Implementing That Big Rock

Whether your Strategic Communications Plan is designed for short-term needs or long-term goals, managers face a significant multitasking challenge. Here are three ideas/tips on how to keep things organized, on track, and on budget.

What is the Big Rock?

In his classic book on time management, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey defines Big Rocks as priority tasks that must be done every week. The idea is that people can fit in Small Rocks, the less pressing demands, when they look after their Big Rocks first. Covey sums up this concept with the phrase “Put First Things First.”

Applying Covey in Strategic Communications

Even the most basic Strategic Communications Plan will require managers to multitask. The more complex a plan becomes, the more demanding the management of that plan. It is critical that planners deploy time management techniques in order to roll out their plan successfully.

Gantt Charts

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. Traditionally, Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. They have become common techniques for representing the phases and activities of a project’s work breakdown structure, and are easily understood by a wide audience.

While there are many software packages available to create Gantt charts, here is link to help you create a Gantt chart in Excel 2002.

Assign Writing to Subject Matter Experts

From a marketing perspective, assigning all writing tasks to one person can ensure consistency in language, theme, and branding. This is especially true within the scope of small, short-term projects.

In a complex Strategic Communications Plan, specifically ones aimed at crisis management or corporate communications (i.e., mergers and acquisitions), a team approach is better because no one copywriter will be an expert in every aspect of the message. Subject Matter Experts help fill the knowledge gap.

For example, a Strategic Communications Plan for a general practice law firm might require written material on a variety of topics such as medical malpractice, criminal defense, and marriage dissolution. These are very specialized sections of law that few lawyers manage singlehandedly. But in a large firm, there will be one lawyer specializing in each of these areas.

Your lead copywriter will take information written by these legal experts, the subject matter experts, and then mold their words into brochures (or press releases, etc.) that have consistency you desire. The work load is divided, but the relevance and accuracy have increased exponentially.

Frequent Check Points

When deploying long-term Strategic Communications Plans, ones that take 26 weeks or more to run, it is wise to build check points into the pre-launch phase to ensure all elements are complete or on-track.

These formal reviews should cover not only items set into a Gantt chart, but also provide an opportunity to discuss challenges to the project no one anticipated earlier. These reviews are not designed to lay blame or add stress to the deadlines, but rather to take a step back from the tactical work and review the strategic picture.

Coming Thursday…

I wrap up my series with notes on evaluating a plan once deployed.

Here are other articles I have written on this topic:

• New Campaign for Will County Health Department
• The Art of Cleaning Up a Mess
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 10: Team Briefing
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 7: Social Media Checklist
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 6: Reporters’ Notebook
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 5: Test Your Call Tree
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 4: Notify Stakeholders
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 3: Verify Your Contacts
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 2: Your Message
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 1: Influenza Update