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Communication actually sounds like a very easy task. However, it can also be very difficult, especially in work-related matters. You indeed need excellent communication skills for personal encouragement and conflict resolution at work, and to achieve that you need to develop a communications strategy.

Communications is a large and nebulous area. It comprises various disciplines, many of which overlap, have different names and refer to different activities depending on the speaker's perspective. For example communications, marketing and corporate affairs are overarching terms for the multiple means of conveying a message whereas issues, brand and stakeholder management are more recent terms to denote approaches which cut across numerous communications activities.

Some of the main communications disciplines are public relations, internal communications, corporate communications, direct marketing, advertising, branding, public affairs and investor relations. These are aimed at different audiences and use different tools and activities to convey a message. For example public relations may use a press release or a media pack to target the media whereas public affairs may use a briefing for MPs on a bill to communicate with those in government.

As in any other organizational aspect, planning your communications is important and beneficial for many reasons. It ensures the most efficient use for scarce resources, prioritizes between conflict demands and gives a clear direction for everyday activity. Furthermore it identifies the drivers of change and the best means of dealing with them, enables a review of existing organizational activity and provides milestones against which to measure future success.

Drawing up a communications strategy is an art, not a science and there are lots of different ways of approaching the task. The advise provided below is only a guide and does not contain hard and fast rules. Your communications strategy can apply to an individual project within your quarterly or monthly plan, or can refer to the communications strategy which sits above these periodical plans and below the overarching organizational strategy.

Whether your communications strategy is designed for a specific project or for the same period as your organizational strategy, it should establish the following:

- Objectives:
Your objectives are the key to the success of your communications strategy. They should ensure that your communications strategy is organizationally driven rather

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