Organizational Communication

Most leaders have strong communication skills … but that doesn’t mean they know how to systematize or scale up communications to an organizational level. In this podcast, J.Marie provides a primer for leaders, especially those without a communications professional on staff, to think through their organization’s approach to communications.

Audience

We start with the audience as our foundation, because to frame your communication in a way that is meaningful to your audience, you must understand what your audience needs and wants.

Ask yourself a few questions: What matters to my audience? What do they need to know? What do they already know? What channels of communication do they prefer? 

Remember that you are almost always communicating with multiple audiences, and they don’t all share the same interests. 

Message

Only once you have given thought to your audiences do you turn your attention to your message. As the person sending the communications, the responsibility is on you to make your message concise and relevant if you want to receive engagement from your audience. 

Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize! Audiences will simply not remember everything that you share. We all live busy lives and none of us remember everything that we come across, regardless of importance. So ask yourself. If my audience is only going to take one or two things away from what I share with them, what do I most want them to glean from my message? Get really clear with yourself what those one or two things are before you craft your message.

The tools you use

Be intentional about what tool will get to the audience members you want in the way you want to reach them. You will need to use multiple channels to reach different subsets of your audience. 

Logistics

Experienced communication professionals, (including myself) will warn you that you often need a lot more time for your message delivery than you think. Depending on the channels you use you may need to consider time for printing and mailing, on top of needing to write your message, design social media mockups, create drafts, or recording and editing. 

Sometimes working from start to finish could take you as long as three months, so plan for success by working backwards from the desired deadline of your communication.

Get help when you need it

J.Marie & Associates specializes in supporting public leaders. We know that what you do matters and we’re here to help you when you need it. 

******

J.Marie is a seasoned communications strategist and leadership trainer who helps public leaders build trust, communicate with clarity, and strengthen community connection. Explore the full range of practical, real-world J.Marie & Associates trainings atjmarie.associates/trainings.