Question: How do we make our
communications proactive, rather than only getting to them when there's a
crisis?
Our advice:
Every IT organization--every company for that matter--needs a strategic
communications plan. Without one, it's impossible to manage internal or
external communications proactively or on-the-fly when problems arise.
But it can be unnatural for companies to open their internal processes in a way
that invites the participation and collaboration of more than a few decision
makers and their advisers, even if it's only to determine the best way to
inform others of the decisions. The traditional, dispassionate broadcast of
important changes in strategies, policies, and programs more often than not
fails to properly manage expectations and results in resentment, confusion, or
outright anger among workers. In crisis conditions, the result can be far
worse, with public perception damaging the company's reputation and stock
price, and requiring the damage control services of a high-priced
public-relations firm.
We think an experienced communications consultant may be necessary to show
companies how to do the planning, implementation, and maintenance of a good
communications program.
Here are the basics:
Communications charter:
Specify the communications scope: enterprise, business line, departmental,
project level. Clarify communications goals and issues. Identify stakeholders
for communications messages (there may be many, ranging from senior, line, and
project managers to customers and clients, contractors, competitors,
distributors, suppliers, and former employees, to government, the general
public, and the media). Determine who should be responsible for communications,
which depends on scope (this could be enterprise, departmental, teams,
individuals, consultants or most likely all). Prepare a high-level
communications plan.
Communications stakeholder analysis: Recognize the roles of the various
stakeholders, their main interests, and the relationship between stakeholders.
Determine each stakeholder's information needs, expectations, obligations,
preferred communications method, timing of communications, communications mode
(written, in-person, live, video, email, etc.), and who should deliver
communications.
Communications success metrics: Define how you will know if your
communications plan and its execution are successful. This could be
quantitative (e.g., reduced complaints, fewer support calls, new communications
mechanisms where none existed) or qualitative (opinions expressed in
interviews, focus groups, surveys).
Organizational communications assessment: Individual and group
assessments should be accomplished via interviews, focus groups, and surveys to
determine specific communications needs, issues, and preferences. In this
critical step all needs should be discussed: for example, communication of new
compensation or rewards plans; offshore outsourcing plans; corporate or
departmental restructuring; performance-management plans; and benefits or stock
option plans.
Communications plan(s): Create the overall strategic communications plan
or a set of communication plans covering various strategies. An example of the
latter would be a offshore outsourcing communications plan that encompasses:
identifying supplier communications needs; communicating a
workforce-integration plan; progress in building the onshore and offshore team;
communicating progress in training, deploying and re-deploying personnel;
communicating progress in organizational change management or transition;
communicating the establishment of cross-organizational improvement processes;
communicating methods for measuring results and allocating rewards to achieve
results consistent with new offshore activities and structure; communicating
knowledge transfer and skills adoption; communicating phasing-out of old
structures; communicating continuous-improvement plans for offshore work.
Managing communications requires much effort and pinpoint expertise that's
typically accomplished only with in-house communications specialists or
contracted experts. After the plan(s) has been constructed, implementation and
ongoing maintenance requires constant vigilance, primarily due to the inherent
discomfort most organizations"-and average people--experience with
communication issues. But once a company can shed its poor communication habits
and take into account the emotional and psychological needs of its
stakeholders, it will discover that it takes less effort to be open than it
takes to manage the predictable fallout from a more closed approach to
communications.
-- David Foote
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