TROY Spotlight: Strategic Communication

During the holiday break I came across this gem.  Thank you Dr. Jeff Spurlock, Director of Troy University's Hall School of Journalism and Communication, for this insightful look at the M.S. degree in Strategic Communication.  My heart skipped a bit when he mentioned a working professional could start the program in August and complete it by July of the following year...that's MY academic plan.

Strategically Yours,
Autumn

That's a Wrap - Leadership and Media Strategies

    As they say in show biz, "That's a wrap!"  This graduate course in Leadership and Media Strategies is quickly coming to a close.  For this blog, I'm not saying goodbye, I'm just taking a holiday pause. I'll be returning next term with another course taught by Dr. Padgett, Communication 6630, Strategic Communications and Emerging Media.  If I understand correctly that class will also require a weekly professional blog entry, thankfully I've gotten a little bit of experience with that.  Our terms, here at Troy University, are a condensed nine week online format and I can tell you we really move through some "absolutely fabulous" content. I'm most definitely looking forward to next term.  But lest I put the proverbial cart before the horse let's recap some of the content from this term in Leadership and Media Strategies.
     I really wish I could succinctly summarize this entire term into an eloquent, inspiring, single sentence communication strategy mantra of sorts.  I know something is out there, in me, I just haven't wrapped my head around it yet.  But I can say, without doubt, this has been one very insightful and motivating graduate course.  If someone were only allowed to take one graduate class I would strongly suggest this one be considered.  The relevancy of the media strategies considered, the in-depth look into leadership and vision, stripping down and clarifying considerations for communication skills, these all were integral to better understanding the vision/desired outcomes for this course.
     In the beginning when we were introduced to Roger's Diffusion of Innovation theory little did I know how much that theory was completely woven throughout this course.  When this theory, as a lens, is applied to covered concepts like leadership vision, crisis communication strategies, and personal/professional media strategies it is clear that the "innovation" is dependent on opinion leaders to carry the process through to the tipping point of the critical mass.  Sinek's TedTalk on getting to the why, which was referenced in earlier blogs, is exactly what needs to be addressed (communicated effectively) to those opinion leaders.
     If I had to pick my most favorite segment of this course I would pause to reflect, and then answer without doubt it was leadership and vision.  I've started reading and subscribing to a few blogs all about leadership these days.  In a recent search I came across "The Top 100 Socially-Shared Leadership Blogs of 2015" and I'd like to share a bit from those who year-to-year consistently sit in the top 1 & 2 spots.  In the 2nd spot, with far-and-away the most LinkedIn shares, is "Leadership Freak - Empowering Leaders 300 Words at a Time."  Dan Rockwell, the blog's author, is self-proclaimed as "freakishly interested in leadership."  His daily updates are indeed brief, but man are they powerful.  I guess it's true about good things coming in small packages.  Just this week, one of my favorites was a blog on the importance of valuing others. Here, directly from "Leadership Freak...":

               7 Cost Free Ways to Make People Feel Valued:
     
                      Simple behaviors have a profound impact.

1. Reflect on the qualities and behaviors you admire about the person speaking to you.  (don't forget to listen while you do this.)

2. Go to people.  Don't expect them to always come to you.

3.  Jot notes when others talk.  Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, is a voracious note taker.

4.  Aplogize, even it isn't all your fault.  

5.  Relax.  Calmness of spirit tells others they matter.

6.  Ask, "What do you think?"  Good questions elevate the status of others.

7.  Walk around the office at the end of the day saying, 'thank you'.  Point out something they did well.   

     In the #1 spot was a blogger, among many other labels, with a self-titled "Brian Tracy Leadership".  Brian Tracy's blog was met with enormous success on Facebook, as evidenced by incredible counts of shares and likes.  One of his blogs that I particularly enjoyed was, "How to Improve Your People Skills with This One Quality."  He goes on to cover, in the below video clip (5 minutes in duration/well worth the watch), the 5 A's of charm are: Acceptance, Appreciation, Approval, Admiration, and Attention. He specifically says in his blog: 

"Charm is the ability to create extraordinary rapport with anyone, and make him or her feel truly exceptional in your presence.

You might think that you need to be born with charm, but although some people seem to come by it naturally, charm is something that you can learn.

