I included templates and examples of how to create a solid comms plan in my book! But Cameron McCosh, CMO of Wherewithall, has also taught me the importance of repetition, the power of adjusting communications as you go, and documenting the feedback or lessons learned that led to those adjustments.Ĭameron and I have created a new tool to help you create your own tick tock docs! Build Your Tick Tock Doc What are people going to ask after you make this announcement? What can you address head-on in your initial talking points? What worries will people express? How do you want to respond to their concerns? Make sure you build time into the drafting process to gather early feedback from your peers or other folks you trust to retain confidentiality. You’ll inadvertently freak people out because you said something slightly different than what you mean, or there’s history that you aren’t aware of. Your first drafts of messaging will be full of risks you can’t spot yet. It also means others will be amplifying and spreading exactly what you want them to share, rather than reinterpreting and sharing an unclear message.Ĭatch potential pitfalls. And you’ll probably need to repeat information, too having your key messages clear will make them easier to repeat and remind as needed. This can help prevent you rambling as you make a nerve-wracking announcement. What’s the change? Why is it happening? You’ll need to get to the bottom line for your audience to keep things as clear and forward-focused as possible. You’ll develop a north star that unites the individual teams, which is tremendously motivating and reassuring for folks.Īrticulate the key messages. You’ll have an opportunity to gut-check your reasoning. The united group can spot pitfalls that you couldn’t have seen before as individuals. When you are aligned with your peers, the leadership team is bigger than the sum of its parts. This can help reduce on-the-spot, disruptive amygdala hijacks in a big way. During a time when change is our only constant, every little bit of surprise-reduction allows people more of an opportunity to process before reacting. By taking a tiny bit of time to partner with other leaders before making an announcement, you’ll: Informing your broader team will go much more smoothly if you’re prepared and have a plan. This way, you can hone the messaging and the timing together. Create a plan in partnership with others communicating this news, or those who will deal with the ripple effects of these changes. As a leader, you shouldn’t YOLO big announcements. It was crucial that we be in lock-step as we rolled out new changes to the way our organizations worked.Īs I described in Resilient Management, a tick tock doc is a centralized place to game plan the who/what/when for a new, important message. She ran Product and I ran Engineering at Kickstarter, and when something changed in one function, it led to a ripple effect in the other. I learned the art of the “tick tock doc” from my former colleague Deepa Subramaniam. It’s time to get familiar with the art of the communications plan: a step-by-step strategy for sharing new information throughout an organization.Ī communications plan will help you avoid common pitfalls like being too opaque or convoluted, not having the answers to obvious questions, or forgetting to soothe folks’ core needs as you share sensitive information with your team. Let’s say you need to get a critical new message out to your team: like a teammate’s departure, or a significant change to the business strategy. This post originally appeared in my newsletter. More resources on effective communication.Newsletter The art of the tick tock doc.The art of the tick tock doc | Lara Hogan Lara Hogan: Site
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