How to you organize the communication clutter in a large scale ERP project?
I always tend to stress the strategic use of communication channels on the ERP programs where I do the change part. More precicely, I insist on using distinct channels very actively and I found out that ‘being aware of the strategic objective of each channel’ is a must in order to communicate effectively.
1. Monthly (or every three weeks) newsletter
- Strategic objective: create context and communicate decisions
- Type: top down communication; need-to-know
- Method: Push to the recipients per email
- Content: the 4 P’s => 1. Pull: an introduction of the sponsor to reinforce the project goals in respect of the current activities; 2. Progress: what have we achieved so far; 3. Plan: what are the milestones ahead; 4. Push: what are the latest decisions of the steering committee
- Form: Pictures; Lots of them. And names of real people. Lots of them.
2. Direct letter to stakeholders
- Strategic objective: inform stakeholders on the details of a specific project milestone
- Type: top down communication; must-know & acknowledge receipt
- Method: Push to the recipients per email, indicating pecicely to whom it is intended
- Content: we use a specific format with a know-feel-do backbone (i.e.: these elements are the strict minimum of the letter): KNOW =>‘What is the one thing you want me to know?’ / FEEL => ‘Why is it important?’ / DO => ‘What do you want me to do as a result of your communication?’
- Form: regularly accompanied by a training document, procedure,etc.
3. Emails one-to-many
- Strategic objective: follow-up and precisions for stakeholders on a specific project milestone
- Type: top down communication; must-know & acknowledge receipt
- Method: Push to the recipients per email, indicating which instructions or corrections apply to whom
- Content: can be short, but should at least contain 3 sentences: Know-Feel-Do
- Form: factual, no images, can contain links
4. Project blog on the intranet
- Strategic objective: visualize and share what is going on in the field and the showing tangible outcomes of the project in plain English
- Type: bottom-up communication; nice-to-know (put people really want to know: ‘how are we doing’)
- Method: publish regularly on the project blog, clearly indicating the names of all the participants that are involved in the subject. Upon publication we inform the persons involved that they are now a local celebrity and that they can share this blog item with their colleagues. We found out that this viral.
- Content: lots of pictures of people implementing ‘project things’and sharing their experiences: ‘what’s in it for me’
- Form: like a journalist reporting on an event: pictures, people, headlines
5. Specials (outside of your regular communication cycle)
- Customer communications, supplier communications,etc.
- Milestone kickoffs and official signoffs
- Events
Finally: WHAT MATTERS MOST…
What matters most is that you can sustain these channels during the X years of your program and that you are not swamped by them. Therefore you should neatly arrange them into a CASCADE starting with the agenda and the report of the steering committee which delivers the topics for the newsletter. These topics in turn, are the umbrella of the categories of your blog topics. Finally: we know that almost every project member and stakeholder has a mobilephone with a camera that can take pictures that are good for blogposting. They too are helping you in making blogging happen.If you fail to organize the cascade, you are in for a hard job. Cascade is the only way to sustain a communication plan on the long run.