No matter how skilled, smart, or experienced you may be, most of your ability to succeed at anything depends on your ability to win people over, to convince them, to charm them.

It is important to note that the deepest craving of human nature is the need to feel valued and valuable.

Therefore, the secret of charm and improving your people skills is to make others feel important."

 
     In reverence to Mr. Tracy's powerful social media presence and influence I'd like to end this course's blog with a quote from him on leadership: 

"Leaders never stop growing and developing. They have the capacity to keep themselves from falling into a comfort zone. They are lifelong students."

     To this I say onward, and I hope to see you next term! Thank you for being here, you indeed are valued, and as always...


Strategically Yours,
Autumn




WORKS CITED:

Center for Management and organization Effectiveness. (2015). "The Top 100 Socially-Shared Leadership Blogs of 2015".  Retrieved on 10 December 2016 from https://cmoe.com/top-shared-leadership-blogs/.

Rockwell, D. (2016). Retrieved on 10 December 2016 from https://leadershipfreak.blog/2016/12/09/how-to-get-your-head-out-of-your-you-know-what/.

Tracy, B. (2016). Retrieved on 10 December 2016 from http://www.briantracy.com/blog/personal-success/improve-your-people-skills/.

Measurements from San Francisco

   Here we are in week eight of the Leadership and Media Strategies graduate course, and here I am in a hotel room in Union Square in the heart of San Francisco--doing homework.  How do these things relate?  Aside from my presence, both education experiences are covering measurements.  I'm here this week getting certified in the administration of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment.  It has been an intense 4- day process that will fortunately culminate in a professional certification.  I will soon be able to administer and assist clients with this tool.  I can't tell you how many times we, as participants have been reminded of the validity of this personality assessment tool.  While I'm learning amazing, in-depth insights into the personality preference functions and the type dynamics associated with type codes, I am also learning about the importance of another type of measurement. The metrics and tools we can use as strategic communication professionals to measure our program's and plan's effectiveness. Just like someone wouldn't administer the MBTI assessment to measure behavior traits, when analyzing the effectiveness of a communication strategy we must ensure we select valid instruments.  Validity is all about making sure that what we use to measure something is indeed measuring that very thing.
     Thanks to the Department of Defense (DoD) for many things, but for now it is another acronym.  MOE, is the measurement of effectiveness.  Typically used for system analysis, I believe it can also be applied to communication strategy effectiveness measurement and analysis.  The DoD defines MOE as the "measure designed to correspond to accomplishment of mission objectives and achievement of desired results" (2016).  This acquisition blog piece goes on to illustrate that there are several characteristics to measurement of effectiveness, a few of these are:

• should be simple to state
• should be testable
• can be quantitatively measured
• should be easy to measure

     Using this illustration let's examine the measurement of effectiveness of a strategic communications plan.  In civilian speak the "mission objectiveness" translates to strategy goals and desired outcomes.  Once a strategy has been implemented measurements should commence.  In this day and age of lightning fast information upload and dissemination the moment we execute we are already in a measurement status.  One more article really helps clarify the DoD's MOE for use in a digital strategy, it is "5 Ways to Measure the Impact of a Digital PR Campaign," by Blaise Lucey (2014).  Lucey lists some key ways to measure the outcome (effectiveness):

• Web Traffic - measuring traffic generated to company's website or blog
• Referrals - quantitative analysis of links used to direct target audiences to website or blog
• Social Media Shares - measuring the amount of engagement generated by social shares
• Press Release Engagement - embedded links can drive web traffic and be measured 
• Outputs & Outcomes - "output is a piece of coverage" so track the articles and "outcome is effectively a lead that has been generated" use metrics established to quantify leads generated

    We've looked at a few clear examples of possibilities for measuring strategic communication plan effectiveness.  I'd like to add one more suggested way to measure effectiveness that was not included in our assigned weekly reading but that I found both comprehensive and forward-thinking.  The title was "The 5 Easy Steps to Measure Your Social Media Campaigns," by J. Davis (2012).  In this illustration the author clearly defined the two types of social media measurements: "Ongoing Analytics - which is the ongoing monitoring that tracks activity over time" and the "Campaign-Focused Metrics -  which is the campaign or event analytics with a clear beginning or end."  I think this clear differentiation is important to effectively measuring the success of a communication strategy.  Davis goes on to delineate between the two by saying that, ongoing analytics provide the "overall pulse of the general conversation about your brand or company," while campaign-focused metrics can help strategists "understand the impact of targeted marketing initiatives."  In a similar list-format as Lucey's above-mentioned measurement illustration, Davis lists a few common measurement approaches based on some of the more common goals in a social media campaign.  These are:

