Communication Briefing for a New Team

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Communication Briefing 4 a new team

Document your story!YOU ARE HISTORY MAKERS FOR THAT BASE.

Take pictures, write a base diary, reports, collect news paper articles on you, remember the prophecies you received, videotape your base life, ...


 * This helps defining your vision over a period of time

Create a communication strategy to remain in contact with the

people who send you out:

''Communicate your passion, your vision. Remind yourself of your passion and vision. Share your community life.'' Feed information back to them and also to personal supporters, with pictures and whatever available. How can we make sure they hear from us and continue to support us? How can we make sure to hear from them? Ex. Monthly report on how you are doing
 * With our "mother base"
 * Our regional leader

(using text, pictures, video, prayer points, anything). Visit each other. Or exchange staff every once in a while.

And also, plan how to communicate with your other "audiences":

The most important thing is to THINK deep into the people we would like to communicate with. WHY should certain audiences hear from us? What are our goals, what do we want to achieve? And to WHO do we need to get in touch in order to achieve these goals? WHAT do we need to tell them or hear from them in order to achieve our goals? HOW can we do this, what tools can we use and WHEN or HOW OFTEN do we need to communicate with these people? WHO of us will make sure that we continue communicating with the different audiences?

Go into detail: If one of the audiences you identified as important is a local church, think of who exactly needs to know about YWAM in that church. Are you there to mobilize for missions? To support the leadership? To reach the youth? According to your "smaller" goals, get in touch with the right people of that church (youth pastor, missions person, ...) so that when you send information, you send it directly to the person that is interested in what you have to offer. Otherwise information can also get lost very quickly in a church --just like in YWAM. This whole thinkmachine needs to be powered on for EVERY single audience, and within each point of each audience. Don't be general, be specific.

Possible audiences:


 * YWAM leadership (global, field, regional, national, transnational)
 * UofN catalogue, provost office: schools
 * Base staff & students -individual: advertisement to "recruit", before arrival, upon arrival, while they are with you, when they leave, alumni relations.
 * Base staff & students --community: internal communication, updating everyone on what happens, perceive the general atmosphere, ...
 * Other YWAMers or YWAM ministries: network for outreaches, schools, mercy ministries, ...
 * Supporters: Fund- and Prayer raising; how to involve them in your mission
 * Christian world: local, national, global: How to network, create credibility, projects, ...
 * Authorities (national, local): Visa issues, housing, local engagement ...
 * Other: you name it

Some communication standards to keep in mind

Be accessible


 * Put contact data on the web, maybe together with a name and picture of the person/s who will respond on the phone or to email
 * Email response: accurate, in time, ...
 * Phone reception hours

Update your information


 * Communicate to key partner bases and national/regional/field offices when email addresses or school data change
 * Answer the YWAM survey!!!!

Use information correctly


 * Use official YWAM Logo correctly
 * Data protection: ask people before using their photos or photos of them
 * Transparency: add names to pictures, tasks, ministries if possible to help outsiders find contact persons

Improve your communication


 * Ask people of the different audiences how they perceive you and your communication efforts. Measure the differences before and after implementing new communication ways (ex. Advertisements in Christian papers to make yourself known to potential students or staff -> do new students recall your ad as a factor to have known about you?) Then improve.

And now the most important thing:

Follow these rules, plan, do, improve, '''but don't fall into the trap of comparison and being only task-oriented. The secret of good communication is'''

For more information see:

EuroCom --website support, communication planning consultancy, Basic Communication Workshops (BCW) for YWAMers. Contact us: [mailto:eurocom@ywam.eu eurocom@ywam.eu]