How do you anticipate and mitigate common communication challenges and risks?

Strategic communication involves presenting a broader, more encompassing view to a specific target audience. By positioning the customer as the focal point of your communication strategy, the messaging becomes highly influential and directly resonates with the customer.

First of all, it is crucial to clearly define the purpose of the communication. This precise understanding will direct the creation of a successful strategy to connect with the target audience. Additionally, seek out people who are immersed in the reality of your target audience and know them deeply. They can not only provide constructive feedback on your message but also offer insights into cultural nuances and alert you to approaches that may not be well-received or that have failed in the past. Using empathy is also a powerful approach: try to put yourself in the recipient’s position, pondering their needs, interests and possible concerns. This perspective will help shape communication that truly resonates and adds value for them.

I’ll add just one thing that I tell leaders assured of their own ability to ‘wing it’. Mid-interview is no place to formulate new thinking. If they need proof of that, we switch on the cameras and give it a little test-run. Funny that everyone changes their view after that.

Plan for the 3-5 events most likely to happen. Use statistics to determine what they are. For each one, make plans as detailed as possible. Prepare all necessary documents that will be needed, and if there's an approval process, request that they be approved in advance. Test plans in a mock exercise to discover the parts that don't work, or can be improved. Rewrite and test again. Do this until all involved believe the plans are as perfect as they can be. On the day of the event, everyone should know their roles. If that's not the case, ask for more planning and tests.

A wise person once told me "you already know a crisis is going to happen, you just don't know when." The key to anticipating and mitigating issues is to prepare for them. Start by looking at all your vulnerabilities, no matter how small. The key here is to be honest. Once you have a list, determine if there are operational ways to mitigate some of those risks. If not, put together a protocol for how your team will handle communications should that crisis arise. This includes writing out statements, ensuring everyone knows who will speak and when, etc. Another important way to mitigate future risks is to build brand loyalty and a good reputation now. People are more forgiving of brands they already trust. Proactive public relations is key!

Take as much time as necessary to clarify the purpose of the message that will be transmitted. What would you like to achieve with this message? Which are the benefits or the value it can bring to the audience? This precise understanding will significantly increase your chances of having a successful strategy to connect with the target audience. Avoid investing time in a communication strategy before you have been able to answer these questions.

Establishing the facts is crucial. For example, in case of crisis communications, spend a lot of time initially gathering the facts from all sources available.

Anticipate the questions you will be asked in the short and long term so you can put measures in place immediately accordingly. Whatever the challenge or crisis, you will be accountable for reporting back on how you acted on it.

Think Ahead Always think about the reaction to your message, then have the plan in place for several more interactions. Anticipate how your message will be perceived. It’s more important than ever to put yourself in your audiences’s shoes. If you plan for multiple interpretations, you will not have to scurry for a reply, remembering that a response of any kind is better than no response at all.

Always align your communication objectives to the overall business objectives: profit increase, higher market share or penetration, faster new market entry, higher personnel retention and talent attraction and so on. After all, what matters is how you and your communication strategy can make magic happen or, at least, make it possible.

The ideal strategy often does not rely on just one tools for communication but on a combination of different tools, adapting the same message to various formats. When selecting tools to implement your strategy, keep in mind the following criteria: investment, efficient management, prioritization, usability, and future adaptability. It is crucial to remember that the target audience often includes people of different ages, cultures, and demographic influences. Thus, it is essential to identify the most effective way to communicate with that audience. To select the right communication channel for example, you should start by identifying the channel that best supports the targeted business objectives.

It is critically important to understand risk not just from the point of view of your organisation, but from what your stakeholders and audiences perspectives. Keep in mind that there is often a gap in how risk is perceived between your internal and external stakeholders. Become your organisation’s critical friend and voice. Map out risks and impacts on trust, perception and reputation. Managing and mitigating risk when they happen requires strategic thinking and questioning. Think across your organisation and be a confident internal adviser. As the old saying goes, “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

The tools that you are using need to mirror the interpretation techniques that you and your team have in-house or can outsource. For instance, how do you interpret the data that comes in? How many sociologists/behaviourists does your team have? How much at ease are you with big numbers and statistics? Tools are great, but knowing how to interpret what they yield is even greater.

Choosing the right tools in strategic communication is crucial in terms of your audience‘s age: Younger Audiences (Gen Z, Millennials): Prefer engaging, visual content on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and podcasts. Middle-Aged Audiences (Gen X, Young Boomers): Lean towards email newsletters, LinkedIn, informative blogs, and educational videos for detailed, credible information. Older Audiences (Boomers and beyond): Respond best to traditional media like emails and websites, valuing clear, accessible content and social proof. Focus on mobile optimization and easy navigation. Aligning tools with audience preferences enhances engagement and minimizes technical problems.

Dentro do conjunto de ações que fazem parte da adoção de ferramentas apropriadas, principalmente em casos de gerenciamento de crise, é de extrema importância a escolha adequada e precisa da figura do porta-voz. A pessoa escolhida deve, preferencialmente, reunir características como: conhecimento técnico, boa oratória, capacidade de adaptação de discurso, equilíbrio emocional e consciência corporal. A escolha inadequada de um porta-voz pode acarretar sérias consequências à imagem de uma instituição.

You can seek feedback on the effectiveness of your communication by conducting surveys with your target audience. You can also use analytics tools to track engagement and measure the impact of your communication. Or even talk with some people from the target audience to get their direct feedback.