• Awareness - use metrics like volume, reach, exposure, and amplification. "How far is your message spreading?"
• Engagement - use metrics concerning retweets, comments, replies, and shares.  "How many are participating, how often are they participating, and in what forms are they participating?"
• Drive Traffic - use metrics that quantify the clicks, URL shares, and conversion.  "Are people moving through social media to your external site and what do they do once they're on your site?"
• Advocates and Fans - use metrics that track contributors and influence.  "Who is participating and what kind of impact do they have?"
• Share of Voice - use metrics that can track your volume relative to the closest competitors. "How much of the overall conversation around your industry or product category is about your brand?"

        Armed with the above examples of ways to get Measurements of Effectiveness (MOE) and a web full of application methods for extracting the suggested metrics a strategic communicator should be able to provide clear and quantifiable results to their clients with relative ease and confidence.  However, when presenting result findings to clients I think I can add a bit from the other class I'm working on in San Francisco right now - MBTI.  Quick overview, the MBTI was developed by Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabelle Briggs Myers based on the works of Carl Jung, specifically related to innate personality preferences.  It is a self-assessment tool that can provide a 4-letter preference type code result that demonstrates the client's innate preferences for personality functions.  The course I'm in is really delving deep into the levels of the code not visible, the tertiary and inferior functions, but to keep it simple the second letter in that code deals with how someone processes information.  It is the "perceiving" function.  Suffice to say, not everyone is born with an innate preference for facts and figures when processing information.  There are those who may process information with their preferred "intuitive" function.  So let me leave you this week with this -- "know your audience" and speak their language.

             

 

Works Cited:

Author Unknown. (2016) AcqNotes.  Retrieved on 7 December 2016 from
http://www.acqnotes.com/acqnote/tasks/measures-of-effectivenessrequirements.

Davis, J. (2012).  "The 5 Easy Steps to Measure Your Social Media Campaigns".  Retrieved on 6 December 2016 from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-media-measurement/.

Lucey, B. (2014). "5 Ways to Measure the Impact of a Digital PR Campaign." Retrieved on 5 December 2016 from https://www.marchpr.com/blog/pr/2014/04/ways-measure-digital-pr-campaign/

P.A.S.S. - Putting Out Communication Fires

     A little over a year ago my family moved from a long-term military assignment in Europe back to the continental United States.  We were reassigned to the northern part of California during the latter part of the summer. There were many adjustments going on, both internal and external, for our family during this move.  One of the most vivid, and not so enjoyable memories for me, is the recollection of the horrific and devastating wildfires that were raging all through the scenic NorCal region at that time.  Then more recently, as a daughter of the state of Tennessee, I was deeply saddened to hear and see news of the devastation that wildfires had on my beloved Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  Both of this events remind me of the extreme conditions communicators face when addressing their own type of fire – crisis management and response to events, videos, comments, stories, etc. that often can threaten the very foundation of an organization.

     Anyone trained in fire safety and response can attest to the use of the fire extinguisher P.A.S.S. technique.  This technique, and corresponding acronym, is used to let folks know an easy way to remember and properly use this important equipment.  P.A.S.S. stands for and translates to: Pull, Aim, Squeeze, and Sweep. Because of the similarities with regards to this week’s blog about crisis communication strategy we will be looking at the same acronym from a different perspective and translation.  We are still extinguishing a fire, of a different nature, a crisis communication flame.  We’ll consider P.A.S.S. now as Prepare, Assess, Share, Support.  Let’s take a closer look at how the crisis communication strategy P.A.S.S. would work.

