Development and Delivery of a Disciplined Communications Platform
Client Background
One of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans whose mission is to provide high quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of its members.
The Challenge
Bring a new corporate positioning to life aimed at thought leaders, businesses and consumers by developing a message architecture and message delivery curriculum for use by corporate communicators and executives across the organization. Overall, the goal of the positioning is to create brand alignment; improve reputation; create better communicators at every level of the organization; improve current members’ quality scores; and increase the number of new members signing up.
The Solution
Message Development. Advocom Group, working with the organization’s senior communications and marketing teams, developed and tested a communications architecture with high-level messages, which helped articulate the brand value, as well as multiple message extensions, all laddering up to the brand and addressing key products or offerings of the organization, across multiple geographies.
Communications Training Curriculum. Working with the communications team, Advocom Group designed a customized curriculum for training the organizations’ many levels of communicators – with varying levels of skills. Curriculum included core media training, message development, panel participation, social media training, speech coaching, crisis communications and training as part of a human resource offering. The initial curriculum was developed over the course of six months, and it was deployed across the organization via a “Train the Trainer” program, which was a separate curriculum developed as a sustained approach to training.
Communication Training Sessions. Advocom Group conducted dozens of training sessions across the organization, usually in groups of 3 to 4 communicators, delivering customized training around relevant subject matter and designed scenarios. Each subject was recorded and interviews were reviewed onsite to provide direct coaching. The sessions included a focus on disciplined delivery of message and training on a variety of platforms including print, broadcast, social media and public speaking. The test of each session and every practice was message pull-through and the desire to increase the quality and quantity of messages in every setting.
Measurement. Built in to every training session was a measurement of each individual’s needs before the session and an understanding of what the participants wanted to get out of the training session. In the pre-training questionnaire, the trainer came to understand the general experience level of the participant and was able to adapt the curriculum, in real time, around deficiencies identified. After the session, trainees were asked to comment on the curriculum and trainer, providing opportunities to improve the training platform.
Results & Key Highlights
Over the course of three years, hundreds of leaders have been trained as communicators, improving their skills and eagerness to become ambassadors of the organization.
Pull through of messages has improved each year.
Proficiency of communication has improved on all platforms.
Participation of communicators in training exercises has increased.
Consistency of effort and messages is evident and measured regularly.
