Five ways to make communication more effective in your organisation

published 2002

If you're looking at what you want to achieve in communications for your organisation here’s a list of priority topics to consider.

Settle on agreed messages.

It’s the Achilles heel of communication.  Organisations spend lots of budget on communication but often haven’t got an agreed set of messages for the communicators to use.  Messages (like vision statements) are not always easy to craft and adopt.  But if you want clarity in communications they’re vital.  It’s time to start developing a process to achieve your objective now.

Get top management commitment.

If you want communication to make a difference you need commitment from the top - that’s everyone in the key positions.  Start thinking about how you bring into the fold those couple of ‘doubting Thomas’s’ that have been a thorn in your side.  Their support is vital to a successful communications plan.

Decide on a flagship activity for the year. 

Out of the multitude of activities you undertake, settle on one activity to be your flagship for the year.  That one activity should be chosen because it will best support the key thrust of the company for 2002 and communicate your chosen messages.  Do it well and show how communication can contribute to performance.

If media’s important to you then put your senior management through media training (again if necessary!). 

Media training is like a trip to the dentist - not always enjoyable but very necessary.  It often brings a touch of realism back into the organisation.  It’s an opportunity to bring in outsiders with a different perspective.  And it’s a reminder to key management that media coverage, like any other endeavour, doesn’t just happen.

Find a group or department to partner with. 

PR/communication can’t thrive in isolation within any organisation.  Whether it’s your HR department, marketing or even your advertising agency, find a group to work with on joint plans and initiatives that are important to the company.  Apart from wanting to make a contribution to the organisation, partnering is a good way to get another perspective.

If you manage these you will not only have made communications more valuable to your organisation - you will have a much stronger power base from which to operate.

Note: The author of this articles is a senior Sydney-based independent corporate PR consultant who advises, coaches and mentors PR Managers and undertakes PR audits of PR Department structures and programs to get the best out of their PR Department and to review or select PR agencies. As well he also provides specialist corporate PR and communications advice where issues or change are impacting on an organisation. He also blogs regularly on PR and communications topics similar to those in this article.