Communication Instruments  

Tasks, tools and elements of communication

Overview

E-Mail E-mail is changing the way the entire world communicates and does project/programme purpose. It makes it easier to stay in touch with work from the road or from home, and also improves our ability to get access to people and organizations around the world.

Memos and Letters The ability to compose an effective project/programme purpose letter or memo is a highly prized skill. They are also more secure than electronic communication, as well as easier to store and manage for long periods.

Presenting Your Ideas ;  Creating Effective Presentations Every speech or presentation has three main sections: the introduction, the body and the conclusion.  A speech also includes transitions for coherence. 

Meetings, Problem Solving and Decision Making

Annual Reports and other Financial Documents Financial documents are all about finance—income and expenses, budgetary predictions and budgetary reality, profit and loss. The focus is on the content. The content put there by the organization, however, is only part of the message. It is important to look at what you are producing and develop the ability to see these documents as the rest of the world sees them.

News Releases [Print, Electronic, and Video] A organization can shape and control the news releases it delivers to the media. Regardless what the organization might want, however, the media shapes and controls the message it passes on to its consumers. You can prepare releases that increase the chances of getting your message out to the public in the way you want it presented. At times it is even possible to circumvent the media entirely and take your message directly to the public.

Organization Web Sites Unlike newspaper, magazine, TV, or radio advertising, which has to be paid for every time it runs, a organization’s website is a permanent advertisement that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Unlike conventional advertising, websites can be as big or as small as the organization wants to make them, and offer as much—or as little—information as the organization wants to offer.

Marketing and Advertising For all practical purposes, when it comes to what people think, perception is reality—even if and when the perception is wrong. A organization’s advertising and marketing departments help create and shape those perceptions. 

Employee Newsletters : Employee newsletters and magazines are designed to be read by employees and, at times, their immediate families. They tend to focus more on what employees are doing than on what the organization is doing.

External Magazines and Newsletters Unlike a news release, a organization’s external publications go directly to the outside world—untouched, unfiltered, uninterrupted, and without comment by the media, competitors, government agencies, or critics.
As we will see, some external publications are regularly issued—such as weekly newsletters, monthly magazines, or annual reports. Others are special projects created to deal with specific issues.
Some of these publications go to current and past employees and their families, and are focused on employee news. Others go to known and potential beneficiaries, and the focus is on the product and on how to best make use of it. These publications are often filled with testimonials and product-use stories.

Intranet   An Intranet is, in effect, a private Internet. While the Internet can be thought of as the World Wide Web, think of the Intranet as the organization Wide Web. It is a closed system, like a private library, or club, that only members can access.

Events: Conferences, seminars, symposia, etc.

Organizationally sanctioned Social events Some organizationally sponsored social events are just opportunities for employees to get together and relax, or celebrate. Such events can also be used to make important announcements, or to introduce new programs and goals, products, employees, or managers. Regardless of their purpose, the way they are run and the way the people attending them behave are all part of the organizational culture.

Training as a Communication Strategy

Communicating Financial Information 

Public Affairs and Public Relations organizations are not always seen as they would like to be seen, nor are they always seen the way they actually are. Public affairs and public relations staffs and consultants have the often-thankless job of telling a organization or its management just what the public really thinks about them and their products or services—and then coming up with a way to change that opinion.

Speakers Bureaus  A organization speaker bureau is a direct link to the outside world. Every time the bureau supplies a organization employee or executive to speak to an organization—professional, fraternal, school, or community—the organization has a chance to “hand deliver” its message to a target audience.

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