The Art of Communication: - Derry City Council

2.4 The Sills and Desai ‘Seven Stages’Sills and Desai (1996) have recommended that seven stages be considered by district councilswhen designing effective communication with EMBs. Sills and Desai (1996, P. 262) found that:[For] communications to be effective it is necessary that a number of key stagesare executed correctly. It is not sufficient that the council merely translatesexisting material into community languages if it wants to communicate with non-English speaking residents. Consideration needs to be given to what is to becommunicated, to whom and how that message is to be delivered to the targetaudience.Even though a number of years have passed since their inception, the principles uponwhich they stand are still very relevant. The seven stages recommended by Sills andDesai (1996) are:1. The Level of AwarenessWritten communications from councils can often assume too high a level ofawareness.2. The MessageIf council communications are to be effective the message needs to be of interestto the intended audience.3. The Level of LiteracyThe level of literacy of the ethnic minority audience targeted by thecommunication must be considered.4. The LanguageSimply translating information may not always be the solution.5. The MediumOne form of communication does not suit all groups in society.6. The DeliveryCareful thought needs to be given to how the target audience is reached.7. MonitoringIt is essential to monitor all stages of the communication process to ensure rapidand appropriate responses that are effective.The Art of Communication: A landscape shared between regulator and ethnic employer 15