After spending
years working on various IT projects for large organisations
spanning the public and private sector, Rowena Whitlock
says that internal communication is most often cited
as the main reason why IT projects eventually fail.
If you are seeking the services of an interim communicator
for your project, the pre-hiring process is the key
to success.
If you ever need a tradesman, such as a plumber, you
look one up in the directory or get a referral by word
of mouth. You would expect them to be an experienced
professional and you would want to know when they can
fix your leak and how much it is likely to cost. So,
why is it that for many large-scale IT projects, when
hiring an interim communicator is vital to support multi-team
interaction, does this simple hiring process not apply?
Too often, the recruiting HR representative or hiring
manager will turn to employment businesses that specialises
in sourcing interim IT technical staff. Could it be
because they think an IT technician will be conversant
with a broad range of technical terms or be an IT systems
user? It is more likely that the employment business
is listed as a preferred supplier to the company and
that is their first stop! The choice there is likely
to be restricted by the unsuitable candidates they attract
for consideration: technicians, project managers and
so on, not professional communicators.
Communicating change
Project communication is usually about change and therefore
technical know-how is not the first priority. Instead,
communicators need to know what business benefits an
IT system will have on the organisation and how project
timelines affect a variety of stakeholders before and
after the IT system goes live. Professional communicators
are undoubtedly better equipped than other IT specialists
to interview or content gather from technical staff
and turn technical or high level business jargon into
'plain English' for a variety of carefully targeted
audiences. That is where their skills lie.
The IT specialist employment business, tasked with
sourcing appropriate internal communicators, can face
an uphill struggle when fielding appropriate service
providers for these roles. Often they delay the hiring
process by screening CVs from IT project managers, business
analysts and other IT technical specialists who are
skilled in IT system builds and architecture, rather
than communication. They are more likely to adopt the
usual email or 'death by PowerPoint' approaches to get
key messages across. This problem is further compounded
when organisational culture and size dictates that messages
are cascaded down to audiences via third-party networks.
If formal communication is not effectively monitored
at every stage of a project because feedback mechanisms
are not in place, messages may not be cascaded effectively,
if at all.
Guidelines for a successful appointment
Your internal communicator needs to be an experienced
professional who can conduct an audience analysis, prepare
a stakeholder engagement plan and can set about aligning
internal communication approaches with a business strategy
and produce a workable communications plan. If you are
an HR representative charged with sourcing the right
interim communicators to work on IT projects, it's worth
considering the following guidelines:
- If you are not hiring a freelancer directly, you
need to be empowered by the hiring project manager
to contact specialist communications consultancies
instead of relying on your usual IT recruiters.
- Ensure that your hiring project manager furnishes
you with full, up-to-date job and person specifications
to forward onto the consultancy to let them know the
skills needed and when.
- It will also save you time to ensure that internal
communication roles are budgeted for and therefore
'live' before contacting specialist communications
consultancies. You will avoid the delays between finding
the right person and getting sign-off on the appointment.
Rowena Whitlock is a Saffron House expert partner and
an experienced internal communications consultant with
experience of interim positions.
Have you ever thought about using an interim internal
communicator in your organisation? If you have a project
or need to temporary cover or communications, Saffron
House may be able to help you. Call +44 (0)1285
644425 or email at enquiry@saffronhouse.net
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