We have a fun, interesting looking clock in the AHA kitchen. I am sure it was inspired by the works of Salvador Dali. It is kind of melting and surreal, and when a person first sees it, they are unsure how to tell what time it is. It’s been hanging in the kitchen for about a year now. It seems perfectly normal to those of us who spend any time in the room.

We had an AHA crew member come by a few days ago and her surprised (and fascinated) reaction to the clock was interesting. It was a clear reminder that if you are exposed to something on a regular basis, it can lose its impact on you. It is important to remember that, especially when you are developing messaging, positioning and outreach campaigns. Not everyone will have your knowledge, your exposure, your familiarity – they may not view what you are communicating through the same lens that you do.

As communicators, we often need to take a step back and look at things from different perspectives. To think about how they will be received by each of the stakeholder groups – and potentially by the groups as a whole. At AHA, we have developed a series of questions to ask as we build campaigns or develop messages, positioning or speeches (or just about anything that will be shared). It is important to remove yourself from what you think and put yourself in the shoes of others. Our approach is always to view the work we are doing from a range of perspectives – from supporters to critics to those that just don’t care (and many in between).

The work we do is called communication, but a large component focuses on perception – how what is being shared, promoted, communicated or told is going to be heard.

It’s important to take a step back and make sure that you have taken the perspective of all stakeholder groups into consideration.

In today’s AHA Fast Take Friday, Ruth talks about the importance of listening to your stakeholders when you are communicating.

Unfortunately that neglect has come back to create internal issues. There are human resource challenges, inefficiencies between departments and some information circulating is just plain wrong – and it is creating concern and anxiety among employees. In the past, this organization had not considered communication a priority. That has changed. There is a new Chief Operating Officer (COO) who is committed to creating open, two-way communication opportunities. He is also ready to work with staff to identify and improve the blocks to communication.

In beginning to create a strategic plan for internal communications, we quickly realized that it is going to take more than an inspiring speech and a promise to respond from the new COO. Credibility and trust need to be rebuilt and the employees are a little skeptical about whether honest, open and two-way communication will become their day-to-day reality. This is going to take a culture change and for that to happen, the shift has to come from a range of areas within the organization. We’re still working this through and will blog more about the innovative ways we’re working with this company to move forward in this area.

For this post, we’re focused on the importance of an organization to quickly and thoughtfully respond to an issue. One of the challenges that most organizations now face is that it is crucial to respond quickly when a potential issue, challenge or opportunity comes up. Gone are the days when you had days or weeks to think about things, to develop the right messaging and positioning. Our world is now fast paced. There is an expectation of a quick response for both internal and external stakeholders. At best, you have 24 hours – and I have to admit, even that seems like a long, drawn-out response time to me. Journalists update their online articles and post new articles throughout the day and night. There is no more news cycle tied to print production and broadcast times. Many people connect with their BlackBerry or iPhone and very few people don’t check their inbox, Facebook, Twitter or other social networking accounts on a daily basis.

Each organization is different, but there seems to be a gap when it comes to providing information to stakeholders in a timely fashion. Approval processes are outdated and cumbersome. Creating a streamlined process is crucial.

Could your organization turn around a response within 24 hours? Within 12 hours? How about eight hours or in four? If it was urgent and a crisis hit, could you have a written document, a video or other form of communication developed, approved and distributed in an hour? These are important questions to ask yourself and your colleagues.

Getting copy, videos, images, etc. through the approval process is a challenge that every communicator I know has faced. It’s not always easy to get through the approval process, whether you are in-house, at an agency or a freelancer. Quite often, it isn’t about how good the copy is, it’s about the culture of the organization and, at the core of it, about the person who has the power to approve.

Quite often, people don’t understand what the review process is supposed to achieve. From a communicator’s perspective, it’s usually about ensuring that the piece is accurate and authentic. We write for a living and have checks and balances in place (thank goodness for copyeditors and proofreaders!) to make sure the piece is professional, easy to read and clear.

For others, writing is a personal thing and, unfortunately, ego can come into play. Many people like to put their “stamp” on content. Depending on how many people are on the review list, it can take days or even weeks to get a short piece approved. Wading through suggestions, revisions and input can be time consuming. To be honest, quite often the revisions don’t make the piece better because the person reviewing is seeing the piece from their own perspective and potentially not understanding the objectives of the piece overall.

I came across a great piece on Ragan.com recently that outlines some tips on how to better manage the approval process. I have to say, there is some valuable information here.

Over the past eight days, I have been to Calgary, Toronto and Tampa for meetings. I am used to travel – AHA clients are all over North America and while we work easily day-to-day using technology, meeting face to face is always a good thing.

I can work just about anywhere – airports, hotel lobbies, coffee shops and even busy sushi restaurants, if I have to. One of the things that always strikes me when I travel is the importance of being prepared, organized, flexible and still hitting our marks and our deadlines. As communicators, that’s who and what we have to be every day, no matter where we are – in our office or in an airport.

A good communicator always has a “plan b” and often a “plan c” in place. And, because our lives are so driven by deadlines, I think most of us arrive early (whether it’s for a meeting, a lunch, an event or a flight) so that we can make sure we are prepared and organized. That way, we can be flexible.

At our Vancouver PR firm and, indeed, with our crew across the country, we pride ourselves on being prepared, organized and efficient.  Perhaps it’s because we’re all travellers at heart. Or perhaps it’s because we are communicators and the skill set necessary to do our work translates well to travel.

As I sit in the Tampa airport waiting for my flight, I think I will take a little break from work and have a coffee and people-watch for a while. Hope you have a prepared, organized, flexible day that works for you.

At our Vancouver PR agency (and in every city that AHA is in), content has always been important. The stories that we tell on behalf of our clients are at the heart of what we do – we share relevant, authentic and interesting information. We engage, connect and actively listen – not just to what we think will be said, but we pay attention to what is being said. That, however is a blog post for another day.

More and more we, at AHA, find ourselves working with clients to develop their stories, to help them to tell those stores and to distribute them using technology. (Understanding, of course, where the target community lives – either online or offline.) We also work to encourage and facilitate the conversation between our client’s organization and the stakeholder group.

Great content can be found in blogs, in infographics (the incredible charts and graphs that can now be created), in customer stories and testimonials, in podcasts and videocasts, in games and on mobile apps, on Facebook and Twitter, in stats, in produced video or audio programs, on websites, in speeches, in e-newsletters and even in songs.

It is important to understand the community or stakeholders that your organization wants to connect with and it is equally important to appreciate how they want to participate in the conversation.

AHA has a crew of exceptional communicators – talented writers and editors, producers and project managers. We are focused on creating engaging, authentic, relevant content for our clients. It has to fit in within the overall strategic objectives. It has to be current, smart and interesting – whether that means funny, informative or creative.

Content is important – and we know it.

One of the key points that isn’t included in this article is where the social media specialist “lives” in an organization. Is he/she in the communications department, marketing, or sales? And how is social media being integrated throughout the organization? Is it being done in isolation, as an add-on, or “over there” kind of approach?

One of the challenges that come with the emergence of social media is that often communicators are asked to develop a “social media strategy.” What does that mean? Years ago, if someone said: “I need a brochure” – we, as communicators would take a step back and ask what the objective was and would work out whether a brochure was the right tool to meet the goal. It is no different now except the tools have changed.

Should your organization be on Twitter? That depends, what is your overall business strategy and communication objective? Should the CEO blog? Perhaps, but take a step back and look at the bigger picture before you allow a tool to drive your strategy.

I think that there are many opportunities to use social media strategically and it is an exciting and interesting time. I also think that there are many organizations that would benefit from taking a step back and reviewing their current communications strategy to see how and where social media tools can be of value.

I am glad to see that social media tools are becoming a part of a communicator’s toolkit– but don’t let the tail wag the dog. Develop your strategy first, then decide on the right tools for the job.

The world is a different place because of online communication. We have struggled in finding the right “name” for social media – online communication, interactive PR, digital communication…it’s a challenge because by naming it something other than “communication,” we isolate it from traditional or classic communication, and that shouldn’t happen.

One of the key points I took away from the Ragan Social Media Conference in Vegas is that social media is today, it’s now, it’s a reality and that we have to stop thinking of it as this new, different “thing” or tool. It is a part of how the world connects and we need to embrace that communication has changed forever.

Having said that, in speaking with communicators, I often hear of the challenges that they face in convincing their senior executive or board of directors that social media is of value. There is a paradigm shift that needs to happen at organizations. At the core of this shift is the impact of social media on how we do business. I believe this is exactly what Chaney speaks about in this blog post. It is imperative that we change how we think about the way we communicate before we use social media tools.

In speaking at events, delivering workshops and collaborating with clients – many of the points touched upon in this article come up. Obama has made a commitment to move toward a more open and transparent form of Government – and while there are steps being taken to do this, it takes time. This is a big paradigm shift. Not just for the people implementing the tools, technology and developing the strategy, policy and process, but also for the people who are being asked to join the conversation. The logistical side takes time and resources, so does the culture shift.

This article also points out some of the misses from the Obama team; some initiatives are slower on the uptake or haven’t hit their stride yet. There are no hard and fast “blueprints” for opening up the conversation and making it work. There is some experimentation involved and some things will resonate with your community (the people formerly called “The Audience”) and some won’t. Sometimes, no matter how much research you do, you won’t know until you try.

We often refer to The Obama Standard. He has done a good job of starting the process of creating a government that provides a voice – through a range of initiatives including social media – to the people. While he has a much bigger budget than most organizations, he is still working through it step-by-step, project-by-project, and asking for input as they learn what works and what doesn’t.