OCS communication planning at ILRI
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This document summarizes an OCS communication planning presentation given to the OCS Steering Committee. It outlines the objectives, key audiences, and potential communication activities to increase awareness and buy-in for the OCS project at ILRI. The main communication objectives are to brand and raise the profile of OCS, attract interest, regularly inform stakeholders, engage and collaborate with others, and share lessons learned. Suggested activities include creating OCS branding materials, giving presentations, producing informational materials, soliciting feedback, and regularly updating the Steering Committee. The goal is to generate support and involvement for OCS across ILRI to make it a collective success.
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OCS communication planning at ILRI
- 1. OCS Communication planning Ewen Le Borgne, Angeline Nekesa OCS Steering Committee Meeting, ILRI Nairobi/Addis 31 March 2015
- 2. What is OCS comms about? In this presentation… Actors and audiences Comms objectives Possible activities around these objectives …For each of these… Decisions + key questions More (full plan) available here
- 3. What is the challenge? Get buy-in! Manage expectations Make OCS ‘One Collective Success’
- 4. Our actors and audiences
- 5. Actors and audiences All ILRI staff
- 6. Actors and audiences ILRI top management… …And Board members
- 7. Actors and audiences Team leaders
- 8. ILRI KBU Process Owners Isaac Kihara Robert Nzioka Chebor Symon Robert Nzioka Ashuma Benjamin Robert Nzioka Chebor Symon Robert Nzioka Actors and audiences OCS process owners… and key business users
- 9. Actors and audiences Steering committee members From: Wanga, Lina (ILRI) On Behalf Of Wright, Iain (ILRI) Sent: 18 February, 2015 09:08 To: Wright, Iain (ILRI); LeBorgne, Ewen (ILRI); Van Weerdenburg, Martin (ILRI); Nzioka, Robert (ILRI); Chale, Patricia (ILRI); Tarawali, Shirley (ILRI); O'Nolan, Paul (ILRI-ICRAF); Djikeng, Appolinaire (ILRI); Moyo, Siboniso (ILRI); Staal, Steve (ILRI); Ballantyne, Peter (ILRI); Amare, Gail (ILRI); Getugi, Peter (ILRI); Poole, Jane (ILRI - ICRAF); Mutua, Anita (ILRI); Kihara, Isaac (ILRI)
- 10. OCS communication objectives (in line with the actors/audiences)
- 11. Communication objectives Branding and presence
- 12. Communication objectives Attract attention and interest
- 13. Communication objectives Inform – regularly!
- 14. Communication objectives Engage and co-create a better OCS
- 15. Communication objectives Share and learn (a.o. with the steering committee) Communication objectives
- 16. Communication objectives 0. Branding and presence 1. Attract attention and interest 2. Inform regularly 3. Engage and co-create 4. Share and learn
- 17. Possible activities: - What we’ve done - What we should do - What we could do
- 18. Comms activities: Branding and presence (1) OCS wiki
- 19. Comms activities: Branding and presence (2) AskILRIOCS@cgiar.org
- 20. Comms activities: Branding and presence (2) Freebies? T-shirts? USB sticks? Caps? Mouse mats? Stickers? Coffee mugs?
- 21. Comms activities: Attract attention and interest (1) OCS presentation to process owners and key business users… …and to all staff! (Townhall + special meeting by Isaac)
- 22. Comms activities: Attract attention and interest (2) Standard brochure?
- 23. Comms activities: Attract attention and interest (3) Standard poster?
- 24. Comms activities: Attract attention and interest (4) ILRI announcements?
- 25. Comms activities: Attract attention and interest (5) What else… • Video interview of Jimmy? Board members? (about OCS) • Change email signature of key OCS staff?
- 26. Comms activities: Inform everyone, regularly (1) Regular updates at FMCs and coffee mornings?
- 27. Comms activities: Inform everyone, regularly (2) Updates in the week ahead email
- 28. Comms activities: Inform everyone, regularly (3) Updates on ILRI announcements, digital signage etc.
- 29. Comms activities: Engage and co-create (1) AskILRIOCS@cgiar.org
- 30. Comms activities: Engage and co-create (2) - Use comms specialists in each team/theme to relay OCS information?
- 31. Comms activities: Engage and co-create (3) Updates and feedback at I(R)MC meetings? It could be useful to make them engaging :)
- 32. Comms activities: Engage and co-create (4) Interviews of staff using OCS
- 33. Comms activities: Engage and co-create (5) Host an ‘OCS open day’?
