Communication plan -- large org LO15033

Virginia I. Shafer (vshafer@azstarnet.com)
Wed, 17 Sep 1997 23:34:12 -0700 (MST)

Replying to LO14989 --

Jane Henderson writes:

>One of my clients needs to roll-out a new initiative to a national
>organization of 14,000 people and is looking for a "model" or example of
>how to do this. Of course, she will use varoious standard channels, but
>we thought some of you might have some innovative ideas or experiences to
>share. We would be very grateful--thanks!

My last employer was ten times that size and if the message is important
it's worth a concerted effort. As one of the recipients "in the
trenches," I found the following approach highly effective given the time
and money to implement.

The headquarters canvassed all the sites to send a certain number of
people from differing levels of the organization and a cross section of
business areas to a central location. There they were taught the message,
encouraged to ask questions, and helped develop a range of presentation
media--view graphs, video, chart paper and handouts, PowerPoint
Presentations. In a relatively short period of time, they became
knowledge experts on the subject matter. Armed with a set of materials,
they were teamed up and sent out to the various locations to deliver the
message at mostly large, open fora. In the meantime, senior
management/leadership at each site were sent a personalized video from the
CEO to use in sessions with their key staff and at their discretion, down
to middle management positions. However, they were expected to be present
when the briefing teams arrived at their location and present themselves
as the local experts.

With some modification, this may be a useful approach for your client.
You may contact me directly if you want more info.

As ever,

-- 

Ginger Shafer The Leadership Dimension "Bringing leadership to life!" vshafer@azstarnet.com

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>