Communication is key to engaging your community. Now it's time to understand your stakeholder needs and make a communication plan.
Actions
- Identify key stakeholders and their needs by completing the Stakeholder Map
Your stakeholders are the people affected by your shift to Clarity Human Services. Identifying their needs is the first step to mitigating that impact and ensuring the success of your project. Use our Stakeholder Map to identify:
- Who are your stakeholders?
- How are they impacted?
- What’s important to them?
- How can they contribute to and/or block your project?
- What level of communication do they need?
- What level of engagement do they need?
Answering these questions helps you to move on to one of the most critical steps in your project: creating a communication plan.
Resources
Actions
- Identify communications lead
- Complete a communication plan using our template or process of choice
- Make a presentation plan for the community kickoff
Effective communication is critical to helping your community understand and engage with the coming changes. Deciding what to communicate, when, through what means, and with whom are key parts of your communication plan. Use our Communication Plan template to help you identify:
Communication Methods: The means by which you’ll communicate to your community. These might include a website, community meetings, newsletters, etc.
Communication Timeline: The points at which you’ll communicate. These will also include what you’ll communicate and to which of your stakeholder groups.
It can be easy for communication to get deprioritized during the many other changes occurring, but don’t let that happen! Effective communication is one of the most important parts of a successful transition.
Resources
Actions
- Draft press release announcing transition to Clarity Human Services
- Draft email to community partners announcing roll-out
- Draft community presentation using template
Now that you know how you’re going to communicate with your stakeholders, it’s time to draft those messages. Let us help with a few examples:
- Sample press release to announce the decision to switch to Clarity Human Services
- Sample community email announcing roll-out plan
- Community presentation template to cover key plan points
You will likely need to draft additional messaging, such as website content, newsletter articles, information session agendas, and other needs for your community. Use your Stakeholder Map to guide you.
Resources
Actions
- Create meeting plan for community presentations
- Determine scheduling and partner invitations
Stakeholder engagement meetings provide an opportunity to convey important information and an opportunity for stakeholders to bring up questions and concerns. Meetings can range from informal virtual office hours to formal in-person community meetings. Plan to hold at least one meeting and use our community presentation template, which includes time for:
- Timelines and project phases
- What different stakeholder groups can expect during each phase
- Available resources
- Q&A
Providing your community with an opportunity to connect directly to share questions and concerns goes a long way toward helping them through the change process. Don’t pass up this opportunity!
Resources
Head to Phase 4: Plan Technology Solutions
In Phase 4, you'll start working through some of the technical considerations for your transition to Clarity.
GO TO PHASE 4
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