business goals | Real Communications

Conversations create trust and goodwill

Let’s have the Conversations about your Business Strategy

Although I call myself a ‘communication’ coach and consultant, I firmly believe that it is the conversations I have with executives that start the whole process of understanding your business, its needs and goals and end in your strategic plan and actions.

I have packaged the crucial conversations I have with you as The 10 Conversations. They are called conversations because they are more informal. We share information as equals, feeling more at ease through this 2-way engagement. We ask questions, we listen intently, we reflect, we clarify, we brainstorm, we understand, we plan and we do together, collaboratively.

Based on my experience and knowledge of experiential and peer learning, among other things, I use the LEAD process [Learn, Envision, Act, Deliver] in my conversations. Hence we move from the Learn Phase through to the Delivery Phase.

We start the process with Conversation 1 entitled, “Begin the Journey to the source”. We explore your company’s – and your own – purpose, its goals and preferred outcomes. We ask the ‘why’ questions of what you do. Learning about you and your company, allows us to start the move away from uncertainty to seeing possibilities and choices.

As we move through The 10 Conversations, we explore how you want your company to be seen (envision), what your stakeholders’ perceptions are, find alignment between the two, and plan your messages, your behaviour and actions (act) towards implementation and delivery phase, and then to evaluating and monitoring your communication.

This outward/inward looking approach aims for higher performance, better stakeholder relations, a good image and a solid reputation. It also ensures that you are aware of the importance of strategising for a more authentic, sustainable and profitable company for the long-term.

I want to “conversate” with you.

: Conversations lead to business results

Take a look at what Cellene Hoogenkamp, an executive coach, has to say about the value of conversations and ‘conversating’!

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140705175344-29331113-if-i-can-communicate-why-can-t-i-conversate

You’re a Corporate Communication Strategist? But what do you do?
In order to explain what I do as a Communication Strategist, I need to first point to a few crucial factors that answer the question “Why do you do what you do?”
1. The world is a different place now. Business is only one part of a much greater system and, to sustain harmony in the world, organisations have to consider their place in and their responsibility to the bigger system. They have to act in a way that enhances the concept of interdependence between economic, financial, environmental, political and social factors. The business arena is ‘being watched’ by activists and thought leaders who are very ready and able to expose companies that cause disharmony; so much so that regulators and governments are responding to the pressure by imposing guidelines and conditions for how organisations should behave if they want to be seen as reputable and sustainable global players.
2. A business is not self-sufficient, it needs all kinds of support from those on whom it depends for its existence. Today, people and consumers know more and expect much more from business. They want to feel that a business identifies with them and their needs, not the other way around, and ‘speaks to’ them.
3. There are thousands of similar products and services out there, so why should people choose yours? What you offer, over-and-above your product, counts for a lot now, and it is involves more than a transactional relationship, it must be real engagement with your people – an emotional connection. Differentiation through communication not products.

A communication strategist understands these factors and reaches out to the business world to develop a deep appreciation of how these factors impact a business’s operations, growth and success. The strategist engages with organisations through communication learning from each other, getting to know the company’s situation and responding to stakeholder needs appropriately to achieve business goals.
Tony Manning, once said, “Organizations are managed conversations.” Every day you and your organization communicate. There is an ongoing flow of information, ideas, opinions and emotions between an organisation and its audience or stakeholders – but is this communication well-planned to achieve its goals? Is it sufficiently strategic?
For corporate conversations to be meaningful and have a positive impact on the company and its publics, they need to be planned, appropriate and relevant. And the messages that come from a company must reflect its personality and its purpose. Developing a strategic communication plan moves the company in the right direction, getting internal and external audiences to buy into its vision, plans and activities.

The plan begins with YOU. Your company’s purpose and vision is fundamental to your success. If you don’t know your company’s purpose or even your own, finding one is your first priority. You also need to identify those with whom you want to share, collaborate and build your company, and then harness the power of communication to get them to work with you to accomplish your business goals.
Many business owners, managers and leaders need a helping hand in developing a clear, consistent and effective communication strategy. That is where the communication strategist comes in: she begins their conversation by getting the ‘boss’ to reflect on the business, its purpose and goals, its strengths, weaknesses and challenges, asking questions like: what is the outcome you want? What stands in your way? How do you overcome these obstacles?
At REAL Communication Consulting, we use well-researched methods to develop a strategic communication plan. We divide the process into ten ‘conversations’ in which you:
1. Identify your purpose and develop a vision or mission statement
2. Develop a corporate identity or brand to reflect who you are
3. Identify specific communication goals that support your business goals
4. Communicate mindfully with your stakeholders to learn what is important to them
5. Find alignment between your perceptions and those of your stakeholders
6. Develop the key strategic messages to achieve your goals
7. Create and deliver communication that speaks to your key stakeholders
8. Clarify meaning to minimize misunderstanding, wasted time, and negative emotions
9. Plan feedback and measurement methods to ensure that communication achieves its goal
10. Develop reflective practices that help you develop your communication expertise.

A communication strategy helps you create a productive communication environment, generating trust and a culture of interactive, engaging and meaningful communication in your organization.
Once your business starts on this journey, it will see itself as part of a much larger system with greater goals for future sustainability, and it will begin considering ways to make not only its business, but the world, a better place.