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COMMUNICATIONS POLICY AND PLANNING

A Tool for a Successful and Effective Management''

Communication plays a significant role in achieving a purpose and establishing a mutual and common understanding of things across communication situations. Organizations, for instance, seek effective communication at the workplace to ensure that everyone in the organization is on the same page and integrate all of its communication works and performances in accordance with the company’s vision and goal. Effective communication in an organization means conversation that is dedicated to listening, open to change, promotes coordination and embraces innovation--all of these actions towards a certain development.

Today’s generation is about innovation. Everything is complex and consistently changing. Everyone seeks development and sustainability at work. Communication, the core that holds an organization, becomes a crucial and pervasive part of any development program. Today, an emerging area of development study is focused on the management of information and communication through planning. The area of communication policy and planning has been one of the growing fields within the international communication and development discipline as revealed in the study of Mowlana (1992) in ScienceDirect, 2021.

Communications Planning Defined

Planning puts everything in place. Nowadays, organizations are adapting [strategic] planning, taking it in a more serious manner to ensure the development and sustainability of their projects and programs, and that to make sure that their resources are utilized accordingly and not put to waste. Here, communication functions systematically and strategically to be able to come up with an effective communication plan. Furthermore, not all projects have the same type of communication or the same methods of distributing information, thus strategizing a communication plan is essential.

The PRMR Staff Writer (2021) defined a communication plan as “a written strategy of communications action designed to achieve a certain organizational goal or business objective.” In these modern times of complexity and competitiveness, all projects need a sound communication plan—small or big projects, short-term or long-term plans. It can be used not just by huge businesses or companies, but for a variety of projects and campaigns in the field were made to achieve a certain goal.

A communication plan, on the other, needs to be strategic. Strategic communication is the purposeful use of communication to achieve a specific goal or outcome (Maize, 2019). Planning strategically is about getting the right message to the right people, at the right time through the right channel to achieve a goal. By planning with strategy, an organization can assure its positions as proactive and strategic rather than just addressing or acknowledging an existing case or issue with an indefinite move.

'''Benefits of Strategic Communications Planning ' A communication plan helps ensure the success of a program. The procedures of planning provide ways to help the organizations see situations and future concerns (that could turn into problems) that mostly overlooked when planning did not occur. More so, a communication plan provides benefits that would surely help organizations meet its programmatic goals. (The items presented below are gathered and adapted from (see references) and were outlined and cited accordingly based on what is deemed applicable and pertinent to the current discussion).

•	Clarity of Purpose and Direction. A communication plan helps an organization to define and set its goals and the ways in how these goals can be achieved. When the clear goal is identified, it will serve as a navigator to define exactly where the organization is going and how to get there. The remaining steps and procedures along the planning processes will be a lot easier to strategize with a goal that is clear to both managers and employees/members.

•	Audience Identification. Planning helps an organization clarify and identify its audience. For instance, a communication or a policy failed to meet its purpose because it is directed to the wrong audience. Good intentions addressed to the wrong group of people will be wasted just because audiences were not assessed.

•	Staff and Stakeholder Alignment. Through planning, organizations can look into the effective structures on how to facilitate conversations with employees, partners, and stakeholders. Organizations should not make their employees clueless or hanging of the idea of where the company is heading to. Most importantly, planning uncovers organizational issues to be addressed. This makes the plan more open to alternatives from the members. When an organization highlights the synergy of communications activity, staff begin to collaborate and share information in new ways.

•	Effective Use of Resources. A strategic communication plan helps deploy resources effectively (time, effort, money, manpower). With a complete understanding of an organization’s goals and needs, members can maximize whatever opportunities they have. Without a plan, companies and organizations will drive towards a wasteful, ineffective position.

•	Measuring Success. A communication plan also provides a visual measure of how well strategies would work for the organization. Thus, benchmarks and evaluation processes are needed. Without a critical plan and the accompanying measurement processes, organizations and companies cling to tactics that are impossible to happen.

•	Build Relations and Reputation. Communications planning assists to increase positive awareness to boost credibility with the public. Thus, organizations should make sure that messages coming out to the public is consistent across all communication channels and are being received appropriately by the focal audience.

•	Manage Crisis. A communication plan allows space for crisis management. A comprehensive communications planning process provides an opportunity for the organization to assess whether it is prepared in crisis or controversy. It is equally important to create a crisis plan not only helps to manage the public perception and expectation about the organization, but it also helps the organization to remain positive, calm, and strong under public scrutiny. If an organization is ready, it will be less painful for them to secure their company’s identity and reputation.

A communication plan, on the other, will not run successfully if were not because of the efforts of the right people and those who are involved. Technically, such a communication plan is guided by policy and procedures/guidelines to make it work. Metaphorically speaking, the policy is the glue that holds both the organizations and the members together towards working in a certain plan and making it sustainable.

Communication Policy and Procedures

A communication [and consultation] policy is an effective way of setting the attitudes of the people in the organization, defining the responsibilities of those involved in the process, and detailing the means of communication and consultation that will be used (Lawson, 2021) in People Alchemy Ltd. Similar to communication planning, a good communication policy should be clear, detailed, and monitored.

A good policy should include a clear statement, including its purpose of communication. It is important that involved members of an organization clearly understand the policies to follow and what it makes for them. In addition, policies should provide details of the responsibility for communication at each level. Clear description and division of labor are important to highlight amongst members to avoid conflicts and to establish respect for someone’s work. Arrangements for consultation and participation should also take place. Most importantly, above all that was said, the policy shall be monitored. Policies are made to be followed, but not all policies are effectively made. The communication policy may draw commitment to effective communication by creating and documenting ways in which members of an organization communicate with its (internal and external) members. In cultivating a communication policy, the following are said to be considered:

•	Communication purpose: establish communication that informs, notifies, consults, and responds •	Communication methods: communicate through a variety of channels and mechanisms which will meet the organization’s needs and preferences. •	Communication Principles: organizations must set principles to ensure effective communication. For instance, credible, accurate, and flexible communication might be taken into consideration. Principles may depend on the organizational culture and structure. •	Policy evaluation: communication policy must be kept to date and always open for review. •	Evaluating Communication: In order to ensure the effectiveness of communication, managers shall evaluate the communication approach by seeking employees’ feedback, responding to suggestions, making changes/adjustments to methods a see fit (adapted from https://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/media/Media,793985,en.pdf).

Indeed, communication policy and planning is a helpful and substantial tool in managing projects and programs. Organizations need a communication plan that is strategically made, and a policy that is systematically implemented. Such a plan and policy must adhere to the goal of the organization to ensure its alignment, capacity, and success.

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