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Why Your Annual Planning Should Include a Communication Plan

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It’s that time of the year. No, not tax payments. But close in terms of the mental strain it involves and certainly less entertaining than Christmas or other year-end celebrations.

Many companies find the fourth quarter an opportune time to do business performance review and planning. They’re closing their books for the year anyway, so it might just save everyone time and energy to get the assessment and planning ball rolling as well. Plus, getting the heavy work done around that time means those involved can take — and enjoy — some holiday break.

For many other companies, such a weighty activity is better scheduled for the first quarter of the new year. This gives the executives a bit more time to think about business matters, enabling them to assess what happened the previous year and project where they want to take the company in the months ahead. It could also be because for some businesses, the first months of the year can be pretty slow and so there is room to step back a little and do some ruminating.

Regardless of the timing, this planning activity is an integral part of any business year. In fact, even nonprofit-driven organizations do this. It is meant as both a way to look back and to look forward or plan ahead, and as such keeps companies and organizations tethered to their core mission and vision or gives them direction in case they need recalibrating.

An annual plan articulates the goals and objectives for the year, reaffirming how these align with the overall mission and vision of a company when it is started. This alone is crucial in that it keeps the company rooted on its primary purpose, makes sure the company and its leaders and people continue to live and adhere to company values and beliefs.

A company’s annual planning must include not just the annual plan but a business plan as well. The latter sets specific action points to achieve targets at the same time provides performance parameters for the entire company and its different departments or business units. If some degree of purse tightening is necessary for the coming months, the business plan can outline that as well because it does include a review of budgets and resources.

The planning activity itself while can be mentally draining is also invigorating. When done properly, it sets the tone for the coming months, motivates the team and brings all the stakeholders, including rank and file, together toward a common goal. That is why many call it strategic planning. Because the overall plan and interrelated activities are precisely designed to meet agreed upon goals, objectives and targets.

So why should your annual strategic plan include a communication plan?

Because why not?

An immediate flaw in some companies’ planning is confining the process and outcome to the executive team. Some enterprises do make the business planning group a tad bigger by involving all or some key department or business heads. Many see restricting the activity to a small group as a practical, convenient and safe approach. After all, the executives would be privy to business performance data and new targets. They can also better control handling of sensitive or confidential information. So if they want to restrict the planning to themselves, they certainly can make that call.

But there is a downside to this approach of course. Other company leaders such as the business unit or department heads and even some other managers may have ideas worth considering. They are right in the thick of the action and have a feel of things. Being on the frontline exposes them to a lot of market insights that can be worth exploring for new business opportunities, if not growth.

In most cases, however, the annual planning involves only a certain few as including everyone could undermine work deliverables. It is for this reason that a communication plan should be integrated. The outcome of the planning should be echoed to the rest of the company, and if information is not accessible to everyone who needs to be involved in executing agreed upon goals, then already the mechanism for success is compromised. Here is where the communication plan becomes an invaluable component of the annual plan.

Getting the rest of the company or organization on board and securing their commitment are a good way to kick off any goals, projects, initiatives or campaigns. It is not just the executive team or the team leads that will execute the tasks and activities to meet the goals and targets set. The work will involve everyone, and getting everyone informed and engaged is what the communication plan is for and is the wheelhouse of your communication people.

The communication plan will determine all internal and external communication goals and the tasks involved to carry out those goals to make sure all stakeholders are made aware of the overall targets for the year. The internal communication plan outlines all communication activities for within the company to make sure team members are made aware and can participate better.

But its relevance does not end with creating awareness about activities and developments within the company. Internal communication is crucial in bringing all team members together, in creating a community or a family and establishing a collaborative atmosphere that benefits everyone. These lead to an inclusive and effective team spirit that is crucial in turning all the goals and targets for the year — and even long-term ones — into reality.

Strategic planning involves tactical and operational planning for the same reason. The first breaks down the goals into smaller, bite-sized goals, making them more realistic and SMART-oriented. The latter allows for the creation of a map or more specific plans with detailed steps or action points on how to achieve certain targets. Combined, they help turn the plan into action, which leads to success.

Both tactical and operational planning and resultant activities involve the various teams in a company, not just the company leaders. To ensure this is so, proper communication channels must be in place and the system actually being implemented.

If everything is going on as planned internally, would an external communication plan be necessary as well? Yes.

The external communication plan complements its internal counterpart. While primarily designed to serve stakeholders outside the company, the external communication plan remains aligned with the goals set during the planning process. It supports all operational and tactical action points or tasks that involve external stakeholders. If suppliers, for example, need to be made aware about changes in supply chain management, this would be included in the external communication plan, with specific items as to what steps to take and who will be in charge of those. Basically, the same way an internal communication plan will delineate tasks and team members involved, only this time it would be external stakeholders.

For businesses and even PR agencies, an external communication plan enhances communication with clients and other parties. With old or existing clients, it serves to reaffirm commitment. With new clients, it articulates the company vision and helps in relationship building.

Overall, the communication plan will set your action plans in motion, both internally and externally. Having it as part of the annual planning process makes for an even more wholistic plan and increases the potential for success. Whether for internal or external use or both, the communication plan will identify those involved and what they need to know and how to go about informing them. This in the process will guide the company and its leaders as to the different needs and motivations of all stakeholders and equip them with actionable insights on how to deal with these in order to ensure they are engaged. All these will then lead to a more open and clearer communication all around, much greater collaboration and creativity, and a more effective team ready to meet the challenges of the year ahead.

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