ASSESSMENT TASK 1

INTRODUCTION

It is useful to say up front why we have developed a communications strategy and

what we hope to achieve with it. This does not need to be very detailed, it acts as a

reference and reminder for those using it in their work.

This communications strategy shows how effective communications can for a

company like JKL Industries:

 help us achieve our overall organisational objectives

 engage effectively with stakeholders

 demonstrate the success of our work

 ensure people understand what we do

 change behaviour and perceptions where necessary.

The introductory part of the communications strategy should briefly outline what your

organisation does, what its main functions are and where it operates. It should also look

at your organisation’s communications strengths – what has been successful and what

hasn’t worked well over the last five years or so. The following tools can be used to

help analyse your organisation’s current situation.

COMMUNICATION PLAN
Title: Project MyJKL (working title)
Date: 29/09/2018
Project team:
Situational Analysis: SWOT
Strengths
List the organisation’s
communication strengths.
● Asking others to read
important memos, emails and
letters before sending them out.
● Make appropriate changes
before distribution.
● Digital platforms and
communication tools speed up
the flow of information.
● Loyal employees with long
careers at the company.
● Production methods that
reduce cost and increase
quality.
Opportunities
List the organisation’s
communication opportunities.
● Trends in the market that make
the product more relevant.
● Endorsements from trusted
sources.
● Develop strict and consistent
content.
Weaknesses
List the organisation’s communication
weaknesses.
● Emails are too brief and failed to
communicate important information.
● Poor spelling, punctuation and
grammar.
● Misinformation can harm workplace
morale and can result in costly
mistakes.
● Too much procedural oversight and
traditional operations.
● Lack of sophistication, inconsistent
with brand.
Threats
List the organisation’s communication
threats.
● Social changes that can make the
product seem dangerous or harmful.
● Possible lost funds by not having
clear offerings.
● Amateur fundraising publications
may be interpreted as lack of
 ● Expand online relationships ability/professionalism to manage
with 3rd parties for backlinks. funds raised.
● Expand online presence and ● Minimized sales due to underutilized
engagement. exposure.

Purpose and outcomes

Outline the overall purpose of the communication. List the relevant objectives,
including relevant organisation-wide objectives and specific objectives for
communication and consultation.

It is appropriate to define the communication plan’s objectives. In a “good

neighborly relations” context, this mainly involves improving relations with the
neighbors.

Organisation-wide objectives communication plan:

 Build awareness of a project among a wide but defined group of audiences

and user groups.

 Secure the commitment of a defined group of stakeholders to the project aims.

 Influence specific policies or policymakers around key aspects.

 Encourage participation among researchers or partner bodies.

Specific objectives :

 Be realistic within the time frame, budget and resources.

 Ensure the objectives are measurable.

 The communications officer will have to give it more thought and detail the
goal of this process.

 The officer will have to determine whether the goal is to improve the
corporate image, obtain acceptance for changes in a company’s activities or
its expansion, reduce the number of complaints, or simply inform the
stakeholders about how the company will deal with the nuisances.

Audience analysis

Internal audience characteristics External audience characteristics

List the organisation’s internal List the organisation’s external audience

audience and stakeholder and stakeholder characteristics.
characteristics.
 Involvement in strategy
 Involvement in strategy Implementation e.g. strategic partners
 implementation e.g. as a change in distribution channels.
agent or responsibility for
strategic projects.  Possession of knowledge and skills
e.g. cooperation partners,
 Control of the environment e.g. subcontractors.
negotiation & network of
relationships to external  The efficiency of the sale process and
stakeholders delivery need to meet the new
standard.
 Control of strategic resources
e.g. responsibility for strategic
products.

Key message/s

Outline key message/s.

 Should be short and specific. Make sure to work out the most important core
messages that I wish to portray and write simply but with enough interest to
provoke my team members.

 Ensure the target messages to each individual group.

 Developing key messages that are clear, concise, honest and positive puts me
in control of the information that is ‘out there’ and allows me to influence my
employees in the most effective way.

Strategies and tactics

Effective communication enables a company to inform and build relationships

with its stakeholders. It is a two-way process enabling stakeholders to interact with
the company. This includes employees supplying ideas for improvements and
customers providing feedback.