PREPARE – The initial phase of the 4-step crisis communication plan should have occurred well before an actual crisis erupts.  Benoit explained, “Before a crisis occurs, judicious planning may reduce response time and possibly prevent missteps in an organization's initial response to a crisis (1997).  The preparation phase would consist of various scenarios and the corresponding responses.  From personal experience, the military branches, specifically the U.S. Air Force, are quite effective at accomplishing the preparation aspect of this technique.  These crisis and emergency type of exercises occur regularly and the scenarios are played out on various levels throughout the base.  Sometimes it is a leadership-centered event and other times it might involve an entire Air Force base population.  In either type of scenario, a prepared strategist has at the ready a set of templates, checklists, and responses to execute at a moment’s notice.  This allows for minor adjustments as necessary and faster dissemination and response time.  Harvard Business School professor Michael Watkins called these “response modules to scenarios” and listed possibilities like, “facility lockdown, police or fire response, evacuation, isolation (preventing people from entering facilities), medical containment (response to significant epidemic), grief management, as well as external communication to media and other external constituencies” (2002).

ASSESS- In the assessment phase the communicators should make use of monitoring services which can also provide updated notifications.  This real-time oversight allows a crisis communication team to learn about the threat/occurrence of events that could lead to a crisis, which in turn allows time to be better spent assessing the information about the crisis itself.  Having accomplished the preparation phase, a well-prepared crisis team can spend a little bit more time fully assessing the situation.  As mentioned by Jonathan Bernstein in his article, “The 10 Steps of Crisis Communications”, “reacting without adequate information is a classic ‘shoot first and ask questions afterwards’ situation in which you could be the primary victim. Assessing the crisis situation is, therefore, the first crisis communications step you can’t take in advance.”  Benoit went on to point out that, “When a crisis occurs, it is important to clearly understand both the nature of crisis and the relevant audience(s)” (1997).   

SHARE – The sharing phase of a crisis communication plan would be where the key messages and responses are shared with the different audiences.  Benoit claims that during a crisis the communication team must know: “First, what are the accusations or suspicions? Second, it is important to know the perceived severity of the alleged offense. The response should be tailored to the offense” (1997).  Bernstein also adds, “What should those stakeholders know about this crisis? Keep it simple. Have no more than three main messages that go to all stakeholders and, as necessary, some audience-specific messages for individual groups of stakeholders. You’ll need to adapt your messaging to different forms of media as well. For example, crisis messaging on Twitter often relies on sharing links to an outside page where a longer message is displayed, a must because of the platform’s 140 character limit.”  Additionally, in the sharing phase the communication emphasis is placed on timeliness, appropriateness, transparency and empathy.  A consideration for the sharing phase is that although the responses might be shared directly with one particular audience in a targeted manner, these crisis response key messages may, and probably will be shared indirectly as well.  In an effectively executed sharing phase the dissemination of messaging and responses will allow for the ability to cut through misinformation by clarifying and deconflicting.  In a University of Delaware information piece (author unknown) the following was mentioned about crisis communication: “Good communication is the heart of any crisis management plan.  Communication should reduce tension, demonstrate a corporate commitment to correct the problem and take control of the information flow.

SUPPORT – In the final phase of the crisis P.A.S.S. technique support is established.  This is a two-way support system, the communicators understand the needs of the audience for clarity in the crisis – and the audiences can trust in the credible support of the communication team.  Questions are answered, and concern, empathy, and understanding ensure a supportive environment.  The best case scenario is for a return to normal, closure to the crisis, and as little damage as possible to the relationship between organization and audience(s).  An effective and well-executed crisis response plan can not only support the organization’s strategy, but can also support the concerns of the audiences and stakeholders. 

Work Cited:

Author Unknown. “Five Steps to Crisis Management Planning.” Retrieved on 2 December 2016 from http://www.adea.org/publications/library/adea.../fivestepstocrisismanagementplanning.

Benoit, W.L. (1997).  “Image Repair Discourse and Crisis Communication.” Public Relations Review.  Retrieved on 29 November 2016 from http://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/98A1/Benoit.htm.

Bernstein, J. (2016).  “The 10 Steps of Crisis Communications.”  “Retrieved on 2 December 2016 from http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/the-10-steps-of-crisis-communications/.

Watkins, M.  (2002). “Your Crisis Response Plan: The Ten Effective Elements.”  Retrieved on 2 December 2016 from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/your-crisis-response-plan-the-ten-effective-elements.