Development Cooperation Handbook/Designing and Executing Projects/Communication Management/Communication Planning/Identify the information for fulfilling the information needs of each stakeholder

Identify the information for fulfilling the information needs of each stakeholder

Mandatory: The types of communication are required by your organization, your sector of activity or by law. This information is pushed to recipients.


 * Project Status Reports
 * Regular voicemail updates (of status)
 * Status meetings
 * Meetings with steering committee
 * Regular conference calls and videoconferences with remote stakeholders
 * Government required reports and other information
 * Financial reporting such as budget or any other required financial information

Informational: This is information people want to know, or that they may need for their jobs. This information is made available for people to read, but requires them to take the initiative, or pull the communication.


 * Awareness building sessions that people are invited to attend. (These are not meant as training, just to build awareness.)
 * Project paper-based deliverables placed in a common repository, directory or library that people can access
 * Project information on a website

Marketing: These are designed to build buy-in and enthusiasm for the project and its deliverables. This type of communication is also pushed to the readers.


 * Project newsletters, with positive marketing spin
 * Meeting one-on-one with key stakeholders on an ongoing basis
 * Contests with simple prizes to build excitement
 * Project acronyms and slogans to portray positive images of the project
 * Project countdown till live date
 * Informal (but purposeful) walking around to talk up the project to team members, users and stakeholder.
 * Celebrations to bring visibility to the completion of major milestones
 * Project memorabilia with project name or image portrayed, such as pins, pencils, Frisbees, cups, T-shirts, etc.
 * Publicising accomplishments

Consider also


 * How Important is It? How important is the message you want to send, or the problem you are working on? Is there a crisis that has to be dealt with? How much effort, time, and money are you willing to invest in it? In order to do this, you have to be able to determine what the actual cost is. In terms of communication projects, first you have to determine how many people will be involved in the process. Then you have to determine how many hours have been—or will have to be—spent on creating, preparing, and distributing the actual message, and then multiply them by the appropriate hourly rates.
 * How Dangerous is It? Every time you send a message you are leaving yourself open to scrutiny, misinterpretation, and misrepresentation. You have to learn how to remove or at least reduce the danger that a message leaves you open to. What we sometimes lose sight of, usually until it is too late, is how dangerous information can be. Danger exists whether the information is true, or even close to the truth.
 * Tailor the Message to Each Audience Different audiences require different message styles. You must learn how to tailor your message to the specific audience or audiences it is aimed at. Even when the message is the same for people of different ages, incomes, interests, races, occupations, and such, you still often have to say it in different ways to get noticed by all the sub-groups within the larger population. You will then have to develop a communication plan in order to make sure that your message reaches the audience or audiences it is aimed at.

Tools
Communication Plan







Guideline: How team members can improve overall project communication

How team members can improve overall project communication