- 34. Comms activities: Share and learn (1) Engage with KBUs and process owners, collect their insights, feed the FAQ page
- 35. Comms activities: Share and learn (2) Training sessions: recording feedback and improvements
- 36. Comms activities: Share and learn (3): Steering Committee Meet every two weeks Share regular updates (Yammer / email) Flag issues asap
- 37. Immediate next steps • Get message from Jimmy out about this • Organise either special meeting or ‘FMC’ on OCS and what it means • Share blog post + series of blog posts • Get regular updates on the ‘Week ahead at ILRI’ • Organize standard OCS products (poster, brochure etc.) • Start interviewing process owners • Plan OCS activities for IPM also
- 38. Any other question or point? What’s missing (beyond the regions?) What is inadequate? What can we improve? Who can help?
- 39. More information… • OCS ILRI wiki: http://ilri-ocs.wikispaces.com/ • Comms plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qXGGHsXPSKEfcAnrC 0WEUxMqMZmbuWpMgSy7oe6locw/edit# • OCS Yammer group: https://www.yammer.com/cgiar.org/#/threads/inGroup?type=in_group&feedId=4612501 • OCS (CGIAR) website: http://ocs.cgxchange.org/
- 40. The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI. better lives through livestock ilri.org
Editor's Notes
- There MUST be a CGIAR logo or a CRP logo. You can copy and paste the logo you need from the final slide of this presentation. Then you can delete that final slide To replace a photo above, copy and paste this link in your browser: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilri/sets/72157632057087650/detail/ Find a photo you like and the right size, copy and paste it in the block above.
- In this presentation I am giving a condensed version of what the OCS comms plan (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qXGGHsXPSKEfcAnrC0WEUxMqMZmbuWpMgSy7oe6locw/edit#) entails. This presentation covers actors and audiences, comms objectives (and key messages related to these), possible activities for each of these activities and for each of these activities I would like to get your feedback: Some activities will have happened Some are probably strongly suggested but need your input/view Some remain question marks Based on your feedback we will be able to finalise this comms plan and get activities rolling asap.
- Now that OCS is out in the open we cannot neglect communication. And we are working on a number of things to make sure OCS is launched smoothly: Manage expectations that could have been raised during the long period of silence Get buy-in from staff and all critical stakeholders, so they don’t see OCS as a hindrance but as an opportunity Realise that much needs to be improved along the way, probably, and thus learn together and improve the system and the processes around it We want to turn OCS into ‘One Collective Success’
- The first ‘actor’ in OCS communications is ILRI staff, as a whole, since everyone will be affected by and involved in OCS in one way or another. We have to put all staff front and centre. That said, there are also more specialized audiences…
- ILRI management and Board have to be aligned on OCS. They have to champion the system and the process and to be seen to support OCS. We have to work our way towards them at various occasions that bring them together.
- Team leaders are also involved in a specific way, because they often equate process owners and key business users, or they delegate these to OCS. At any rate, they are sometimes (e.g. admin units) concerned directly by specific OCS modules, and they will ultimately need to get a good hang of the system as supervisors, not just as ‘simple’ users…
- Obviously these are the closest partners to the OCS project: KBUs and process owners have to be the first line champions of the system and to mobilise themselves towards giving feedback on the system etc.
- Finally, this group is a special group because a) it’s the only one that meets regularly (in a structured manner, not ad hoc) around OCS and b) it has a lot of natural connections with top management and other user groups So now, having seen these important actors, what are our comms objectives?
- This is objective 0. because it’s a prerequisite but not really targeted much. It’s just to ensure that people can recognize OCS so they can find visual clues to get support etc. It concerns their first contact with OCS and their main points of reference about OCS.
- In different ways we need to attract attention and interest of the aforementioned actors. This will be by various means bringing people together, and we want to target the ‘WIIFM’ (what’s in it for me) factor of all staff, but also some important information about how OCS may impact them and how they can keep abreast of its developments.
- Informing is just to regularly keep the attention and interest going. This will be around the people and systems where they can get answers to their questions or just a regular flow of information. It is particularly crucial for activities (e.g. training) that connect to them personally. They absolutely need to be on top of that at all times.