Discussion, evaluation and review. Also, invite feedback from the target audience, don’t be afraid of criticism, this can lead to identifying weaknesses and give opportunities for improvement and change.

Be cautious about including “feedback” as an additional step or action item related to a scheduled communications plan. Instead, the “feedback” loop should be an embedded dotted line that is incorporated into your regular, day-to-day plan of connecting with other leaders within your organization.

You cannot forget the value in feedback of your cross-functional team. Carefully select a panel within your organization that support the company's mission from different perspectives. Invite their feedback of the plan to ensure that you do not have any gaps that need to be filled. Allow them to weigh in with their thoughts and perspectives. This will help you to create and implement a robust plan, and gain the support from multiple departments within the organization at the same time!

Don't miss out on the power of seeking feedback! It's a crucial step in the process. I highly recommend incorporating it as a pre and post step to your strategic communications. Before launching any major communication campaign, I love "shopping" around the big ideas to key stakeholders. Trust me, it's like peering into a crystal ball, giving you a glimpse of how different individuals and groups may respond. And based on this valuable feedback, you have the chance to make those final adjustments and tweaks to your communication campaign before it's unleashed upon the masses. Believe me, you'll thank yourself for this added due diligence.

Regular short meetings with the project team during execution are key to evaluating our communication plan's performance and making adaptations when necessary. Providing stakeholders with consistent, concise updates on our actions and outcomes is crucial. Establishing an open feedback channel is vital, ensuring everyone's aligned throughout the project and preventing end-of-project frustrations. Consider offering stakeholders an accessible online timeline for real-time project status checks, fostering transparency and engagement.

In a strategic communication plan, managing expectations is vital. Go beyond basic concepts: communicate scope, timeline, resources, and deliverables with precision. Address how progress, challenges, and solutions will be conveyed. Unveil plans for sharing results, outcomes, and recommendations. This detailed approach showcases your value, professionalism, and transparency. Consider including a clear delineation of roles and responsibilities, fostering clarity in execution. Transparency remains key, even when adjustments are needed. This not only enhances your reputation but also nurtures trust. By addressing these intricacies, your communication strategy gains depth, weaving transparency and trust into its fabric and nurtures relationships

Give clear strategic direction, and timescale. Review progress, and give regular feedback to stakeholders so they are clear on where things stand. Support areas/people if things start to slip.

An ideal strategy includes the ability to be flexible to changing scenarios of impact intended and challenges. One must have clarity of the intended goals behind the communication and select appropriate channels, audience strategy for the same.

Establishing a cadence of communication is critical. Rather than showing up at random times and in random ways, communicate regularly so people know when they can expect to hear from you. This will create some comfort that you'll keep them posted about what's happening rather than showing up only when something big is happening.

Handling conflicts is a decisive step in a strategic communication plan. Go beyond protocols for disagreements; detail approaches to negative feedback, criticism, and complaints. Addressing sensitive or ethical issues underscores respect, empathy, and integrity. Actively seek resolution, even through internal assessment. This minimizes escalation risks and upholds relationships. Clear escalation paths exhibit commitment to resolution. With a robust conflict resolution framework, your strategy gains resilience, preserving reputation and objectives.

Welcoming conflict is the first step to handling it. Conflict plays a vital role in delivering a successful outcome, and you cannot handle it if everyone is trying to avoid disagreement in the first place. Harnessing the power of conflict is a super skill far too often overlooked.

I have also found it important not to use language that could inflame a sensitive situation, or suggest a critical judgement of someone's way of thinking. Seeking to first understand all parties' agendas, interests, unmet needs, hopes, and fears can go a long way towards a harmonious way of working together and attaining aligned outcomes.

As a former journalist I can usually foresee potential issues. Step 1 - think of every scenario. Step 2 - prepare holding statements. Step 3 - assign a spokesperson and prep them. Step 4 - monitor your events/activations for at least 24 hours. Step 5 - Hope for the best but be prepared for anything.

One thing I have found useful is investing in trust. Once you set the tone of communication, which allows for two-way communication and effective feedback, every other thing falls in place.

The key is to have a plan that is updated regularly and plan around and on it. This must include an interdisciplinary team and their feedback throughout the process is critical because we learn and implement together. Scenario-based planning is very effective in communications.

It's important to keep in mind that more information doesn't always equate to better communication. The key is to provide just enough information to inform or make informed decisions, while ensuring that the information is digestible for the recipients.

A good communications plan requires creativity, but it's important not to get so carried away with ideas and possibilities that you forget how they connect back to your goals and purpose. Goals are important for any business because they provide a clear direction and a purpose. In one of my previous companies, we started every year with a 1-page chart outlining the company's objectives, goals, strategies and measures for the year. This allowed every department and employee figure out what role they could play in making the company's goals for that year a success. The better you can articulate your goals, the easier it is to set a vision for what you want to accomplish and rally support from others.

Actually, you just need two things. DATA which will tell you about preferences, expected outcomes etc; and EXPERIENCE, which can come from anything like observations to pantry chats, to fill in the gaps for everything else.

We have a communications playbook with every imaginable scenario. It includes responses and who says what to whom and when. We also have a separate crisis communications manual that outlines responses to (again) every possible scenario, and who says what to whom and when. It’s a lot of legwork and takes buy-in from all areas of the organization and it’s well worth it so people know what to do for any type of situation. It is helpful to review the manuals yearly with cross-functional team leaders.