Selling Your Communications Strategy to Executives
Some of the best communications plans fail – not because of a lack of strategic thinking or tactical execution – but rather from a complete lack of executive-level support. As professional communicators, we tend to assume that our executives and leadership intuitively grasp the importance of our proposals and the value of our objectives. We shouldn’t.
Unfortunately, many executives don’t truly understand what we do; in comparison to other support functions (think finance or HR) communications is often low on metrics, fuzzy in application and somewhat untamed in results… all attributes that make an executive uncomfortable.
Indeed, garnering executive support for communications strategies could be one of the most important steps in the planning process, and should be included right from the start. This week, we’d like to offer a few strategies to help your plans gain the unwavering support of your executives:
Align to business objectives: Many communications plans don’t clearly demonstrate their alignment to the organization’s overall business strategy. Professional communicators will find that by being clear and deliberate about their plan’s alignment, they will foster greater support from executives and create a better appreciation of the merits of the overall project:
Include a governance structure: While executives don’t normally want to be inundated with tactical detail, they do want the opportunity to guide, advise and review the progress of most projects. By including an oversight and governance model (one that creates structured venues for executive updates and review), communicators can take much of the perceived ‘risk’ out of the project and may find that their plans meet far less resistance.
Build cross-department strategies: In some way or other, most communications plans impact other organizational departments. Work with the affected departments to create consensus around your plan before presenting it to the C-suite to better demonstrate the projects viability and coordination.
Run prototypes/modeling: Larger, more complex communications projects – especially those that require big budgets or result in big change – will almost always be more appetizing to executives if you can run a small-scale prototype or model to demonstrate the project’s overall value. At the very least, try to provide a few reasonable scenarios of how the plan might play out in best case, and worst.
Use comparators: Communicators may find that demonstrating value by pointing to a similar project, executed by an (envied) competitor is a bit of a double-edged sword: while it may help executives envision the benefits and outcomes of the plan, it also sets a new precedent by which your plan will be judged. Be sure you can beat the competition before you start emulating them.
Never underestimate the value of executive support. With it, your plan will enjoy broad leeway, more resources and less interference. Without it, your project may easily wither away and die on the boardroom table.
Source: www.communicationsunlimited.ca
