A conversational strategy can include elements like the following:
- The majority of communications from the management team are not sent to employees as memos and e-mails (which are directive by nature). Instead, they are posted in an internal blog that employees visit regularly.
- The organization uses multiple channels to communicate with employees, including informal internal blogs, a forum (or multiple forums in large companies), Facebook closed groups, etc.
- All external communications for the public are sent to employees first.
- Big meetings, including delivery of the annual report or announcements about upcoming projects, will be attended by employees who are also internal bloggers and will live blog from the event.
A strategic conversation is simply one where the parties involved know what the company goals are, what their topic is (even if it’s just loosely defined), and what they want to get out of a conversation. It’s not about pushing a particular agenda or going after a defined result; those would be discussions and negotiations, which are not the same as conversation. However, it will also include what to look for to finish up the conversation.