- OCS communication will be a success if we have good information flowing, but even more crucially if we engage staff along the way, to ensure that they are invited to co-create a better system and set of processes around it. We want them to become OCS champions because they have seen the opportunities and have recognised that their opinion is valued. This is where information management is joined and made stronger by knowledge sharing…
- Finally, this objective is to ensure there’s not just engagement and information but actually regular opportunities to learn from ongoing practices and experiences, and particularly to make sure that steering committee members are consciously and actively trying to improve the system and to connect all the dots of this complex roll-out, so we avoid any blind spot…
- These communication objectives echo marketing plans (for most products and services, and again OCS is one of them): AIDA. The slide says it all. In addition we have a conscious attention to learning and co-creating though. Now let’s review each objective with what activities/products etc. we could come up with and what you think…
- On branding and presence, we already have a wiki with the OCS logo etc. That is not perfect but it has a lot of information and was appreciated by external reviewers of the OCS process compared with various other CG centres
- We also have a standard email address that people can use to channel their questions, comments, requests. Of course until now it hasn’t been used much because OCS was under the radar but now the word needs to get out and we expect this email address will be used a lot more systematically…
- Freebies are a good way to get people to get familiar with a particular look and feel and get attracted. We have various options ahead of us: t-shirts (the CGIAR T-shirts went like hot buns at FARA), USB sticks (which usually are very much appreciated), caps (often worn in e.g. Kenya and Ethiopia), Mouse mats (since OCS is an electronic system it would make sense), simple stickers? Probably it would make sense to go for USB sticks as a way to disseminate key materials too, but on top of this we could perhaps organize some way to find out what would be the culturally most successful freebies for Kenya, Ethiopia and later on for the other regions… From Ethiopia, a coffee mug or a USB stick would be best… If we go for a USB stick, we could put all module guides (CDDs) there but also provide e.g. videos and one really good PPT that explains OCS etc. in details
- In terms of raising attention and interest, a few obvious options are there: An OCS presentation to key business users (KBUs) and process owners A townhall meeting by Jimmy which would detail some of the work on OCS A special meeting where Isaac would give all staff more details about OCS Probably all three options are ‘must-haves’ because nothing replaces F2F and there has been too little communicated to all.
- Another obvious option is to develop a flyer that can be left at teams and peoples’ offices. We can actually build upon the ICRAF brochure so if we go down that road it wouldn’t be too difficult to adapt – and this would be a good conversation starter etc.
- ICRAF and others also came up with a (set of) poster(s) explaining what OCS is, what it does for you, who it involves etc. This again would be easy enough to adapt and is a no brainer. It would also be useful to display the visual identity of OCS e.g. where the main contact person for OCS (Isaac in Nairobi and Bruck in Addis)’s office lies – and also for special OCS events and discussions. Types of posters we could do: One general poster (inspired from ICRAF) One poster for each major module (ICRAF)
- One of the regular mainstays of keeping attention and interest will also be through semi-regular ‘ILRI announcements’ posts…
- In addition, we should also show that top management and Board are buying into OCS – perhaps a video interview of Jimmy, and/or of the Board chair (about the importance of OCS) would be useful in getting this organised? But that’s more of a question mark. Similarly, we could also decide to update the email signature of some staff that are closely related to OCS – so there is a subtle presence and information about OCS.
- One of the very few avenues for all staff to hear about some stuff is at weekly Friday mornings coffees (in Nbi) and bi-weekly coffee mornings (in Addis). These should probably feature regular updates about OCS – perhaps as a standard point about the process at every one of these.
- The week ahead email is another avenue/channel that reaches out to ‘all staff’ and could be used to mention important OCS activities and updates…
- As much to raise interest as to keep informing everyone, regularly, we should make use of the ILRI announcements blog, and perhaps of the digital signage on both campus. Types of posts: OCS staff Training and other engagement activities Important milestones: data blackout, Launch etc. One post per stream DIGITAL SIGNAGE: Ongoing management of stream of activities / updates on OCS
- One of the primary channels to engage and co-create is the email address that we have set up, which will be used in the email signature, and on any OCS-related promo product to familiarize staff with it. We hope this will be one of the primary channels to get staff ideas, questions, comments etc. and to engage them on a regular basis, co-creating based on their demand (e.g. updating the FAQ page based on their questions etc.).
- We have access to nearly all the (research) teams through a network of comms specialists that could help us relay some OCS information so they pass on the information to their team members. This is a no-brainer, although it requires strong coordination to inform them about this expected role to play.
- In order to engage and co-create with I(R)MC members, we should also try to have one short OCS-focused intervention at each and every one of their meetings, to get their feedback, pass on some messages that they need to relay to their teams etc.
- Since a lot of staff will get quickly involved with OCS testing etc., we could also try to interview them as to their usage of OCS, what they like, what they don’t etc. so we get some ideas about what to improve etc. You reckon?
- Maybe an OCS open day could be a good way to engage all staff around OCS, and if we have produced freebies, it would be the day when we give those away… You reckon?
- In order to improve OCS, sharing and learning has to happen based on strong and ongoing engagement with all process owners and key business users. Whatever interaction we have with them we should try and document their feedback and questions to shape up the FAQ section on the OCS wiki. Other types of activities: - Videos of KBU and process owners about their opinion on OCS - One-pagers on the modules etc.
- In the training sessions etc. we will try and capture their feedback and questions so we can channel it into our FAQ section and perhaps update other items (poster, brochure etc.) periodically with updated information that responds to these concerns. This is highly recommended as it will be around the activities that engage our staff most and most closely with OCS.
- Finally, at steering committee level, we will need to keep meeting, flag issues when they arise, and preferably share regular updates of our interactions with/around OCS and its users via the Yammer OCS group and/or via email.
- And also by when should we have this comms plan finalized and the activities started?
- And also by when should we have this comms plan finalized and the activities started?
- Here are some additional links to get connected about OCS…