Sun-caused color distortion in a red flag, 03/06/2003.

Key Communicators

Who speaks for the organizations you care about?

Sure there are the leaders, the designated spokespersons, the authorities who are usually quoted in newspapers, those who are often heard in a sound bites and seen in TV clips. But what about your voice? And the voices of the people you interact with? Here's a list from the National School Public Relations Association ranking the single best known employee at most public schools:

1. school secretary
2. custodian
3. food service employee
4. bus driver
5. school nurse
6. teacher
7. principal
8. superintendent
9. school board member

What's the point? Every member of the staff impacts community perception. If associates are unhappy or uninformed, their comments can do more harm than negative news coverage. The solution? Foster recognition that all associates contribute to the process of public communication. Empower all staff with information, instruction and involvement.

Inform. Whether news is good or bad, they should hear it first. They need to know facts behind decisions. Their friends and neighbors look to them for the "real scoop." Be sure they have it.

Instruct. Provide training, workshops, tools, publications, articles, and opportunities for expression, dialogue and creativity. Show interest in the personal and professional development of staff members.

Involve. Encourage the sharing of concerns, ideas and goals. Reward teamwork and individual contributions in staff meetings, on bulletin boards, in your school newsletter, in the faculty room, in e-mail, and on school web pages.

A slightly different version of this article is posted at: UEN News. Here's a another take on the concept of key communicators from a New Jersey school district.

"Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave."
-- Henry Peter Brougham (1778-1868), Scottish-born jurist

Found while looking for something else: Race to Save the Planet