April 19, 2016

Effective Communication: Not As Easy As It Seems

Agenda

Why is effective communication important What constitutes effective communication How to manage communication

Copyright: Kathy J. Lang, 2015

Understand emotion/motive

Improve relationships

Build trust/respect

Enable 

solving

Enable problem solving

Spark collaboration

Types of External Communication

Vision, strategy and goals General or targeted announcements Crisis/Incident communication Marketing information Reporting

Key Elements

Communication Process

Example: MFD IssueComponent ResponseEvent Unplanned outage for campus‐wide MFDsAudience All Faculty/Staff and MFD Contact ListMessage The scanning/copying services are downTiming ASAPCommunicator Director who oversee the MFD service

IT Services Alert emailWebsite updateTargeted email to contact list

Tools/Format

Communication Plan Benefits Visibility/credibility Consistency Repeatability Timeliness Relevancy

Client-focused Transparency Clear and concise Positive perception of IT

Events/Occasions

Planned Changes Unplanned Changes Crisis Situations Projects

Standard Reporting New Services News/Announcements

Communication Plan

Event Audience MessageDelivery 

Date/Time Deliverer Tools/ FormatPlanned ChangeUnplanned ChangeCrisis SituationProjectStandard ReportingNew Service IntroductionNews/Announcements/Misc.

Communications Team

Proactive Routine communication Upcoming updates Monthly review

Project Communication Plan

Communications Class Assessment

Communication Mantras

Better to over‐communicate than under‐communicate

Communicate early and often

People understand that things happen, but they won’t understand 

why you didn’t tell them.

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