5 Tips - Become a Facilitator of Communication
Jodi Ekelchik,
a Business/IT consultant based in England, sits on the board of
trustees of a university’s student union, comprised of internal (mostly
students) and external trustees. She recently engaged the Board in
discussions to develop a communications matrix – and found this
approach to be well received, in particular to those new to this
process and those seeking to clarify communication channels.
A
communications plan strengthens any organization’s operations, but
surprisingly, is at times an afterthought on a new initiative. Whether
you manage communications for your day job, or not, step up to the
plate when the opportunity presents itself to develop a communications
plan.
The following five components can create a
communications matrix, a visual reference focused on your target
audience. Engage your project team leaders or department to build this
tool, and monitor periodically as this will evolve during a project’s
life cycle.
1) Identify Audience/Constituents:
whether for a project, department, division or organization, identify
the recipients of your communication. This may be an individual person
(e.g., President or Vice Chancellor), departments affected by an
upcoming change (e.g., introduction of new IT initiative) and/or
external group (e.g., third party suppliers affected by changes to
current process).
2) Identify Purpose/Role:
clarify the purpose of this group in the context of the project.
Communication should be developed to inform (not alarm...) your staff
of upcoming changes and a timetable for these changes.
3) Medium:
choose from the multitude of mediums wisely and consider best practices
to maximize readership. Email overload is something to consider, as is
the use of a one page quick reference guide that can be printed (hey,
it's only one page!) and posted throughout the office. Be creative.
4) Frequency:
consider the frequency in conjunction with other project and
organization communication. Agree to a timetable early on, and to
specific days to distribute information.
5) Liaison/Responsibility: clarify the person (s) responsible for drafting, copy editing and approving the communication.
Brevity is the soul of wit (thanks, William Shakespeare), so keep the message on point and tailored to your target audience.
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