10 Tips effective business communication

1. Plan ahead and be prepared
A successful response to a business crisis typically demands making and effectively communicating far-reaching and emotionally difficult decisions while under pressure and perhaps lacking complete or fully accurate information. Proper crisis preparedness planning therefore inevitably calls for putting the necessary organizational structure, processes and tools in place before a crisis hits.
Develop, implement and continuously improve a crisis communication strategy and matching crisis communication plan tailored to the company’s needs. Assign responsibilities and thoroughly train the designated employees and their back-ups. Put communicators on the corporate and, if applicable, the regional and local crisis management teams. Conduct vulnerability audits and use the findings to build realistic crisis scenarios upon which recurring media training and crisis management drills are based.
Remember that effective employee communication is a crucial component of any comprehensive crisis management strategy and indispensable to minimizing crisis-related damage, seizing the opportunities a crisis may present and converting resulting organizational change into competitive advantages.
2. Maintain ongoing dialogue
You have a much greater chance of achieving your communication objectives if there’s already an ongoing and constructive dialogue with your stakeholders long before a crisis occurs. Unfortunately, many companies fail in this and also lack an issues management program and a risk-communication strategy.
In-depth stakeholder analysis is a prerequisite for compelling and targeted stakeholder communication. Use automated Internet and intranet monitoring to identify and better understand stakeholder needs and customize your external and internal crisis communication accordingly.
If employees are used to regular communication through certain channels, use them in times of crisis along with communication tools that were developed for specific crisis situations.
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