Do stakeholders get the message?

Of course, I'm sure that in many cases we've been preaching to the converted, and in many other cases ‘the importance of communication' is a phrase to be trotted out at board meetings, the function being discreetly handed over to ‘our PR person/people'.

Wrong. Communication - internal and external - is a leadership responsibility.

Internal communication is of particular importance: employee engagement without it is not possible, for a start, and as the internal stakeholders' endorsement is the material for external communication, it can be said that internal communication determines the fate of stakeholder relationships.

But enough of the missionary zeal, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you fully appreciate the critical role of communication - but the question is - do they get the message? (For ‘they' read ‘all your stakeholders'.) The answer depends entirely on the content's quality and the efficacy of the message you deliver.

Don't busk it - plan it!

It's anomalous that business leaders spend meticulous attention to planning strategies, budgets, objectives, etc., but spend precious little or no time on planning written communications - which is why so often the recipients don't get the message. Because you are aware of communication's significance - don't you think it deserves your diligence?

The first step is to plan your written communications by asking yourself a few pertinent questions:

1. Why am I writing the message and what do I want to achieve by writing it?
   
2. Who's my audience?
   
3. Who could be affected by the content, directly or indirectly?
   
4. What's the background and the situation behind the message?
   

Let's expand a bit on those questions: Question 1 is your purpose and you need to spend some time thinking about it, because that will decide how you should convey the message you want to get across. Getting your target audience to read it is, of course, a primary objective - and it's more than likely that you will want the recipient to respond to your message by doing something…or maybe, stop doing something.

Question 2 is about the audience - and don't process a word until you've clearly identified who you're writing to, and who is going to be reading it. When you know who the recipients are, tailor your writing so that what you're saying is clearly understandable: your writing style must match the reading ability of the recipients. Don't write from your own perspective; write from the reader's perspective. To paraphrase JFK - don't write what the reader can do for you, write what you can do for the reader, otherwise you'll leave the reader asking WIIFM…”What's In It For Me?” Obviously, it's much easier to write from your own perspective, but that's not the way to make sure they get the message.

Question 3 refers to the stakeholders and the impact your message may have on them, directly or indirectly. Get the big picture. Take into account the possibility of any collateral effects your message might have beyond your original purpose. Question 4 would more than likely overlap with Question 3.

Write, revise, refine

Once you've planned it - bearing in mind who's going to read the message - write a rough draft that says what you want to say, in language that is clear, concise, understandable and gets your message across to your target audience. Then revise and refine your message. The reaction will tell you soon enough whether your content and its delivery were well received.