You Are Communicating Your Strategy – Is Anyone Listening?
Are your communications efforts falling on deaf ears? Would you even know if they were or were not? David Grossman’s “A Cost of Poor Communications” reports from a survey of 400 companies with 100,000 employees an average loss per company of $62.4 million per year because of inadequate communication to and between employees. How can you avoid this and ensure that everyone is pulling in the same direction?
I hate to tell you that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. It must be customized to fit not only the strategy, but also the culture and nuances of your organization. That being said, here are a few pointers to get you started in the right direction:
1. Assess existing communication efforts – Obvious, perhaps, but often overlooked. It is critical to understand not only what current efforts are taking place, but which are and are not effective. This can be as simple as conducting focus groups or sending a survey. Be sure to solicit input from a diverse set of team members that represent the entire organization. In addition to tactics, you will likely learn of a few larger themes that are important to emphasize. For example, a less formal company might appreciate messaging with more humor and irreverence. These themes will serve as cornerstones for the entire plan.
2. Identify target audiences and desired outcomes – It is important to understand who your audiences are and how messaging should differ for each. Often this is by level, function, or geography. However, depending on the situation, the audience groups can be a bit more unorthodox. For example, if the new strategy represents a massive shift in culture, how would you communicate to longer tenured employees vs. new ones? Once identified, articulate key desired outcomes for each group. What behavior is the communication intended to create? Understanding these desired outcomes early will inform you if the plan is working down the road.
3. Identify key messages and channels – Once you understand each audience, identify what messages need to be delivered and how. For instance, some audiences may be more concerned with measures and results, (e.g., Board or Senior Leadership.) Other audiences may need more attention on education, (e.g., new employees.) In addition to the messages themselves, communicate seven times, seven ways! Good communication plans utilize a mix of rich channels – those with two-way feedback (e.g., in-person meetings, town halls, working sessions, etc.) and lean channels – one-way channels that allow for quick, wide distribution (e.g., newsletters, videos, website, social media, physical collateral, etc.). Remember to use the assessment as input to consider what is already working well, what to stop using, and what don’t exist yet that is worth investing in.
4. Collect feedback and adapt – Once launched, collect feedback at every opportunity. Every live interaction is a good opportunity to collect feedback; however, it is helpful to create new mechanisms as well such as short surveys or suggestion boxes. It is also important to collect feedback on both content and process. Content is focused on the strategy itself – e.g., what feedback does the team have on current strategic initiatives? Process is focused on delivery – e.g., are videos a useful medium for these messages? Is it getting the message across clearly? Do people have access to and share them? Collecting regular feedback both enables you to adapt the plan as you go, and builds buy-in as it provides all employees a forum to be heard.
A well-defined communications plan will not only ensure that everyone listens, but that they actually start to buy what you’re selling and proactively contribute to the effort. If you are interested in learning more, reach out to us at contactus@geigsen.com