A communications brief makes it easier to capture the information you need from your primary stakeholder(s).

Use it every time you receive a request for employee communication and you’ll save time and be able to maintain high quality standards.

Step 1 – Set up your document

An effective format for a communications brief is a table that is two columns wide.  Make the first column about 1/3 of the width.  This is the question column.  The other column is for the responses.

The reason it’s better to use a table than listing questions and responses one after the other down the page has to do with usability.  Once the brief is complete, you will want to refer to it many times as you develop and execute your communications plan. It’s much easier to pick out the info you need when you can scan down the first column to find the section you need.

Step 2 – Write your questions

Here are the elements you’ll want to capture:

Summary

What’s the general description of the project/initiative/activity?

Purpose

Why is this project/initiative/activity happening?

Business Impact

What’s the anticipated improvement/temporary disruption to productivity?

Engagement Impact

What’s the anticipated improvement/temporary disruption to engagement?

Objective

What does the communication need to achieve?  (e.g. facilitate high participation rates, raise awareness, inform about change)

Target Audience

All employees?

Certain locations or functions only?

Audience Reaction

What do you want the audience to do, know and feel after reading/viewing the content?

Constraints

What (if any) are the limiting factors in the project/initiative/activity and/or the communication?

Dependencies

What (if any) related activities or outcomes might alter the scope or timing of communication?

Key Messages

What are the 3-7 most critical things the audience needs to know?

Related Materials

Are there other pieces that need to be included in the communication? (e.g. forms, sample customer brochure)

Are those pieces ready?

Stakeholders

Who are the primary subject matter experts?

Who will need to review the content?

Who will need to approve the content?

Timeline

Is there a fixed date involved? (example: an event)

Are there any other events or happenings happening at the same time?

What is the ideal date for distributing the content?

Other Details

Is there any other information that would contribute to effective communication?

A closing thought

It’s a good idea to ask the lead stakeholder to complete the communications brief as the first step in the process of developing a strategy and tactics. (You could also complete it together.) This achieves two things:  One, you get information directly from the source and before you start making decisions about the best ways to communicate.  Two, the stakeholder gains deeper insight into what goes into creating effective employee communication, which helps with managing expectations.