Fellows Breakfast 1: CuttingEdge Practices in Communication Planning and Management

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Fellows Breakfast 1 Cutting-Edge Practices in
Communication Planning and Management

• PresenterLester R. Potter, ABC, IABC Fellow

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What the hell does cutting edge mean anyway?

• Buzzword, or legitimate business terminology?
• The trend of CEOs and other business leaders
  being directly accessible to audiences is a big
  change -- and it is being driven primarily by the
  demand for more "transparency."  This has a huge
  impact on how we plan communication because the
  tools are much more interactive than they used to
  be.  Is this cutting-edge or merely leading
  edge?
• - Robert J. Holland, ABC

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Traditionalists versus Cutting-Edgers What
should each know that the other does?

• We see some senior communicators responsible
  strictly for communication measurement, metrics
  and evaluation -- communication leaders who can
  qualify and quantity the impact that
  communications has on employee morale and
  behaviors, employees' understanding of the
  business, reputation management, etc. and, of
  course, the bottom line is that cutting edge
  or leading edge?
• - John Clemons, ABC, APR

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Technology as transformer

• The new interactive media, like blogs and wikis
  (which allow online collaboration), and
  instant-messaging systems, are changing the
  nature of communication planning and
  management. The interactive media naturally bring
  a lesser degree of "control" of the message,
  making it more challenging to implement a
  communication plan.  Does this mean we have to
  build in more flexibility and adaptability? Do we
  have to anticipate more unexpected changes than
  we used to?
• - Robert J. Holland, ABC

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Is it Communication Management or
Communication Leadership?

• What is the contemporary role of communication
  management? For example, the role of
• Collaboration.
• Employee publishing.
• Knowledge management/sharing.
• Behavior reinforcement or modification.
• Marketplace knowledge (business literacy).
• Communication support (such as providing
  resources that make it easier for managers and
  supervisors to communicate effectively as a
  routine part of their jobs).
• Trust-building communication.
• Employee involvement.
• - Shel Holtz, ABC, IABC Fellow

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Parting shots Is there a magic bullet?

• If so, step up NOW!
• The discussion continues on our session wiki.
  Join us at
• url -- commplanning.holtz.com
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