A Mini Case Study
Read Part I of the story.
In this article, we’ll outline the communication plans for departments heads and other employees in the organization.
The first meeting
In your meeting with the seven department managers, you focused on the 360 initiative and specifically:
- The decision behind launching a 360 process (link to organizational goals)
- The benefit to both management and other employees
Additionally, the two managers who have been through a 360 process and are champions of the initiative spent some time discussing their experiences and the value they, personally, got from a 360 process.
Communication Plan
After this initial meeting, communication plans were developed to communicate just prior to the release of the 360 surveys as follows (360 surveys were set to be sent out in December):
|
Who |
What |
When |
How |
Format |
|
Senior leaders |
Status report on initiative, progress toward goal of launch in December
|
Monthly |
At leadership meeting first Wed. of each month |
PPT presentation |
|
Department heads (all) |
Updates on the initiative focused on plans for pilot rollout, selection of supervisors, their direct reports and peers for surveys; review of questions being developed to ensure capturing needs of all departments/link back to departmental goals
|
First 2 months: |
Meetings with department heads |
PPT presentation |
|
Monthly after first 2 months – status updates |
Meetings with department heads |
PPT presentation |
||
|
As needed for information/data gathering |
|
Bulleted lists of items needed and dates due |
||
|
Department heads (resistors) |
Follow up to initial (first) meeting, respond to questions – goal of increasing comfort level with 360 process |
One meeting within 2 weeks of first meeting date If needed, second meeting within 1 week after this meeting |
One-on-one meetings |
conversation |
|
Supervisors |
Discuss initiative and benefits to organization and individuals, needs from supervisors: staffing lists, peer lists, etc.
|
Initial meeting – first month |
Meeting of all supervisors company wide |
PPT presentation |
|
Status updates on initiative |
Monthly |
|
Copy of project plan to show status |
|
|
Information/data needed |
As needed |
|
Bulleted lists of items needed and dates due |
|
|
Employees (indiv. contributors) |
Meeting to discuss initiative |
Initial meeting – first month after meeting with supervisors |
All staff meeting |
PPT presentation |
|
Status updates on initiative |
Bi-monthly |
|
Basic project plan showing status |
This was the initial communication plan mapped out. It will be updated with specific dates based on progress at initial meetings. This plan was used for initial meetings with the leadership team and department heads to get agreement on communications to be delivered throughout the organization.
If needed, communications will be adjusted to accommodate the need to get more buy-in and/or address concerns. During the initial meetings, focus will be on ensuring buy-in is obtained. If there is a need to back up, more time will spent on selling the initiative through small group and all staff meetings.
As the initiative progresses, the communication plan will be updated.
Communication planning enables the project team to have an overview of communications needed and when. For more complex projects, a more detailed communication plan should be used. However, even when a more detailed plan is developed, I have still used an overview plan – such as the one above – with great success.
Once you have identified your stakeholders, it is essential to begin communicating in a way that works for the stakeholders but also for the project team (so that the team is not spending so much time on communications they can’t get the work of the project completed.)
