COMMUNICATING THE

STRATEGIC plan
Otto Tawanda Chisiri

INTRODUCTION

You may spend hours as a management

team working tirelessly on your
organizations strategic plan. Data is
reviewed, the future envisioned, and words
are put onto paper.

You may be confident in your strategic plan

and energized about your path forward. But
What do you really have? A piece of paper.

It continues to be a piece of paper until it is

communicated.
A vision is only that until someone acts on
it
A strategy is only that until someone acts
on it
A goal is only that until someone acts on it.
Everything you need to get done is through
people.

COMMUNICATING THE
STRATEGIC PLAN

Getting your strategic plan to the right

stakeholders at the right time is crucial to its
success.
Each stakeholder may have their view, their
filter, their domain, and their livelihood they are
concernedabout and protect against change.
It is critical to know as many stakeholders as
possible, what they can contribute, or how they
depend on the strategic plan. The best case is
that stakeholders improve the project roll out
and adoption.

Who are these stakeholders?

They include: employees, customers, managers,
business units, executives, suppliers, partners, vendors,
and departments; groups as well as individuals.
Prior to the implementation of the strategic plan it is
important to identifythese groups and individualswho
have a stake in the success, and failure, and make sure
that we understand the key concerns and motivations of
these audiences in order tomitigate risk of over looking
or under appreciating their position.
This is ensured through stakeholder collaboration or
stakeholder management.

Why is it important to
collaborate with stakeholders?
Identify potential advocates and critics of
the change;
Eliminate resistance to change;
Create a team atmosphere;
Establish a level of trust;
Create a sense of ownership for participants
involved in the change; and
Raise the level of communication
effectiveness

STAKEHOLDER COLLABORATIONPROCESSES
The INFOM model may be used in effective
Stakeholder Collaboration.
INFORM is a an acronym for
Stakeholder
Identify
Analysis
Norminate
Feel
Observe
Manage
Ma

IDENTIFY
This initial step is where you brainstorm who
your stakeholders are.
As part of this, think of all the people who are
affected by your strategic plan, who have
influence or power over it, or have an interest
in its successful or unsuccessful conclusion.
You cant start communicating with
stakeholders until you know who they are.
Who are the main groups or departments
affected by your strategic plan?
Stakeholders can also be external to your
organisation like the government and third
party providers as well.

IDENTIFYING PROCESS
The table below shows some of the people
who might be stakeholders of the strategic
plan.
Senior executives

Shareholders

Governments

employees

Suppliers

The press

Middle level
managers

Lenders

Customers

Budget officer

The public

Prospective
customers

Remember
thatThe
although
Future recruits
community stakeholders may
be both organizations and people, ultimately
you must communicate with people. Make
sure that you identify the correct individual
stakeholders within a stakeholder

CLASS EXERCISE 1
IDENTIFY THE STAKEHOLDERS FOR YOUR
STRATEGIC PLAN.
INCLUDE BOTH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL
STAKEHOLDERS.

NOMINATING PROCESS
You may now have a list of people and
organizations that are affected by your
work.
Some of these may have the power either
to block or to advance. Some may be
interested in what the success of the
strategic plan and others may not care.
The next important step is the nominating
process which involves pointing out key
people and prioritizing them.

NORMINATING PROCESS

You prioritize the

stakeholders by
mapping out
stakeholders on a
Power/Interest
Grid, classifying
them by their
power over the
intended project
and by their
interest in it.

NORMINATING PROCESS
For example, the senior leaders(top executives) are
likely to have high power and high interest over the
strategic plan. General employees may have high
interest, but are unlikely to have power over it.
Someone's position on the grid shows you the
communication actions you have to take with them:
High power, interested people: these are the
people you must fully engage and make the
greatest efforts to satisfy.
High power, less interested people: put enough
work in with these people to keep them satisfied,
but not so much that they become bored with your
message. Inform that which is relevant to them.

NORMINATING PROCESS
Low power, interested people: keep
these people adequately informed, and talk
to them to ensure that no major issues are
arising. These people can often be very
helpful with the implementation hence they
need to know exactly what is expected of
them.
Low power, less interested people:
again, monitor these people, but do not
bore them with excessive communication.

You need to know more about key

stakeholders.
You may find that key people nominate
themselves, which makes your role easier: it is
better to work with people who want to be
involved than those who you have to drag into
the project.
Your key, nominated stakeholders should
ideally be people who are directly affected, with
enough authority to make decisions about
things that touch their departments.
They are the person who you will use to
channel communication back to their group.

