Reflect & Amplify – Internal Audience Success is a Team Sport
(This is the part three of a five-part Reflect & Amplify series of posts about how IC pros can Pivot With Purpose into 2021. Missed earlier parts? Check out part one and part two.)
Being the only communications pro in the room can feel a bit lonely at times. Working remotely hasn’t helped this feeling. But that doesn’t mean we’re alone. Now is perfect opportunity to remember the times when teams came together to overcome challenge and create solutions in 2020.
Our third reflection step in the series is focused on noticing the inside experts who have helped you move through the past year.
Reflect: Remember Your Inside Experts
Think about this for a minute. 2020 was the year when capturing new knowledge marched double time. Countless communications covering topics that you’d never have imagined has meant figuring things out for yourself and for your employee audiences at the same time.
The good news is you’ve had ready experts inside your organization to help you understand the “what” so you can clearly communicate it to the “who.” They’re the subject matter experts who have supported your work as an IC pro.
As much as we may be the only communicator in the room at times, these subject matter experts are proof that when it comes to taking care of internal audiences, we’re better together. These internal experts have helped you keep your head above water when the breadth and pace of communications seemed overwhelming.
So, take a moment to remember these inside experts that helped you deliver communications success. You know the who they are. You’ve got their phone numbers memorized and their name auto fills quite easily as you draft emails. They are the internal sources that dropped all that they were doing to make sure your understood understanding was crystal clear.
Question: Ask Yourself These Questions
Who helped you understand new complex content that was completely out of your realm of understanding?
Who helped break down a process or issue into understandable terms and language?
Who helped give context to or explain new rules, regulations or findings that directly impact the success of your audiences?
Who helped you understand a technical or operational challenge standing in the way of your organization?
Who helped you shed light on the needed solution or answer to complex problem?
Who helped you make meaning and provide clarity to the audiences you serve?
An engaged and helpful cadre of subject matter experts always makes the work of communicators easier.
I encourage you to reflect on the knowledge and expertise they shared with you. Recognize they helped you understand what employees needed to know to be successful.
Their readiness and support have helped you adapt and learn in the face of new complexity. They’ve helped make your messages, tactics and communications work stronger for your employee audiences.
Here’s where you can pivot forward in 2021.
Amplify: Gather Your Dream Team of Subject Matter Experts
There’s more complexity and change on the horizon. 2020 taught you the value of having ready experts to help you understand and create clarity.
As you move into 2021, why not gather your dream team of subject matter experts ahead of time? Change is coming. Why wait for it to flood your desk? You needed these experts in 2020, you’ll need them again in the coming year.
Where you can, move past reactively seeking input one message at a time. Create your own intentional audience advisory team and bring them together to focus on what audiences need to be successful, ahead of the call to action to build a specific communication.
Everyone has a cabinet of advisors. Consider this one your ready partners to help you move audiences forward in a more cohesive manner.
Engage this new team of internal experts to proactively address the information and guidance that your audiences need to be successful. Capture their unique understanding of the audiences you serve. Together, you can respond to internal audiences, helping employees understand what they need to know and do to create success.
Consider: Ideas to light your way
Consider recruiting both informal and formal experts.
InfoAn informal group or collection of experts is just fine. This doesn’t have to be a formal group with scheduled meetings. No need for a charter or bylaws. But you can certainly centralize expertise by inviting them to join you. Ask them to be part of an “informal group of internal experts to help you make sure the messages and communications you build as IC pro help employees move forward.”
Look across your org chart. Often times, these experts are distributed throughout the organization in HR, IT, operations and other areas.
Proactively talk to them about what internal audiences will need to know and understand to be successful in coming weeks and months.
Leverage the insights of this team as early as possible, ahead of planned changes and projects. Absolutely activate their expertise ahead of the deadline.
Being the only communicator in the room doesn’t have to mean we’re alone. In fact, having a roomful of engaged experts who share the same motivation to empower employee success makes internal communication easier (and more enjoyable).
Who doesn’t want to have a team backing their success?
Let’s use your own dream team to keep a shared eye on what employee audiences need. When we do this, we amplify support for our work and our own success.
We’re better together. Let’s make audience success a team sport.
Next in the Series: Reflect & Amplify – Take What You’ve Learned and Amplify