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JWI 505: Business Communications and Executive Presence Week 6 Lecture Notes

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Strategic Communication What It Means Imagine that your boss has given you a new responsibility. They want you to lead a team on a major project initiative. Your first move is to meet with your team. You tell them that you want all of their input, that you will always be open with them, and that you will all win. You fill your talk with lofty rhetoric that sounds very inspirational. You end the meeting feeling good about what you have accomplished…but what exactly did you accomplish? Not long afterward, your team members come to you with a slew of questions: How big is this project? What project areas are we responsible for? What exactly are we supposed to be doing? In your attempt to motivate your team, you left several critical components out of your message. You never explicitly stated what the team is working toward. You never explained what your objectives are or what success looks like. You did not even tell them why they were completing the project in the first place. In short, you did not communicate strategically. In this lecture, you will learn how to create a strong communication strategy. We will discuss how to craft messages that are aligned with your mission. We will also explore how to analyze your audiences and how to tailor your communications to different groups of colleagues. Why It Matters

• Messages that are poorly organized or unclear cannot reach your intended audience.

• Clearly established and communicated goals reinforce your mission and values.

• A comprehensive communication strategy will align your team and get every brain in the game.

“People work better when they know what the goal is and why.”

Elon Musk

JWI 505: Business Communications and Executive Presence Week 6 Lecture Notes

What Is Strategic Communication? You have probably heard the phrase “strategic communication” multiple times. But, like “executive presence,” the term has several definitions. It is most commonly used in a public relations or marketing capacity. For our purposes, we will discuss the term as it relates to internal communication: strategic communication is delivering your message effectively in support of your objectives. It is letting your listeners know exactly what your vision and desired outcomes are. It involves clearly linking your aims to your mission. Strategic communication is, at its core, explicitly goal-oriented messaging. Clearly, developing a communication strategy involves more than just delivering a message. It entails knowing exactly what you want to achieve, what your message needs to include, who your listeners are, what your listeners’ values are, and what the best means of delivery is. In short, you need to consider five factors:

• Objective • Content • Audience • Culture • Medium

That is a lot to think about, but each factor plays a significant role in determining how successful your communication will be. Let us delve into each one. Objective In business, you never just write for the sake of writing. You want to accomplish something. Perhaps you want to tell your audience about a new policy or product, or perhaps you want to persuade them to complete a task. Maybe you just want to motivate your listeners and congratulate them on a successful business venture. Your objective, whatever it may be, is the primary reason you are communicating. This is the most important piece of information for your listeners. They will give you their immediate attention, but only if you convey this information

JWI 505: Business Communications and Executive Presence Week 6 Lecture Notes

very directly. As Laura Brown puts it in this week’s readings, you must “get the ask clear.”1 “The ask” is essentially the thesis of your message. You have probably read countless emails from colleagues that were long, convoluted, and full of unnecessary details. By the time you were done reading, you thought to yourself, “What am I supposed to take from this?” To avoid this in your own communication, spell out your thesis clearly. You should be able to write, in one sentence, precisely what you want your listeners to take away from your message. Alternatively, you can pinpoint your ask by completing this fill-in-the-blank statement: “This communication will be successful if _______________.” Spelling out your objective lets listeners know what you want from them. It also helps set the tone for the rest of your message. Based on what you need, you will use a particular communication style that will lead to the outcome you want. Social psychologist Rensis Likert developed a series of management styles that you can use to craft your communications:

• Tell. You state facts and inform your listeners what needs to happen. You are not asking for buy-in or feedback. This style is useful when you need to quickly share information or when there is no time to discuss matters.

• Sell. You are trying to inspire your listeners. You are offering something you hope they will buy. You should use this style in complex scenarios where your listeners have not been able to decide on a plan of action. We will explore this style more in our lesson on the art of persuasion.

• Consult. You are the ultimate decision maker, but you need others’ input to inform your

decision. You solicit feedback on issues that affect your listeners. This style tends to produce holistic solutions.

• Join. You are not the sole decision maker; your listeners will be actively involved

throughout the process. You will all slowly migrate to a shared consensus about a course of action. This style is particularly powerful because it facilitates full buy-in from each of your listeners.

1 Laura Brown, The Only Business Writing Book You’ll Ever Need (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2019), 11-20.

JWI 505: Business Communications and Executive Presence Week 6 Lecture Notes

Content Once you establish exactly why you are delivering a message, you must then give your messaging substance. You have told your listeners what your objective is. Now, you need to give them the information they need to help you fulfill that objective. The best way to start is to determine what your listeners need to know. Imagine you are the CEO of a tech hardware company. The company produces a circuit board that has been the source of several customer complaints. Your quality control team needs to check the circuit board’s design, which will require a change in their procedure. You need to communicate with the team about why this change is necessary. You know what your objective is: tell the quality control team to change their procedure. You know your communication will succeed if your listeners change the procedure and understand why they are changing it. You also know you will use the Tell communication style. Now, what content do your listeners need to know? They should know:

• What the procedure change will be • Why the change is necessary • Who will oversee the change

Focusing on these three points will streamline your message; the audience should not have to hear a massive amount of information that does not pertain to them. For instance, your listeners do not need to hear you blame them for the circuit board’s poor quality. Making accusations is a quick way to create discontent among the team. You want them focused on fixing their procedure, not worried about whether they will be fired. Your listeners do not need to know about your other products. Those products have no effect on your current message. Your listeners also do not need to hear about the other procedure options you considered. You did not choose them, so they are irrelevant to your message. Once you know your main points, order them so that they flow logically. For example, if you are writing an email or a memo, consider organizing your paragraphs using the BLUF method, or “bottom line up front.” This places your big ideas at the beginning of your paragraphs, ensuring that readers know exactly what to take away from each one. Then, explain why you are making your ask, why your listeners need to act, and how they should act. At the end of your message, remind your listeners what needs to happen. Think of your

JWI 505: Business Communications and Executive Presence Week 6 Lecture Notes

message as an arc: you will begin and end on the same note, but the other components of the communication should build on each other. This ensures your content is comprehensive while also being easy to follow. Audience Even if you have never met or spoken to your listener before, you have to create a rapport with them. Your message has to make sense to them, and they need to understand your objective right away. Therefore, you have to craft your message specifically for them. To understand your listeners’ point of view, Brown reminds us of three key factors:

• Relationship. How closely do you interact with these listeners? What are their roles relative to you? Will you be engaging in vertical, hierarchical communication? Or are you speaking to your peers, or horizontally?

