CorpComms Magazine

(1) YOUR MISSION MUST BE RELEVANT

A great mission should be grounded in the daily activities of a company. It's about who we are and what we do. Keep it simple to understand, jargon-free and focused on what every person in the company sets out to deliver each day.

(2) YOUR VISION NEEDS TO RESONATE

This is about your destination - it paints a picture of where you want the business to be in a given time. It must be easy to explain. Too many companies shoot for the stars and in doing so leave their front line colleagues cold. Colleagues have to be able to believe that it's a destination they can reach. It may take time, effort and resources but colleagues should feel it's achievable and that by delivering their aspects of the plan the company moves closer to achieving its vision. Getting this right at the start of the plan is critical.

(3) STRESS TEST YOUR VALUES

If you have more than three values, start again. Refine them. Make sure they are bottom up not top down. Listen to the views of colleagues. I've seen company websites with long lists of values, but tend to think that they have been created by managers to fit an organisation that management aspires to create. Values must be understandable and embedded at all levels of the organisation. Do they work in multiple languages and cultures? Stress test the values and align them to the plan. As an example, ours are Service, Relationships and Teamwork. Each has a defined associated behaviour and they're aligned from the annual performance review process through to the colleague engagement survey, and most things in between.

(4) STRUCTURE YOUR PLAN

Can it be boiled down to five or six areas around which you can communicate? Can it fit onto one side of A4? It's a great exercise to do when you first start to structure the communications and messaging. It forces you to focus on whatis important.

(5) COMMUNICATE YOUR GOALS

Insight into the goals and KPIs of a plan builds engagement. Companies need to set, and communicate, clear operational targets internally in a way that is compatible with the responsibility of a PLC board for effective management of performance expectations externally. However, sometimes boards choose the easy route and hold back from setting clear targets internally because it might constrain their ability to manage market expectations. By hiding them away they risk sending a message that says We're covering ourselves in case we fail. It's the wrong message and tone. Communicate goals. Don't hide them away. External audiences will understand that you might not want to disclose all of the detail, but set the right tone from the very first communications. We have 17 goals (structured around our Colleagues - Customers - Shareholders equation). We defined each of the goals so that all stakeholders know what we are tracking as KPIs and revealed target numbers for the three of most interest to shareholders.

(6) LOCAL OWNERSHIP COUNTS

Involve local teams in the plan's development and communication locally. Local ownership makes the job of building engagement around the plan much more likely to succeed. Very few people go to work to create shareholder value. Answer the question 'what's in it for me, my colleagues, my team and my customers?' and deliver it locally.

(7) LEADERSHIP SETS THE TONE

It's not just the chief executive who must lead by example. Every leader in the organisation must step up to the mark - live the values, show some passion for the plan. Ensuring consistency of tone and message to colleagues and external audiences is vital - create the communications plan, agree the messages but practice to achieve the right tone. A Q&A session individually with the leadership team helps to ensure a consistent tone of voice around core messages.

(8) COORDINATE AND COLLABORATE: DON'T USE THE STRAITJACKET

Even the best communications plan will fail if you don't get buy in from all parties. Collaboration is key to successful delivery. Everyone needs to feel as though they have been involved and know how they can play their part in its delivery. Finding the right balance between forcing a plan onto an organisation and carefully steering its implementation by allowing local flexibility will aid successful delivery.

(9) MAINTAIN THE MOMENTUM AND USE FEEDBACK

View the communications of a plan as an ongoing programme not a one-off launch. There's a time and place for the dry ice and big production, but multiple local meetings, giving colleagues the opportunity to discuss and feedback their own ideas in order to make the plan relevant to their own local environment tends to be most effective. In the current economic environment every penny counts and so communications should also be playing its part. Our shareholders can read about the new plan, goals and approach in the latest Annual Report. It features no images, one colour and we almost got the report out in less than 100 pages. We saved over £100,000. Great work by IR and the wider team!  Equally, the use of video, usually a higher ticket communications item, doesn't have to be very expensive to be effective, while online social tools provide a quick and easy route for regular feedback and are great for building relationships with your audiences. 

(10) BE PREPARED

Finally, things will go wrong along the way so be prepared but by setting the right tone and expectations from the start, and by sticking by your values as guiding principles, hopefully you'll be able to steer a safe course.

share me: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Tweet