EXERCISE 2
Prioritise the stakeholders on the list you
have made earlier.
High power, interested people
High power, less interested people
Low power, less interested people
Low power, interested people
Nominate the key stake holders where
appropriate.

FEEL
Begin to analyse the attitudes of the
people who have been nominated as
your key stakeholders: those named
individuals who represent each
stakeholder group.
Contact them and explain about the
strategic plan. Get them onboard and
coming to meetings if necessary.
All this will help you understand how
they feel about the strategic plan.
Do they support the it? Or would they
rather it went in another way?

Key questions that can help you

understand your stakeholders
are:
What

financial or emotional interest do they

have in the outcome of the strategic plan? Is it
positive or negative?
What motivates them most of all?
What information do they want from you?
How do they want to receive information from
you? What is the best way of communicating
your message to them?
What is their current opinion of your work as a
leader? Is it based on good information?
Who influences their opinions generally, and
who influences their opinion of you?

Do some of these influencers therefore

become important stakeholders in their own
right?
If they are not likely to be positive opinions,
what will win them around to support the
strategic plan ?
If you don't think you will be able to win
them around, how will you manage their
opposition?
Who else might be influenced by their
opinions?
Your initial stakeholder analysis is now
complete.

A very good way of answering these

questions is to talk to your stakeholders
directly people are often quite open
about their views, and asking people's
opinions is often the first step in building
a successful relationship with them.
This can be summarized a stakeholder
map, so that you can easily see which
stakeholders are expected to be
blockers or critics, and which
stakeholders are likely to be advocates
and supporters for your project. A good
way of doing this is by colour coding:
showing advocates and supporters in
green, blockers and critics in red, and
others who are neutral in orange.

STAKEHOLDER MAP

You can see

that a lot of
effort needs to
be put into
persuading
Piers and
Michael of the
benefits of the
project Janet
and Amanda
also need to
managed well
as powerful
supporters.

EXERCISE 2
On

your key stakeholder list who are (or

potential) the critics/blockers;
supporters/advocators and neutral
stakeholders? And also indicate the amount
of influence and interest that they have got.
What actions can you take to get more from
your supporters or win over your critics?

OBSERVE
Having established where your key
stakeholders sit in relation to the strategic
plan you can start to influence their
attitudes mainly by means of
communication.
The aim is to watch people over time, and
help them move towards a positive way of
thinking: a way that will help you achieve
your goals.
Keep a close eye on people as their opinions
will swing between positive and negative
over the life of the strategic plan.

A one-off analysis exercise is never enough:

you have to continually monitor how people
are reacting and manage accordingly.
Think Through What You Want From
Each Stakeholder
Identify messages you need to
convey to them.
Action and Plan the means of
Communication

MANAGE
The last step is to monitor and manage your
stakeholders and their expectations as the
strategic plan progresses not just at the
outset and when you need something from
them.
Put a note in your diary to touch base with
your key stakeholder representatives every
now and then just to keep them up to date.

BENEFITS OF COMMUNICATING
WITH THE STAKEHOLDERS
You can use the opinions of the most
powerful stakeholders to shape the
strategic plan at an early stage. Not only
does this make it more likely that they will
support you, their input can also improve
the quality of the plan.
Gaining support from powerful stakeholders
can help you to win more resources.

By communicating with stakeholders early

and often, you can ensure that they know
what you are doing and fully understand the
benefits of the strategic plan - this means
they can support you actively when
necessary.

ASSIGN ROLES AND

RESPONSIBILITIES
Who does what to communicate the strategic
plan?
The following are suggested roles and
responsibilities:

SENIOR LEADER
Provides overall leadership and guidance to
the organization regarding the strategic plan
Formally and informally communicates the
published strategic plan to the workforce,
customers, and stakeholders
Champions
the change that the plan
represents
Works with the budget officer to plan for
resource allocation to implement the strategic
plan.

Senior Leadership Team

Develops the best method for formally
communicating the plan
Champions the strategic plan within own
area of responsibilities
Communicates
with employees about
progress and lessons learned
Aligns own department, division, etc., with
the strategic plan.

