Meaning and significance
Service: changing the style of communicating (making an inventory of the wording of the organization, analysis of the organizational communication lines internally and externally, creating room for problem solving capacity from employees themselves, structure changing proposals and adding meaning and significance to the communication).
Read more on wording
Wording of the organization
One need but look at missions of companies or their employment ads to know that more often than not one chooses for a safe, albeit rather broad and vague wording. The organization is usually ‘reliable’ and a ‘good partner’ as well as ‘continually on the move’. Rarely ‘fickle’ or a ‘good laughs’ or ‘never changing’. Let alone ‘repugnant’ or ‘only a partner when it suits us’ or ‘highly inflexible’.
Communication structures and lines
Apart from wording, and communication style, all organizations have their own communication structures and lines. Who is to be informed on what. What is on a need to know basis, what is on a nice to know basis. Who determines what needs to be communicated at all, what are the structures of agendas, meetings and minutes. The first thing that needs to be done is making an inventory of how this system works. Then one needs to analyse if it suits the aims and goals and if departments connect. One needs to draw other or new lines if necessary.
Once upon a time there was a war between producers of laundry detergents. The department of Research & Development of one of the producers combined certain chemicals which led to a substantial improvement of the washing process and the effectiveness of the cleaning of laundry. The department of sales and marketing at first wanted to wait a little with the launching of a promotion campaign, especially since competitors had also introduced new formulas that appeared to create some problems such as allergic reactions. Until the unique opportunity occurred of a front page article of a quality daily newspaper: beautiful free publicity if ever you saw it. Later the detergent did cause some problems; it was too efficient and the users washed on too hot a temperature. Whatever the case, the detergent seemed to cause holes in the cloths. The competitor was quick to mention this in their communications. Time and again it turns out to be very important to keep the internal communication lines quick and clear, such as those between R&D on the one hand and marketing and sales on the other hand.
Cases we like to be asked for: make an inventory and analysis of the communication infrastructure of the organization and draw and redesign communication lines and structures.
Clients we worked for:
[1] For lovers: the Salduz judgment. http://www.legalaidreform.org/european-court-of-human-rights/item/201-ecthr-case-summary-salduz-v-turkey-27/11/2008 NJ 2009, 214; LJN BH 0402, 27 August 2008.
Collapse
Leave a Reply