We need a simple Communication Plan that will be actioned

By ITIL® from Experience ©

Many Communication Plans resemble an essay. They discuss at length the rationale and benefit of communicating to address stakeholders' needs and concerns in order to facilitate people's transition. Often, it forgets that it does not need to convince management on the value of communication since they authorized the preparation of this plan in the first place. The result is that the fundamentals of a communication plan are forgotten, making them difficult to action.

Fundamentally, a communication plan should identify:

Who needs to know
What they need to know
The method how they will be informed
Who is responsible for doing it
When they need to be informed, and finally
Track progress as people are informed.

A cover page, Table of Contents, introduction are not required to answer the above questions.

The following is a sample communication plan. A communication plan in this format can be one or two pages. Its simplicity makes it easy to complete, review and approve. As a working document it can be used to track progress. Of course, depending on the magnitude and complexity of the change, a comprehensive Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and projects schedule may be required.

This format has successfully been used for implementing ITIL processes and ITSM tools projects as well as communicating process improvements.

Last updated on: 2017-10-12
Published on: 2013-11-13

__" If you're not sick of your own message, you're not communicating it enough." Nick Van Weerdenburg, founder, CEO of Rangle.io
More Quotes

Related: