Working together
Communication strategies are often focused outward, on the audience.
“How can I get you to hear me?”
But, who is this “I”?
The 2 Yous
Whether you are an individual, an organization or a division within an organization…
… you have at least some fixed ideas about who you are, what you do and how you appear to others. Why?
It’s hard to keep track of all you actually are, and all you actually do.
Communication 101
Step 1: Know thyself
Step 2: Speak clearly to thy target audience
The question is
What purpose do you and
your audience share?
When the curtain goes up on Swan Lake, everyone—the dancers on stage, the technicians running the lights, the people sitting in the audience—know why they are there. Their shared purpose?
A perfect, transforming experience.
Those reading your story desire to be fascinated.
Those seeking your services want to be compelled.
Effective organizations articulate clear policies.
Funders want to be thrilled to award the grant.
Let’s make it happen!
7-Step Process
1. Gather
Time to gather information and elements related to the project. Together, we’ll identify relevant issues and understand what the real scope of the project is.
Warning! There will be lots of questions!
2. Play
The “productive play” period helps us to create a detailed map of you, and your organizational landscape, as it relates to your vision.
In this phase we do more research, ideation, sorting and categorizing lists and color-coded post-it notes! Then there are the questions: Which are key components? How do they work together? What most concerns each person/function involved? Where are gaps, missing links? What don’t we know?
All this clarifying and confirming helps us illuminate disconnects in the existing ecology of the project, as well as explore new ideas and expand vision.
3. Sift
We’ll edit, prune and focus, looking at how your organization’s ‘real world’ constraints and resources intersect with your goals for the communication and its target audience. What options will dance within your culture? What fits your values, mission and vision? What works in terms of real-world resources, time and budget constraints?
Time to get rid of what doesn’t belong.
4. Build
We produce a draft or, if it is a more expansive project, design a prototype to be “stress tested” in some semblance of a real-world situation with key stakeholders and target audience(s).
Reality check. A strong foundation.
5. Iterate
It’s time to make sure everything (and everyone!) is being fully addressed.
Do all the moving parts work as planned? Is anyone running into scenery? Maybe it’s stored in the wrong place? We’ll be asking everyone involved: “Does it work as expected?” “What needs to be changed?” “How could it be better?” Have new gaps appeared that need to be fixed… ??
6. Final Dress
Everything seems to be solid. Time for implementation!
Our plan will include protocols to deal efficiently with real-time monitoring and evaluation, revisions and updates. Unexpected contingencies are to be expected, so we build in buffers and blocks.
7. Celebrate!
We did it! Time for the Can-Can finale!
But wait… it’s not quite over. Like most dancers, we believe in ongoing improvement. So now’s when we’ll be asking you: Did our solution meet or exceed expectations? Were there elements that could have been done differently, or better? Has the project had the expected/desired impact? And so on… we are still listening!