18 April 2005

Translating internal communications strategy to delivery

Poor teamwork and a lack of leadership are the most common barriers to ‘getting things done’, delegates at this month’s ASPIC (Association for Strategic Planning in Internal Communications) event agreed.

The popular forum is aimed at communications professionals for networking, debate and learning and has been managed and run by the Item Group for the past 10 years.

Internal communication professionals discussed their shared feelings of frustration at the 13 April event, entitled ‘Execution, Execution, Execution’.

Three speakers – John Klee of 3M, Louisa Houghton of Vodafone and Alex Aiken from Westminster City Council – led debates around some of the barriers that make execution difficult.

Many delegates agreed that links between internal and external comms departments need to be strengthened and that managers often need more guidance as to what’s required of them in a communications context.

The breadth of common experiences provided valuable tips on how to manage – and ultimately overcome – these hurdles.

Here are highlights:

Involve your managers
To communicate effectively, you need clarity from top management. Explain what you expect from them, and encourage them to focus on telling stories that engage rather than facts and figures that bore audiences.

Work more closely with your press office
Make sure there are no nasty surprises, such as employees reading about redundancies in the newspapers before they’re announced internally. Remember that an internal story MAY be interesting externally, but an external story is ALWAYS interesting internally.

Manage your time
Remember that it’s OK to say ‘no’ sometimes. You don’t have to communicate everything – and accept that some of the ideas presented to you will simply not be worth sharing.

Measure your progress
Regular measurement can show how good communication benefits the company, retention and the bottom-line.

For more information on ASPIC, go to www.aspic.co.uk