FACING YOUR PUBLICS

Communication Techniques for Heads, Boards, and Senior

Administrators

The Jane Group

Jane and Jim Hulbert630 325-2509

312 726-2800, ext.21jhulb2509@aol.com

www.thejanegroup.biz (under construction)

The Communications Toolbox

• What should be in yours?

The Six Cs

• Collaboration

• Critical Thinking

• Character

• Communications: writing, technical literacy and public speaking

• Creativity

• Cosmopolitan

Elevator Speech

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

Samples….

• "I harness the forces of Mother Nature and put them to work for you. I'm Arnold Karman; I'm an architectural consultant with a civil engineering background, specializing in building bridges, roads and other thoroughfares. I help you get where you're going safely and expediently!“

• "I crunch bits and bytes for breakfast. I'm a software engineer who designs applications that don't go snap, crackle or pop. I'm Tony Pignoli, a consultant with fifteen years experience as a software engineer and an insatiable appetite for new projects. What projects are on your plate at present?"

Guidelines to Help You Draft an Elevator Speech

• 30-60 seconds• 100 words max• Don’t just shorten the mission statement• Make the listener want more• Tell the listener what you do and who you do it

for• Say how you are unique• Use basic language that a 14-year-old can

understand

• Why is what you do important• Make the listener remember• Add humor if you can pull it off• Call to action• TELL A STORY!

Sticky Messages/School Motto

Sticky Messages

• Why do you need one? – Branding tool to use as a tagline to your school– Incorporate to logo– Website– Official letterheads– Could be your school motto

Slogans Can Be An Important Part of Our School’s Identity

• Corporate – McDonald’s – Food, Folks and Fun or You Deserve a Break Today

• Schools • Small school – big results.• Enter to lead, leave to serve.• Opening doors, hearts and minds.• Exceptional care for every child.• Mind Body Spirit

• We know your kids, colleges know us. • You expect success, we can make it happen. • Sometimes education is more than the right

answer. It is knowing what is right. • Madeira Girls Have Something to Say• Excellence, not standardization, is the challenge. • An environment where your child is free to be

challenged by teachers who are free to teach.

• “We know your kids. The colleges know us.” • Guilt- “can you afford not to afford a private

education?” • Character- “Sometimes an education is more

than the right answer. It is knowing what is right.”

• Special kids. – “You expect success. We can make it happen.”

AVENUESTHE WORLD SCHOOL

AVENUES A WORLD SCHOOL

• A New School of Thought• We will graduate students who are accomplished in the academic

skills one would expect; at ease beyond their borders; truly fluent in a second language; good writers and speakers one and all; confident because they excel in a particular passion; artists no matter their field; practical in the ways of the world; emotionally unafraid and physically fit; humble about their gifts and generous of spirit; trustworthy; aware that their behavior makes a difference in our ecosystem; great leaders when they can be, good followers when they should be; on their way to well-chosen higher education; and, most importantly, architects of lives that transcend the ordinary.

The Communications Plan

What Should Your Plan Contain?

Plan Basics• Policies• Procedures• Approved spokesperson/s• How to communicate quickly to your

constituents• Phone numbers• Answer the question….does the school know

what to do if…

Communicating in Difficult Times

• Remain calm• Gather the facts• Gather the appropriate people• Take steps to fix the problem• Determine the spokesperson – usually the

head unless the head is the problem• Determine your message, where and how you

will deliver it

Another Tool in the Toolbox

Communicating Change

• Stage your communication respectfully• Address internal audiences first• Engage board, senior staff/admin team• Be clear about why change is necessary an

what the change entails• Never speak to the external audiences first;

sends a bad message that pr is more important than people

• YOUR LEADERSHIP NEEDS TO OWN THE MESSSAGE AND BE PART OF THE DELIVERY

• EVERYONE NEEDS TO OWN THE MESSAGE

A Valuable TechniqueBridging

BRIDGING

Questions You Don’t Have to AnswerIn other words…how to say no comment without saying no

comment.

• You are not the spokesperson

• Litigation

• Confidential

• Negotiation

• I have heard that…

• Security

• Personal opinion/personal question

• I don’t know

Types of Questions and Ways to Answer

• Open Ended • Questions You Must Re-phrase

• Hypothetical

• Multiple Questions

• Ranking of School Priorities

• Personal Favor

Rules of Thumb

• No such thing as off the record.

• If it is not your issue, don’t make it your issue.

• Always be polite – anger makes news and makes things worse.

• Be aware of the “ambush.”

• Never say “no comment.”

• Stick to your message. Do not drift.

Board Communications Plan

• Does your school have communication problems with and among board members?

• In the US, good governance stresses the importance of the relationship between the board chair and the head of school.

• Tennis doubles – boards and superintendents should be a good doubles tennis team.

• Don’t infringe on your partner’s side of the court.

Social Media

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Blogging