Internal Communications—It's Not Rocket Science - Government of ...

Small-group meetingsWithin two to three calendar days of the business plan’s release, senior managersshould meet with staff on an office-by-office (for field offices) or divisional/branchbasis (for larger offices) to provide more detail and to answer questions as a follow-upto the deputy’s earlier e-mail message to all staff. (This is also an opportunity tohave a walkabout; see that toolkit topic for more details.)Communications will provide talking points for the managers. Employees’ questionsthat cannot be answered at the meeting should be addressed through e-mail, anintranet site, or in future meetings – but they must be addressed.The meeting should be led by the senior manager for the group (regional manager,executive director, assistant deputy minister, etc.) and should include the group’srepresentative in the planning process (if it is not the senior manager). During themeetings, managers will explain the rationale for the plan and how the unit fitsinto the plan, explore priorities that pertain directly to the unit, and answer questions.Next StepsBusiness plans are published at budget time (March/April); plan the meetings asthe business plan is being finalized. (Accountability reports are usually released inDecember; plan meetings for early January.)Management and staff should meet at least on a quarterly basis to stay abreast ofprogress being made on the business plan. Preparing for these sessions will also helpmanagement to prepare progress reports to submit to the central agencies. On anongoing basis, new projects and assignments need to be tied to achieving thedepartmental/agency business plan and to the government business plan.A M A N A G E R ’ S G U I D E T O C O M M U N I C A T I N G W I T H E M P L O Y E E S21