JKL Industries uses a multi-channel approach to its communication strategies to

increase awareness of its key messages. Using a mix of formal and informal
communication helps to improve effectiveness. Its internal communications
strategies ensure the company values and culture are maintained. Its ‘onboarding’
programme and The Hub intranet encourage employee engagement, knowledge
and increases motivation.

To maximise effectiveness of its communications strategies, JKL Industries tailors

its communication messages and channels to each specific audience’s needs. This
ensures that any barriers to communication are dealt with. JKL Industries regularly
evaluates its internal and external communications strategies to maintain its focus
on high levels of customer service and employee relations.

Action planning

Outline key communication activities.

 Action/activity Time frame Person/s Resources, if
responsible required

Arrange face to face Feb - Mar Key networks such

meeting with team 2018 as trust boards and
members sub-committees,
local forums, user
groups/public
forums, Staff Side,
team meetings,
conferences,
seminars,
presentations,
inductions and
training sessions.

Design print -based Apr - May General

2018 publications and
communications
produced by the
organisation can
advertise the
project e.g. service
brochures, board
papers, staff
bulletins, annual
reports, press
releases, leaflets
and posters.

Electronic and audio- Jun - Jul Organisational

visual 2018 websites, intranet,
e.g. notice boards
and news items,
weekly/monthly e-
mail bulletins.

Monitoring and evaluation (to be completed as preparation for Assessment Tasks

2) and 3)

Briefly outline monitoring and evaluation activities: (1) periodic checking to

ensure implementation is on track to meet audience requirements and
organisational goals, and (2) post-implementation evaluation activities to
determine the success of the communications plan against original purpose and
objectives.

Goal/objective Measure/KPI When measured? Method

/milestone How often?
 (for example,
feedback
questionnaire,
monitoring of
social media
responses, focus
groups, analytic,
business results)

Using Servay via 3 months WhatsApp Group

WhatsApp group online
to communicate
with team
members

Make sure all Receive 3 months feedback

team members feedback from questionnaire
receive the same staff
information

Follow up every The Within 6 months Monitoring

actions from acceptance rate
team members

Approval (HR General Manager)

Implemented

Part b – Reflection Statement

After leading a meeting with m,y colleagues and team member of this project, I have
learned that effective business communication is the key for organizations to move
forward. The last few weeks have been a great learning experience for me where I
have learned about various aspects of effective business communication. I have
learned about the open and the closed communication systems. Using the Open
Systems Theory in organizations can create certain challenges. For example, large
corporations include several internal departments which may face challenges in
determining how to implement open systems for some departments while maintaining
other departments as closed systems.  In some organizations, some departments are
closed systems due to specialized nature of the department and it is assumed to
function better in a closed system this way.

From my experiences, it goes beyond the codes of ethics that organizations often set
at a foundational element for one’s beliefs, values and actions to where the
perceptions of follows see leaders ‘walking the talk’ that is communicated to the mass
noting the discrepancies between the words and actions.

The role of non-verbal communication is particularly more important in service

encounters as consumers may make their decision based on the expression of
customer executive.  
I have also learned about various types of communication like verbal, non-verbal and
listening. In an informal setting, the verbal communication is the most common form
of communication. The non verbal communication like eye-contact, expressions are
also a powerful form of communication. I have learned that the people can face
certain challenges to exercise the non-verbal form of communication. I believe that I
have decent communication skills and I can communicate effectively with different
stakeholders in the organization. There is definitely a scope of improvement and I
believe that I am on a continuous learning path of communication and ethics in
communication. As a conclusion, I can say that listening is also an important form of
communication and it is important that the people should have good listening skills. If
I want myself in a stage where people listen to me then I should first listen to other
people.

Assessment Task 2: Communications package - Email to employees re:

restructure

To All Staff,

The quality team is pleased to announce that we have filled our open position. Brian
Giraldo will join us as a quality technician start from March. Brian will share an
office with the other quality technicians.

We're excited to add Brian to our team. He brings us 10 years of increasingly

responsible experience in creating quality of our product. Following his on boarding,
we expect that Brian will take the lead technician role with the group. All of the
technicians participated in selecting Brian for the role.

Besides, we also need all of our team participating in our WhatsApp Group. We have
to give and sharing the information through our WhatsApp Group and I hope all of
you can give a great idea too.

Thank You.

Yours sincerely,

Assessment Task 2: Communications package - Feedback collection

Q1 What was method that you found most informative for communication?

Q2 How will we be sourcing staff for new positions?

