Are all parts of your project team on message?

Are there teams within your project that go off message sometimes?

In response to whether the company would have picked the logo selected for the 2012 Olympics, the answer was "probably not". What caused the stir was that this is the same company hired to be promote the 2012 Olympics. There are certainly some best practices that can mitigate such circumstances. Here are some excerpts from a recent Financial Times article – How do you prevent splits in a multiteam project?

(source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-460508/Olympics-chiefs-hold-inquest-2012-logo-shambles.html)

To maximize creative pay-off, team members across a project need to believe they have absolute freedom to deploy their talent, while management needs to feel it is in complete control. This is achievable, but only if the project begins with a clear and inspiring mission statement that all members of the team adhere to. If the statement is confusing and vague, project teams cannot perform at their peak. (Bill Fischer, Professor at IMD and co-author of 'Virtuoso Teams')

Sounds great and works, but don't underestimate the effort to accomplish this task. A lot of projects rush through the initiation and planning period, which is where this activity takes place. The enthusiastic initiators of a project can make a false assumption that other will get the mission as quickly and easily. Time and effort needs to be spent here by outlining key stakeholders and trying to understand 'What's In It For Them' (their needs). And then the message needs to be tailored to address their needs. Once you have a common mission, repeat it as if a mantra.

A hint of cynicism at the top can become dissent elsewhere, so a big mistake to rely on contracts to keep everyone in line. (Mike Granatt, Partner at a London-based PR Firm Luther Pendragon)

Mike is right. Reliance on contracts alone to maintain the fabric of communications within an organization may not be the first best choice. Sure, contracts can be used as an enforcement mechanism, but culture and motivation have a role to play. And who is responsible to create culture and motivation, the leadership. It is absolutely critical that leaders within an organization always stay on message.

A clear protocol needs to be developed and set in place early. This should outline how the project will be communicated with key stakeholders, both internal and external, who then need to be engaged to ensure groups are fully briefed. (Greg Balestrero, Writer in Chief of the Project Management Institute)

What Greg is talking about here is the importance of developing a comprehensive communications and stakeholder management plan. Simply, this plan communicates:

• what you will communicate (the message)
• how you will communicate (the media)
• when you will communicate (the frequency)
• with who you will communicate (the target audience)