–2 cultural non-negotiables are usually all you need.

You will know that you’ve uncovered an authentic non-negotiable when you can instinctively fill out the following template:

When X (specific situation) happens, I want you to do Y (desired behavior) instead of Z (undesired behavior)

If you’ve ever trained or taught anyone to do anything, you already have operational non-negotiables to pull from. It’s how you expect you team to talk to customers, write marketing briefs, deliver presentations, prepare analyses. Operational non-negotiables are the bar you expect your work to meet.

Cultural non-negotiables are trickier, but they start by examining how your team already behaves when they’re at their best. The best CROs distill specific, video-tapeable behaviors into simple values they can emphasize day-to-day. Some examples from teams I’ve worked with are below:

Simplify, don’t complicate — Don’t make the problem bigger than it is. Talk about options and solutions, not “why this is hard” or what led to the problem in the first place.
Run through the finish line — We’re a small company, so we need to be scrappy. Take ownership and finish the job — whatever it is.
Constructive candor — Don’t be afraid to ask the stupid question or speak up when something isn’t working. Debate the issue, not the person.

Once you ID your non-negotiables, run them through this three-point sanity-check:

Do you care about them?
Do they lead to better outcomes?
Are you willing to jump in right away when you don’t see them happening?

If you can go 3/3 using this list, you can be sure you’ve nailed a great non-negotiable.

Step 2 — Call Timeout by Asking Permission

You probably already have time earmarked for coaching your team. Your 1:1s, your weekly check-ins, and those training sessions — they’re already on the calendar. But if you’re only coaching your team during these pre-scheduled times, you’re not doing enough. Important feedback often can’t (and shouldn’t) wait. The half-life of impactful coaching is short. It needs to be delivered in the moment — right then. Imagine if Gregg Popovich had waited until halftime to coach his team — the result would have been very different.

Here’s my advice. Keep that stuff on your calendar. But don’t wait to coach. The good news is, you can call timeout and coach your team whenever you want. The secret is asking for permission.

Here’s what that sounds like:

“Do you mind if I share something with you that you might disagree with?”
“Hey, I noticed something in that last meeting — OK with you if we talk about it for a second?”
“I like how you structured that analysis — can I share a couple of potential builds with you?”

Asking for permission can feel awkward at first. But it works. Here’s why.

1 — It’s less scary. Asking for permission softens the initial “fight or flight” response we all feel when critiqued. This makes it easier for the other person to not only listen, but also hear and internalize the feedback. Asking for permission also decreases people’s propensity to dismiss the feedback or get angry, defensive, or upset.

2 — It communicates empathy and respect. You’re about to put someone through a short but uncomfortable experience. Asking if “that’s ok” waves a flag of friendliness and signals that you’re on the same side.

3 — It forms a contract. By asking for permission, you create a mutually agreed-upon space you can step into together to deliver your feedback. A space that wasn’t there before. You haven’t kicked down the door. You’ve asked to enter, and you’ve been invited in.

Final Thoughts

My favorite leadership advice all kind of sounds the same.

College football coach Mike Leach likes to say, “You’re either coaching it or allowing it to happen.” Nassim Taleb says, “If you see fraud, and don’t say fraud, you are a fraud.” Ben Horowitz wrote in What You Do Is Who You Are, “There’s a saying in the military that if you see something below standard and you do nothing, then you’ve set a new standard.”

In other words, standards are useless if you don’t enforce them. Being a good leader — and a good Chief Reminding Officer — means choosing and committing to just a handful of non-negotiable standards. After that, coaching your team to meet them becomes instinctual.

So, decide when you’ll call timeout by prioritizing your non-negotiables. Learn to create the space you need by asking for permission. Then deliver your feedback. Right then. In the moment. That’s the art of selective interruption. That’s the power of the timeout.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.

Remember the Spurs game from the beginning of the article? The one where Gregg Popovich called timeout just 16 seconds in? Coach Pop’s team got the message. The Spurs recovered from their blunder and caught fire, scoring 39 points in the first quarter. They blew out the Wizards, winning the game 132–119, despite the early misstep.

Amazing what a single timeout can do.

I love the movie Whiplash.

Why? I love to hate JK Simmons as the manipulative music instructor Terence Fletcher. In a rare moment of quasi-vulnerability halfway through the film, Fletcher hints at his leadership philosophy when he says:

“There are no two words in the English language more harmful than ‘good job.’”

I agree with Fletcher.

…Sort of.

I agree high standards (paired with the ability to detect whether those standards have been met) are important. But Fletcher takes it too far. Here’s where he’s wrong. Positive reinforcement not only works — it’s also the most powerful coaching tactic there is.

My previous employer, Bain & Co., built their change management practice on this belief. Bain’s approach to change starts with identifying a handful of “moments of truth” that pre-empt a desired behavior — for example, a specific interaction between a customer and a salesperson. After clarifying the desired behavior and the undesired behavior, Bain works with their clients to “build an ecosystem around each moment of truth in order to encourage people to choose desired behaviors.”

Stripping out the consultant-speak, the advice boils down to this: Make it easier for people to do the right thing. Bain also recommends that teams deliver “authentic feedback” as part of this process. Here’s Bain’s definition of authentic feedback:

The feedback should be mostly positive — “Ideally, the ratio of positive reinforcement to negative consequences should be about four to one.”
The feedback should be timely — “It should occur right after the behavior in question.”
The feedback should be relevant and personal — “When possible, the feedback should be delivered 1:1.”

Want to see what authentic feedback looks like? Look no further than Steve Kerr, a guy with a hell of a track record: He’s won multiple NBA championships as both a player and a coach. Watch how Coach Kerr creates an opportunity to give NBA MVP Steph Curry some in-game encouragement.

Steve Kerr, Steph Curry, and a perfect example of in-the-moment recognition

There are two supporting techniques at work here.

One is timing. Kerr’s praise is delivered right away, in the moment, with Steph still recovering from his last run up the floor. Curry doesn’t even reach the bench before Kerr intercepts him.

The second technique lives in what Kerr recognizes. It’s not Curry’s stat line. It’s the way he’s playing the game. It’s Curry’s effort and approach, not the outcome, that Kerr praises.

Psychologist Carol Dweck’s research sheds light on why Kerr’s coaching approach works. Dr. Dweck’s oft-cited work focuses on how different recognition styles drive student behavior. Dweck found that students labeled as “smart” before her study began were far less likely to persevere with more challenging tasks. Those same “smart” students also gave up faster than the students who were instead valued and praised not for their inherent intelligence, but for how hard they worked. Students that were recognized for their effort (not “who they were” or how they did) were more resilient and less afraid of failure. They were better at putting themselves out there, taking risks, and, as a result, uncovering opportunities to grow and improve.

Teams that win don’t play scared. Recognizing effort in key moments of truth — whatever the end-result —proves that you trust the process and your team. You believe activities drive outcomes. Do the right things, play the game the right way and, as NFL coach Bill Walsh would say, “the score takes care of itself.”

So pick your spots. Recognize effort. And do it in the moment.

That’s how you to get your team to stay the course — even when the game isn’t going your way.

Why is repetition important?

If this is true, what does it mean for the way you interact with your team?

We’ve heard the guidelines to preparing an effective speech.

1. Tell them what you are going to tell them.

2. Tell them.

3. Tell them what you just told them.

Repetition is critical.

Equally important are company values, important project deliverables and anything else you want everyone to embrace.

It doesn’t matter what your official title may be. Add Chief Reminder Offer to how you want to lead. CRO needs to be part of every leader’s responsibility.

Chief Reminding Officer

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