There’s no doubt your district maintains consistent communication with its stakeholders. However, communication alone isn’t enough. Your team should continually work to become the best communicators they can possibly be, and that’s achieved by establishing—and sticking to—a set of communication best practices.

Get your team on the same page

Following best practices is necessary for helping your district operate smoothly. Your team will know exactly what to do in any situation, whether you’re faced with a media inquiry or responding to concerned stakeholders after a crisis. Make best practices a habit, so you can spend less time clearing up confusion among team members and more time communicating with stakeholders.

When team members are on the same page, they can send out communications quickly and efficiently. This ensures that stakeholders get the information they need, when they need it. To communicate effectively with stakeholders, you need to communicate effectively with your team members first!

Define everyone’s roles and responsibilities

When your team follows best practices, each person will understand what they need to communicate and when. Clearly defining each team member’s roles and responsibilities can help prevent communication overlap and ensure stakeholders aren’t receiving more communication than what’s necessary.

Best practices keep people accountable, too. Everyone’s role is documented and well defined, letting you know which team member to speak with when communications aren’t executed properly. In this sense, best practices exist not to punish your team, but to identify who needs extra support.

Stay connected with stakeholders

Best practices allow your team to better serve the students, staff, families and other stakeholders within your school community. Daily operations need to run smoothly around the office in order for stakeholders to receive timely, frequent communication. By following best practices, you can eliminate unnecessary obstacles and focus on building those important stakeholder connections.

To connect with stakeholders, your team has to do more than send out communications. Messages have to resonate with the audience, which means your team has to understand the audience’s wants, needs and concerns. Best practices put a system in place that can help you better understand and connect with the people in your community.

If you haven’t already, set aside time to assess your district’s communication processes. Identify what’s working and what needs improvement. When you change something, put it into writing. Over time, you will develop a well-documented system of best practices that team members can reference in the future.