Sing while you work
Yesterday evening I was entranced once again by the latest episode of choir master Gareth Malone’s current show, The Choir. Ostensibly about Gareth’s drive to create workplace choirs at 5 different organisations across Britain, for me the show is really about communication and engagement. From the nursery rhymes Gareth asks them to sing at audition, … Read more
Putting your plan into words
I recently became a trustee for a local literacy charity, ABC to read. We train volunteers to go into schools and work one to one with children who are struggling to read. Supporting them in this way builds their motivation to read and increases their confidence and life skills. It’s a genuine honour to be … Read more
Put pen to paper
I have just read a great article about writing long-hand, shared by the fantastic Zoe from Mascara for the Mind. In it, Lee Rourke describes how he and writers like him choose to write their novels out by hand in note-books rather than on computers or tablets. Reasons he gives include the noise of tapping … Read more
Are we getting it right?
“How do I make sure that people read my newsletter?” “How do I make people look at my website?” These are questions which I hear time and time again from charities and universities that I work with. And I usually have to answer with another question – how sure are you that you need a … Read more
Communicating beyond the centre
I recently attended a CharityComms seminar entitled ‘Beyond HQ: comms for charities with branches and groups’. I’m also about to start a new piece of work for one of my university clients, helping them to build a network of communicators across their Faculties and Services. It seems that the universe is trying to get me to think about communication ‘beyond the centre’. So I’m using this month’s post to share my thoughts with you!
Very few organisations have a single group of people all in one place and all with the same motivations and interests. So how do they go about communicating effectively and engaging their people with each other?
There are a number of key things that anyone who is trying to communicate with diverse groups needs to be aware of:
1. Get to know and understand the people who are not ‘in the centre’. It’s easy to make assumptions about what life is like for them, what’s important to them and so on. It’s also easy for them to feel that you don’t understand them, just because you haven’t taken the time to say hello and spend time getting to know them. Their experiences and perspective are likely to be different for a whole range of reasons, from the frequency of their contact with senior managers, to their geographical location and the type of work they are doing. If you get to know them better, you will know how to adapt your communications with them so that they work well in achieving desired outcomes.
2. Give them a reason to want to communicate with you. When you know what interests and motivates them, this becomes much easier to do. How can you help them? How can communicating with you enable them to achieve their objectives, as well as you succeeding with yours? They need to understand the value to them of communicating with you.
3. Localise your communications as much as possible. Why is the central London strategy relevant to them if they are based in Cumbria? How can they influence or contribute to the organisation in a meaningful way? Empower your local managers or key contacts to take centrally-produced information and make it relevant locally.
4. Be clear on what is going to happen, who needs to do what and when there will be any follow-up. Show that everyone has a role to play and demonstrate how it all fits together.
Finally, a key tip for effective communication with diverse groups is: talk to them! Many times during my career I have heard the phrase ‘they don’t understand us’, but as soon as I have put the groups in touch with each other to explain their perspective, the misunderstandings disappear and everyone see the similarities rather than the differences.
If you can follow these tips, your people should feel empowered and valued, wherever they are. Let me know how it goes!
Until next time
Sarah
Changing the world inspires me – what about you?
Recently I read an article in The Observer about a guy who has set up a new free school in Newham, a deprived borough of London. He described the mountain of seemingly insurmountable hurdles that he and his fellow believers had to face to get the school up and running. The things they had to … Read more
Communication is child’s play – or is it?
As the whole world (or at least a large part of it) went baby-mad last week (“welcome to the world, Prince George!”), I’ve been giving some thought to communicating with babies and children. As the mother of a 5-and-a-half-year-old daughter, a large part of my time is spent communicating with her and has been ever … Read more
Tell me a story
I’ve written before on this blog (in August 2012) about the power of story-telling. From the time we are born, stories have the ability to capture our imagination and transport us to whole new worlds with brand new possibilities. And who doesn’t need some new perspectives and new ideas from time to time?! However, to … Read more
Answers on a postcard, please
The recent sunshine has got me thinking about a summer holiday – packing, swimming, sandcastles, ice-cream. And postcards? With the permanent access to Facebook and Twitter that we all enjoy these days (unless we’re lucky enough to go somewhere very exclusive and remote for our holidays), has the humble postcard had its day? Perhaps if … Read more