Groundhog Day Lesson: Embrace The Role Of Chief Repeating Officer

For many of us, Groundhog Day is synonymous with the 1993 movie of the same name. Considered one of the greatest comedies ever made, the offbeat film illuminates the power of repetition—a force CEOs can harness to enhance performance, often to their surprise.

With Bill Murray in the lead role, Groundhog Day tells the story of a somewhat unlikable protagonist who becomes stuck in a time loop that forces him to perpetually relive February 2nd. The monotony drives the character first to acts of consequence-free indulgence, then depression-fueled self-harm and, finally, personal growth.

The near-endless repetition ultimately unlocks the character’s ability to achieve meaningful, positive change, illustrating why top executives willing to sound like broken records maximize the value of their human capital and drive success.

It’s why I encourage CEOs to embrace the honorary title of Chief Repeating Officer.

Like Murray’s character in the movie, employees overwhelmingly miss or dismiss even the most important pieces of information when they’re delivered once or only intermittently. They need an effective Chief Repeating Officer to bang the communications drum again and again (and again) in order to understand and internalize core messages, and begin visualizing their role in achieving set goals.

This idea has been confirmed by professors at Harvard and Wharton, and the strategy has been employed by some of the world’s most successful organizations. For example, after outlining Amazon’s “Day 1 philosophy” in his first letter to investors in 1997, Jeff Bezos included it in years of stakeholder communications. What’s more, he turned it into a rallying cry, making “It’s Still Day 1” a go-to phrase across the company. Even today, one of Amazon’s Seattle-based office buildings is named Day 1.

Of course, it is possible to misuse institutional communications to negative effect, necessitating that CEOs take care in both determining and crafting the message they reiterate. Here are a few guidelines to follow:

• Choose wisely. Chief Repeating Officers should  limit reiterated messages to those of highest significance—for example, a company’s  core vision and overarching strategy or a new product’s killer feature. They should save all other announcements for one-offs or otherwise limit them, understanding that continuously repeating everything all the time would drive employees to simply tune out.

• Be solution oriented. Too many Chief Repeating Officers design their communications around a “burning platform” concept, meaning a complaint about the dangers of the current state of affairs. They would be wiser to provide their team members with solution-oriented messaging that outlines a future state, clarifies the organization’s approach and helps them prioritize efforts, making them feel imperative to the work ahead.

• Keep it compelling. To be effective Chief Repeating Officers, leaders must be exceptional storytellers, able to stir the emotions of their people and help teams better connect with the vision of the organization. This requires communications to be clear and concise—free of “empty calories,” meaning dry facts and figures, corporate jargon and the evergreen platitudes that pervade too many institutional announcements.

Just like in Groundhog Day, most of us are limited in our ability to really hear, understand and take action on information, especially when it’s new or requires us to change. This makes sense given that employees are exposed to an estimated 2.3 million words and numbers, on average, in a typical three-month period, with the vast majority of these unrelated to matters of greatest significance. We simply need more consistent exposure to the most important messaging in order for it to sink it and drive progress. And with their numerous other priorities, organizations need a Chief Repeating Officer to stay highly focused on this crucial task.