Q3 How will Jake conduct store meetings?

Q4 How effective did you find the email?

Q5 Any feedback for JKL?

Assesment 2: Third-party report

Your name:

Candidate’s name:
 Your position and relationship to candidate:

Co -worker

Declaration:

Please mark Y (Yes) or N (No) as applies to your interaction with the candidate.

● The candidate provided me (in the role of JKL target employee or

management audience) with an opportunity to view a communication or
communications (Y)
● I was given an opportunity to acknowledge receipt of written or non-live or
interactive communications (Y)
● I was given the opportunity to respond or interact with the communication to
seek clarification (Y)
● I was given the opportunity to respond or interact with the communication to
provide feedback (Y)
● I perceived the tone of the communication and interactions with the candidate
to be both respectful and positive (N)
Signature:

Date:

15.04.2018

Assessment 3 –Take follow-up action

Dear staff,

I need to follow up with all of you about a few things. Presenting JKL Industries
brand correctly is crucial. This means being consistent with our logo, typefaces,
slogan, colours, and "on-brand" with our key messages and the way we use words and
images on all applications. All this will combine to communicate the sort of
organization we are – active, passionate, solutions oriented.
Another thing is, I need to how will we know if we have succeeded and met our
objectives? How are we going to evaluate our success, what performance indicators
and evaluating measures will we use? I want you to discuss about these things
properly and give me your opinion on our next meeting.

It's important to assess our strategy/project so that any changes, if necessary, can be
made when engaging in a similar strategy/project in the future. Please complete these
task immediately because with your voice JKL can continue to grow.

Regards,

Reflections statement of communications

Establish a pattern of regular communication about senior leadership's commitment to

employee morale and satisfaction. Share progress toward goals, milestones reached,
and other activities related to the action plan. Don't expect employees to automatically
know everything that is being done or to simply observe the changes that are being
made. Continue to celebrate successes and acknowledge when efforts fall short.

Ongoing communications can also help drive accountability. When employees are
reminded of promises that were made and goals that were set, the people responsible
for delivering on those promises are more likely to follow through. It is as simple as
peer pressure and can be a useful technique to impose on yourself and others.

Highlights of communications strategies:

 Make sure the entire senior leadership team is on the same page and supportive of
the action plan. Show employees a united front and convey your strength and
competence as a leadership team.
This can be easier said than done, especially if some functions had worse results
than others. Functional leaders or other key stakeholders may feel threatened or
take the results personally. If you anticipate or encounter problems, this is one
point in the process where an outside consultant can be particularly helpful.

 Make sure than managers are not blindsided. You may want to share the survey
results and your action plan with all managers before communicating to all
employees. This allows managers to be prepared for any questions that might
arise. It can also help generate support and buy-in from managers.

 Share the action plan at the same time that you communicate the survey results. If
you will involve employees to determine solutions in some areas, communicate
that. In other areas, share the specific details of the actions that will be taken.
Main recommendations for improvement:

 Employees differ in terms of demographics, psychographics, or behavior. In

addition, today’s workforce is increasingly diverse. Employees from different
backgrounds, cultures, generations, and with various levels of technology
adaptability, work under the same roof.

 Across the various levels inside the organization, employees can be grouped as
frontline workers, line managers, middle-level management, senior management,
and executives, and each group has distinctive functions and communication
needs.

Conclusion/Summary

After 12 years in business, focusing on forklifts and small trucks, JKL Industries has
negotiated the sales rights to a range of medium and large trucks from an overseas
supplier. This opportunity will provide JKL Industries with an advantage in range
over its competitors.

Sales results over the past five years have indicated strong growth in forklift and truck
sales, which have averaged 10% sales growth. The rental market has been in decline
for the past three years due to the reduced costs of these vehicles and some taxation
benefits to industries who purchase these vehicles.

Taking the sales rights opportunity will, however, entail some significant changes,
including significant changes to the current organisational structure. The company
will reposition itself to focus solely on retail sales and service and exit the rentals
market, in which forces such as competition and consumer choice reduce potential
profitability.

In accordance with the organisation's values, JKL Industries intends (to the extent
feasible) to recruit from within the company and up-skill or re-skill existing
employees presently working in rentals who wish to remain with the company.

Given the company's previous history of employee grievances over pay and
conditions and current plans to restructure, JKL Industries has identified poor
communications and an organisational climate of conflict as a risk to business goals.