The Communication Plan in Action: Examples
Although the process of building a communication plan produces a similarly impacting outcome, the actual communication plan can vary widely to align to organizational culture and project scope. In the case of government programs, the customer is the communities they serve and therefore must provide information in a consumable format appropriate for the greater audience. Three examples of government communications are described, including Seattle Parks and Recreation, City of Scottsdale, and AIDS.gov.
Seattle Parks and Recreation
The Seattle Parks and Recreation communication plan is the most complex of the three examples due to its complexity and high community involvement. Of note, the Seattle Parks …show more content…
The City of Scottsdale (2011) nine-page communication plan includes project contacts, introduction, communications toolbox, communications timeline, and evaluation. The introduction describes the project, the goal of the communication plan, key messages, and guiding principles of the plan (City of Scottsdale, 2011). The communication toolbox describes each of the ways information will be provided, including media packets for the press, social networking sites for the community, and employee e-newsletter for internal audiences (City of Scottsdale, 2011). The communications timeline provides an at-a-glance view of the scheduled communication date and tasks over the course of the project (City of Scottsdale, 2011). Finally, the City of Scottsdale (2011) plan has an evaluation section describing how success of the communication plan will be measured to apply to future …show more content…
Project managers set the expectations of who, what, when, and how information is distributed to the stakeholders, thereby minimizing the possibility of ad hoc communications from the stakeholders requesting status reports or fielding various questions (Gray & Larson, 2014). That said, a well-crafted communication plan is critical for the stakeholders to understand what information will be shared.
The three communication plan examples were varied in their detail and audience. The Seattle Parks and Recreation communication plan does a good job of segmenting internal and public involvement strategies, however its complexity and length is detrimental to reaching its community audience. Of note, the internally facing items such as key messages, slogans, and graphic standards are helpful more so for politicians and other project stakeholders, however they distract from reaching the community audience. Also, the Seattle Parks and Recreation plan mentions evaluations and has a task to send out evaluation forms, however they do not discuss their evaluation process or methods as do the other two plans. In short, the Seattle Parks and Recreation communication is a lengthy, overly engineered plan which will not engage or reach its community audience and may barely keep the attention of its internal or project audience. It seems as though
Although the process of building a communication plan produces a similarly impacting outcome, the actual communication plan can vary widely to align to organizational culture and project scope. In the case of government programs, the customer is the communities they serve and therefore must provide information in a consumable format appropriate for the greater audience. Three examples of government communications are described, including Seattle Parks and Recreation, City of Scottsdale, and AIDS.gov.
Seattle Parks and Recreation
The Seattle Parks and Recreation communication plan is the most complex of the three examples due to its complexity and high community involvement. Of note, the Seattle Parks …show more content…
The City of Scottsdale (2011) nine-page communication plan includes project contacts, introduction, communications toolbox, communications timeline, and evaluation. The introduction describes the project, the goal of the communication plan, key messages, and guiding principles of the plan (City of Scottsdale, 2011). The communication toolbox describes each of the ways information will be provided, including media packets for the press, social networking sites for the community, and employee e-newsletter for internal audiences (City of Scottsdale, 2011). The communications timeline provides an at-a-glance view of the scheduled communication date and tasks over the course of the project (City of Scottsdale, 2011). Finally, the City of Scottsdale (2011) plan has an evaluation section describing how success of the communication plan will be measured to apply to future …show more content…
Project managers set the expectations of who, what, when, and how information is distributed to the stakeholders, thereby minimizing the possibility of ad hoc communications from the stakeholders requesting status reports or fielding various questions (Gray & Larson, 2014). That said, a well-crafted communication plan is critical for the stakeholders to understand what information will be shared.
The three communication plan examples were varied in their detail and audience. The Seattle Parks and Recreation communication plan does a good job of segmenting internal and public involvement strategies, however its complexity and length is detrimental to reaching its community audience. Of note, the internally facing items such as key messages, slogans, and graphic standards are helpful more so for politicians and other project stakeholders, however they distract from reaching the community audience. Also, the Seattle Parks and Recreation plan mentions evaluations and has a task to send out evaluation forms, however they do not discuss their evaluation process or methods as do the other two plans. In short, the Seattle Parks and Recreation communication is a lengthy, overly engineered plan which will not engage or reach its community audience and may barely keep the attention of its internal or project audience. It seems as though