Creating Your Organizational Voice and Image

Communicating to External Stakeholders 

Communication Skill

Learning Objectives

 

For more detailed treatment see Image

Finding Your Natural Organizational Voice and Image

            Who are you? It is the first question we want answered when me meet someone.

We also have to answer it for the organization we work for to make sure that we know exactly who we are, what we stand for, how to “fit in,”.

Elements of an Image:

Age

Look - 

Voice    Your voice encompasses everything you say and how you say it. It helps people identify and define you, separates you from those around you, and, to a certain extent, represents what you stand for.  organizations also have a voice, and it should reflect what it does and what it stands for. The organization’s voice deals with both what it says and how it says it, and what it will not say. In much the same ways that visual logos are quickly identified with a specific organization or brand, a organization’s voice should also be easily identifiable. Even when different people speak for a organization, there has to be a consistency of message, speaking style, and, at times, even of vocabulary. Anyone who speaks for the organization must be able to speak in the right voice.

The Process of Discovery

            We spoke earlier about the sorts of questions you have to ask when trying to find and establish an image and a voice. Let us now look at 10 questions to ask about your organization, your department, or maybe yourself. These are general questions; designed to help you develop the ones you’ll need to start your own organizational inventory. This is not a physical inventory. It is an inventory of the qualities you possess, of how you see yourself and others see you, of what you have done and not done.

1.      Why are you here? What purpose do you serve?

2.      Who else is doing what you do now?

3.      Who is now doing what you want to do in the future?

4.      What have you accomplished and what goals do you have?

5.      How does the public see you? What image do you currently project?

6.      What do people say when they think about you?

7.      Are you well known? What percentage of potential beneficiaries even know that you are here and what you do?

8.      Where do you want to be in six months in terms of public awareness, market share, general sales, or income figures? In a year? In 10 years?

9.      What do you have in common with others in your sector of activity? What sets you apart from others in your sector of activity? What can you do to capitalize on those differences?

10.  Does the media currently seek you out for comments when it writes about your sector of activity? Do you want the media to seek you out?

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 For more detailed treatment see Image

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Assignments