• Information. Do your listeners know a lot about the topic you are communicating about? Is there some additional knowledge they need to know before fulfilling your objective?

• Attitude. How do you think your listeners will respond to your communication? What

questions or feelings will they have? Brown also recommends you fill in the blanks to these two statements:

• “My purpose is to ______________ so that my [listener] will ______________.” • “My [listener] needs to understand ___________ to be able to do that.”2

Let us return to our example of the tech hardware company. In terms of relationship, you probably interact with the quality control team, or at least the head of the team, fairly often. You are the CEO, so the team will do what you ask. You can be direct and forthright, but your message does not have to be forceful. In terms of information, the team is comprised of experts who know everything about your circuit boards. They probably know even more than you! Therefore, you do not have to waste time explaining exactly how the circuit boards work. You also do not have to remind them what the current procedure is. And in terms of attitude, you know the team will follow your directions. But because the company has been receiving 2 Brown, Business Writing, 21-39.

JWI 505: Business Communications and Executive Presence Week 6 Lecture Notes

complaints about the circuit boards, the team will likely be anxious. Enforcing a procedure change could sound punitive, even if you are not actively looking to blame anyone. You need to reassure them that the procedure change is not meant to punish, but to ensure your circuit boards are high quality. Remembering all of these factors – who your listeners are, what they know, how they feel – will ensure you are communicating directly and effectively to them. It is also a terrific demonstration of your empathy. You are showing you care about your listeners enough to craft your message around them and their response. Culture Think back to our lesson on intercultural communication. You know that, when you communicate across cultures, you have to consider a vast array of differences between you and your listeners. There are subtleties, nuances, and intangible factors that can drastically alter how your message is received. The same principle holds true in strategic communication. Even if you do not have to account for geographic differences, there are other distinctions to bear in mind. Different industries, organizations, and even work groups will have different cultures. For our tech hardware company, the quality control team’s culture will affect how they receive your message. Let us assume the team is a relaxed group. There is a hierarchy, but team members can address each other – and their bosses – by their first names. Team members are not individually oriented; group decisions matter more than each person’s own decisions. With this in mind, you would not send an overly formal email to the group. You can be informal in tone while still being direct in your message. You would also direct your communication to the entire group, not just the head of the team. This way, everyone on the quality control team will know exactly what is expected of them. They will also respond in a cooperative fashion; for this team, changing their procedure is a group project. Consider all of the cultural details that you need to account for. How relaxed are your listeners? Do they collaborate on a lot of work, or is it “everyone for themselves?” If you have multiple listeners, how close-knit are they? How direct do you have to be? What can you do to enhance your credibility? These questions may not have easy answers, but you must address them before you send your message.

JWI 505: Business Communications and Executive Presence Week 6 Lecture Notes

Medium Scholar Marshall McLuhan famously observed that “the medium is the message.” How you send a message is just as important as what the message contains, sometimes even more so. Think about it. In grade school, students learn how to add and subtract numbers. Some students learn faster than others, but not necessarily because they are smarter. It is more likely because they are taught in a more accessible way, or in a way that better suits their learning style. In the business world, your listeners will respond differently to different media. For our tech hardware company example, you should take into account factors like the size of the quality control team. If it is a big group, you will not meet with each team member individually. That would take a lot of time, and some listeners might interpret your message differently from others. You could call a group meeting or give a presentation, but remember, you want them to enact a procedure change. That needs to stick in their minds, and the change will probably be very detailed. Unless you have complex handouts, or unless everyone is taking notes, a big meeting may overwhelm your listeners. Your best option, in this case, is to email the team with your ask. You can explain precisely what the procedure change will entail, and your listeners will have a written record of what they need to do. When choosing a means of delivery, you should consider issues like how many listeners you have and what responses you want. Written communication is preferable for sending detailed messages to larger audiences. You would use email if you do not want to take up too much time, or if you want all of your recipients to have the exact same copy of your message. A big presentation is a great medium if you want to solicit feedback or group involvement. Everybody receives your message at the same time. If you only need feedback from one particular person, an individual meeting will suffice. As we have learned, talking with somebody one on one is a great medium for building strong interpersonal relationships. You can also better convey emotions through a face-to-face discussion as opposed to a memo. Looking Ahead In this lecture, we explored the elements of a comprehensive communication strategy. We discussed the five components of a strategy and how each one affects how your messages are crafted and received. One last note to remember is that, whenever you put together a message, do not just deliver it right away. Look over your main points. If you are writing an email or a

JWI 505: Business Communications and Executive Presence Week 6 Lecture Notes

memo, read it out loud to yourself twice. Ask yourself if you are missing anything or if anything is unclear. Think about how you would respond to this message if you were the listener or reader. And of course, if there are any spelling or grammatical errors, make sure you fix them! In the next lecture, you will learn more about one of the communication styles you use most frequently in business – persuasion. We will explore how to use narratives to enhance your messages, how to “hook” your audience, and how to generate support for your proposals and ideas.