My Process
I use good questions, deep listening skill, and integrative thinking to learn quickly about you, what matters to you, and what you want to accomplish.
Questions, Questions, Questions
Here’s how we’ll start the conversation. Every. Time.
1) With whom are you communicating?
2) … and to what end?
I’ve been told I’m relentlessly curious. Beyond those first two crucial questions, I’ll ask a lot more. Because if we’re working with good, rich, productive questions, we’re going to find generative answers – and those answers will provide the context we need to inform strategy.
Leveraging Existing Content
I am absolutely certain that you’ve already done some effective storytelling. But my experience also tells me that it’s highly likely your content could be working even harder. Part of my work might entail making an inventory of what you have on hand.
Then, we’ll step back a bit and take a holistic view of the existing content – whether a well-crafted bio, a data-rich annual report or thought-provoking blog post – and make sure it’s coherent, make sure it can work hard across multiple outlets, and that it is focused, engaging and effective.
It’s also possible that you have rich storytelling material on hand without recognizing its potential. Have you ever mined your calendar for content? What about your attendance at professional conferences? What about keynotes with your local service organizations? We might look at ways you could enrich your story with these often-overlooked sources.
Getting Your Project on Its Feet
Sometimes you need someone to help you see to the edges of a big project, help you identify and articulate the context, craft a strategy for implementation, and then offer a hand to help it get it to its feet. I have years of experience wrestling with big, beautiful ideas, teasing out a strategy for making them happen, and then executing that strategy using my talent for organizing people, time, and data.
Editing, Refining, Focusing New Content
Perhaps you already have some high-stakes content in the works. Even organizations comprised of multiple, talented communications professionals will need periodically the assistance of an expert to help them edit and polish important publications or communications: grant reports, annual reports, multi-piece newsletters, board reports, presentations and white papers.
Communications directors find it difficult at times to rally staff for this work when the convergence of big events or multiple deadlines prevent the usual cohort from being able to pitch in on the final edit of a large, complex document. In my years as a communicator, I became among my colleagues the go-to editor. I’ll provide expert review and editing, find and correct grammatical and spelling errors, suggest ways to clean up and clarify text and adjust your messaging to suit your voice and your communication goals.