Communication Plan Elements and Goals

Proper communication is the backbone of any organization. Effective communication will ensure that management of all departments is cohesive and that everyone is on the same page, working towards common goals, at all times. Successful communication versus shoddy communication can often be the decisive factor between a company that meets its goals and one that doesn’t. While most professionals might be able to identify what effective communication within an organization looks like, it can be more difficult to develop it from the ground up, through a range of departments. This paper will discuss a specific communication designed expressly to ensure that all branches and departments of a single organization are all on the same page.
For the purposes of this paper, the communication plan in question will be the same for all departments: this will ensure that confusions and miscommunications occur at a minimum. Furthermore, the more effective a communication plan is, the more it should be used for all departments: this plan will detail a facts-based communication plan for all departments. Proper communication needs to be an aspect of every company in order to motivate forward momentum to achieve goals. This report will detail how an effective communication plan will always include five distinct elements: “…audience analysis, communication objectives, communication channels, responsibilities, and timing. The plan should determine the many audiences, outline specific objectives relating to each audience, state the communication channels for each type of communication, specify which organization leaders are responsible for each communication, and show the timing of each message for each audience.” (Newman, 2016).
The communication plan should have the overall statement of purpose of the plan itself. This is to ensure total transparency. Each department should know why the communication strategy has been developed in the first place, and what is hoped to achieve with it. The statement of purpose of the communication plan should demonstrate how all organizational objectives can be achieved, and set an example of how to properly engage with all relevant stakeholders and participants. The statement of purpose should also serve as a basic reminder of the success of previous work; so that all participants of the communication plan at all levels and scope of the business are clear on what this particular organization is best at. The statement of purpose within the overall communication plan can serve an important role of adjusting and influencing both behavior and perceptions where necessary (NCVO, 2017). Hence, where the overall communication plan intends to get everyone mentally and task-wise on the same page, the statement of purpose can help all branches of management, from upper management to front management and supervisors along with the front line, to better adopt the appropriate mindset going forward.
The second part of this effective communication plan would be to express a succinct rundown of the circumstance at hand. There should be a concise outline of the what, where and why of the organization, as well as an examination of the organization’s overall communications strengths and weaknesses. This should shine a light on what has and has not been helpful to the organization over the last decade and half-decade.
A PEST Analysis as well as a SWOT Analysis would greatly benefit this part of the communication plan. A PEST Analysis “involves listing the Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors that could affect your organization’s work.  These could be positive or negative factors and should include issues that are likely to have an impact on how your organization operates” (NCVO, 2017). There should be a brief explanation of how and why each element will have an influence. For example, the political section could obviously allude to how the new presidency will have an influence on the current climate and methods of doing business. Likewise, a SWOT analysis means taking a hard look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats connected with the company and stating explicitly what these elements mean for the overall communication priorities (Jones, 2008). This section of the communication plan will mean asking difficult questions such as how one can turn threats into opportunities and how can the organization use their strengths to transform some of their weaknesses. An optional corollary to this section of the communication plan would perhaps be a competitor analysis, ranking them against a particular criteria, and stating where their strengths and weaknesses lie.
The next section of the overall communication should outline the organizational goals along side the communicational goals, so that all participants can get a side-by-side comparison. This section should clearly demonstrate how the communication plan is going to assist the organization in achieving the bulk of their goals (NCVO, 2017). This would also be a good place for one to provide the main principles of the communications strategy along with the main ideas the organization wants the public to know. This section is so important of the overall communication plan, as it needs to be presented not as something additional, but as something that is innate to the company goals and something that is singular in accomplishing the organization’s main mission. For example, the policy goals of a youth center for runaways might be: to educate team members to successfully work with the teens who use the service. Hence, the communication goal might be something along the lines of “to make sure all team members comprehend and can articulate the standards of conduct expected.” In addition, it might help if there was a brief section on all relevant stakeholders within this scenario. Engaging in a brief rundown regarding both the external and internal audience members and where the priorities of connecting are can help bring the organization a greater sense of clarity (Jones, 2008). Pinpointing the main audiences that the company needs to connect with is vital in fine-tuning the greater communications strategy.
Once all the key stakeholders have been identified, all goals need to be simplified into appropriate messages for each group, according to priority. All the messages should have a thread of continuity, linking them all together, and connecting back to the main values of the organization as whole (NCVO, 2017). Once each relevant group has been identified, there needs to be a decisive means for communicating with each group. For example, some groups will be served best by a well-designed mass email. Other groups might respond better to tweets or a press release. And still other audiences might prefer an in-person event tailored to their needs, such as a conference or workshop. Acknowledging that different groups are going to have different communication styles and then making a plan to communicate most effectively with each group in their own way, is absolutely vital to the overall success of the communication plan. It is important to acknowledge that all channels of communication have their own pros and cons, depending on the company’s unique situation. A basic analysis of all channels at one’s disposal and how they can be manipulated can be useful in the selection process of deciding what is best for this particular company.
The final rung of the overall ladder of the communication plan revolves around making a list of the main communication activities, the budget for each activity, and the internal/external resources each will require (Jones, 2008). Attaching a brief timeline to each activity can also assist in getting everyone on the same page and mindset. And last of all, creating a method to evaluate the overall success and effectiveness of the communication plan would be an ideal component to incorporate.
















References
Jones, P. (2008). Communicating strategy. Gower Publishing, Ltd..
Newman, A. (2016). Communication Planning: A Template for Organizational Change.
NCVO. (2017, June 23). Developing a communications strategy — Knowhow Nonprofit. Retrieved from https://knowhownonprofit.org/campaigns/communications/communications-strategy