Mid-Level Managers
Support the plan
Present employee briefings or hold Q&A
sessions on the plan
Translate strategies and objectives into
action implications for employees
Align current work activities with the
strategic plan

Budget Officer
Supports the plan
Plans ways to incorporate strategic plan
resource initiatives into the budgeting
process

Communicate the plan

constantly and consistently
How should the plan be shared with
the organization?
The method by which the senior
leadership
team
chooses
to
communicate the plan is extremely
important.
On the following slide are matrices of
printed,
oral,
and
technological
communication tools that can be
used, their benefits, and how to use
them.

Advice: The formal communication of

the published strategic plan should be

handled as a special event to mark a
new beginning, a focus on the future.
Choose a combination of methods that
will most effectively demonstrate to
employees that this plan is real and
will be implemented.
None of the printed or technological
tools should be used without personal
involvement
from
the
senior
leadership team.

Caution: If the organization had a previous

strategic plan that was unsuccessful,
employees may express cynicism toward the
concept of strategic planning.
If this is the case, it is important to build
acceptance and support for the plan during
the plan completion phase.
If this is not done before formally
communicating the plan, cynicism may
deepen.

Internal Communication ToolsPrinted

Printed Tools Benefits

How to Use

Brochure

Conveys the strategic Distribute to all employees

plan to the organization at a special all-hands session
without a lot of detail
and
at
new
employee
orientations

Letter/Memo

Explains the strategic Distribute to all employees

plan in the words of the to communicate the plan and
senior leader
its progress

Laminated
Cards

Are portable
Use to focus on basics of
Help employees focus on plan
the plan
Convey
the
strategic
plan to the organization
without a lot of detail

Contd
Printed
Tools

Benefits

How to Use

Posters

Remind employees of Display in common areas

the plan
in the organization

Strategic
plan/
quality
newsletter

Educates
the
workforce
in
detail
about the strategic plan
and planning process
Keeps the workforce
informed of strategic
plan accomplishments
Shares
progress
reports
Emphasizes
commitment
Shows the plans link
with everyday work
Keeps the focus on the
plan

Use the first issue to

communicate the plan and
the process
Use subsequent issues
to communicate progress,
results, lessons learned,
and
new
strategic
initiatives
Distribute
to
all
employees

Contd
Printed Tools

Benefits

Senior leaders
Shows
senior
leader
article in the
commitment
newsletter
Keeps employees informed
and focused on the plan

How to Use
Senior leader writes
about
strategic
planning and provides
updates in the
organizations
newsletter

Oral Tools
Oral Tools

Benefits

How to Use

All-hands
meetings

Encourage Q&A on
the part of employees

Reinforce
senior
leader commitment

Senior leader calls an allhands to introduce and

explain the plan
Discuss strategic plan and
progress

Briefing
materials
with a script

Ensure consistency of
message by leaders
Show commitment to
the plan

Distribute
to
each
department head and midlevel manager to explain to
their employees
Must be regularly updated
May require a brief
training session

Oral Tools

Benefits

How to Use

Department
meetings

Show senior leader

commitment
Relate plan to
everyday work
Keep employees
informed on a regular
basis

Department heads hold

departmental meetings to
communicate the plan and
share progress reports
May require briefing
materials
so
that
all
department heads convey
the same information
Hold meetings after plan
review sessions with the
senior leadership team

Focus groups

Offer open forum Hold focus groups to

for
ideas
and answer questions about
questions
the plan

Q&A sessions

Allow employees to Hold after a department

ask questions
or all hands meeting at the

Contd
Oral Tools

Benefits

How to Use

Special kick-off
event

Involves
all
employees and leaders
directly

Educates
and
provides direction on the
plan

Encourages
employees to participate

New employee
orientation

Familiarizes the new Establish a special section

employee with the plan
devoted to strategic planning
Shows organizational
and senior leadership
commitment
Allows them time to
figure out how they can
contribute

Technological Tools
Technologi
cal
tools

Benefits

Videotapes/
Provides
a
Teleconferen means
of
cing
communication for
an
organization
that has multiple
sites in remote or
dispersed
locations
Provides
a
consistent
message
E-mail

How to Use

Videotape the senior leader explaining

the plan to the organization
Distribute to each department/
division/site with copies of the written
plan and a letter explaining the purpose
of the videotape
Choose a point of contact at each site
to answer questions (the senior leader
of the site)

Is accessible to Communicates the plan and progress updates

Messages should come from the senior leader
all employees
All employees must have e-mail accessibility
Easy to update
All employees may not read sent messages, so
this is not a substitute for personal interface with
the senior
Leader

THE END

THANKY YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION