Internal Communications

There are times when good is good enough. This may sound odd coming from a small agency that prides itself on exceeding expectations and delivering excellence every single time. It might even sound a little hypocritical. I think it’s realistic and smart business.

There are times when the excellence comes in the moving forward component – in joining the conversation, in engaging with stakeholders, in reaching out and opening the door for discussion. Over the years, I have seen several client organizations get stuck – and I mean stuck – in rewriting speeches, articles or entire websites over and over again because they weren’t perfect. I have seen communications teams fracture over this type of approach. And it doesn’t mean the work wasn’t good or that it wouldn’t have been effective.

This type of dysfunction is more about the organization than about the work. Sometimes it’s a weird form of passive aggressive behavior. Other times it’s because someone (or several people) are paralyzed by the fear of moving forward and making a mistake. I can tell you that in many situations, the mistake is in doing nothing.

It is easy to hide behind perfection, the lawyers, or to create a committee that can’t agree and so nothing moves forward. When that happens, it isn’t about the communications strategy or initiatives, it is a much bigger issue that needs to be addressed. It’s about leadership and teamwork.

Check out the great piece on Ragan.com entitled: 6 lame excuses for not communicating for more on this topic.

How does your organization behave? Are you good enough?

Share this article:
Read more





AHA Creative Strategies is a public relations agency. We’re communicators. We’re social media participants. We’re brand journalists. We use video, video news releases, b-roll, podcasts, photography, articles, news releases, media and blogger pitches, news conferences, media tours, speaking tours, speeches, special events, trade shows, community meetings, annual reports, newsletters and so much more to assist our clients in communicating with their stakeholder groups. (Notice I said “with” – not “to” – that’s very important.) We are in the business of informing, educating and creating conversation. As importantly, we’re in the business of listening and responding.



I mentioned in Monday’s blog post that I would focus on some of the tools we, at AHA, provide to clients and why they are of value. I think before I do that, I should take a step back and define what good public relations is – to us. (I don’t want this blog post to be too long, so next Wednesday I will focus on the specific tactics. Although, I have to warn you, I got a bit carried away – today’s post is a little long!)



Good public relations is working in partnership with clients. Even when it is challenging, we tell them what they need to hear – rather than just take orders and deliver what they want us to. We identify what they need (which isn’t always the same) and we approach what we do with optimistic realism. Timelines, deadlines, client resources and budgets also have to be taken into consideration.



Please visit our blog to read the rest of the post.

Share this article:
Read more

At AHA, we are working with a new client that is dealing with a serious issue within its organization. This particular issue had a great deal of misinformation, miscommunication and speculation around it. One of the challenges that this organization faces is that for quite some time, it has had an internal culture of little or no authentic communication. Not because the senior executive team is uncaring or doesn’t want to communicate, but it is a busy, successful business that has seen rapid growth in the past decade. For many people, there just didn’t seem to be the time to reach out and connect.



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.

Share this article:
Read more

Content is important; we all know that. Relevant, engaging, informative and entertaining content is a must. Well-written content, to AHA, means more than it just being interesting. It means that it should be grammatically correct, it should be cogent and it should have a solid flow.

Blogs, like this one, have a little bit of leeway because it is written in a more conversational manner. (It would still bother me if there was a typo or other error in this blog.) Anything that is shared internally or externally should be reviewed. Here at our Vancouver PR agency, we have an editing and proofing process that we strictly follow. The input of the crew is important and each person is encouraged to question not just the information presented, but the style, tone and the word structure and grammar. It isn’t always easy or comfortable to do this, but it is important.

Share this article:
Read more

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.

Share this article:
Read more