5.4 Managing communications and information
- Communicating out
- Managing information coming in
Honest, regular and useful communication between a board, managers, members and stakeholders is essential for achieving an organisation’s goals. It is also important for staying legitimate and credible.
Members and stakeholders need a clear view of how the organisation is going and what the plans are for its future. They also need to know that the governing body is working in the best interest of the organisation and meeting their legal and ethical obligations.
An organisation’s rules and funding agreements usually set out how the governing body should communicate and with whom.
Communicating out
An organisation’s transparency, accountability and legitimacy are all improved by communicating well. This means senior managers should:
- give time for people to ask questions at the annual general meeting
- create communication plans to make sure contact with members and others is ongoing
- allow time at governing body meetings for community members to ask questions
- publish reports
- make board minutes available to members
- use visual tools - such as posters, diagrams, photographs - to improve communicaton
- give the governing body information in plain english, well researched and laid out - both oral and written
Giving information to members is important for good governance and accountability.
For example:
- at an annual general meeting the governing body can formally report to its members on the activities of the previous year
- an annual report, which includes an audited financial statement, is an important form of public accountability
Managing information coming in
A critical role of management is collecting information, analysing it and communicating it to the governing body, members, staff and other stakeholders.
Good decisions depend on receiving enough reliable information to be able to make an informed choice. Organisations need good processes to convert information into advice and options.
These processes include:
- good quality reports by managers to the governing body, giving the right information, options and suggestions
- a consultation process so that everyone’s views are counted, including those of the people affected by the decision
Read next: 5.5 Effective planning
Read previous: 5.3 Running effective meetings