How do you update your team and stakeholders?

1 Define your update goals

Before you start updating your team and stakeholders, you need to define what your update goals are. What information do you want to share? Why is it important? How often do you need to update? Who are your target audiences? How do they prefer to receive updates? Answering these questions will help you tailor your update content, format, frequency, and channel to suit your goals and your audiences' needs.

2 Choose your update tools

Once you have your update goals, you need to choose the tools that will help you communicate them. Depending on your project or task, you might use different tools for different purposes. For example, you might use email for formal and detailed updates, instant messaging for quick and informal updates, video calls for interactive and collaborative updates, or dashboards for visual and automated updates. Choose the tools that are easy to use, accessible, and reliable for you and your audiences.

3 Structure your update content

The next step is to structure your update content in a clear and concise way. A good update should include the following elements: a summary of the main points, the progress and status of the project or task, the achievements and challenges, the next steps and action items, and a call for feedback or questions. You can use headings, bullet points, tables, charts, or other visual aids to organize your content and highlight the key information.

4 Deliver your update effectively

The final step is to deliver your update effectively to your team and stakeholders. This means choosing the right time, tone, and style for your update. You should aim to update your team and stakeholders regularly, but not too frequently or infrequently. You should also use a positive, respectful, and professional tone that reflects your confidence and credibility. And you should adapt your style to suit your audience's preferences, expectations, and level of understanding.

5 Follow up on your update

After you deliver your update, you should follow up on it to ensure that your team and stakeholders have received it, understood it, and acted on it. You can do this by asking for feedback, answering questions, resolving issues, tracking progress, and acknowledging contributions. Following up on your update will help you maintain communication, engagement, and alignment with your team and stakeholders.

6 Improve your update process

Finally, you should always look for ways to improve your update process and make it more efficient and effective. You can do this by evaluating your update goals, tools, content, delivery, and follow-up regularly and asking for feedback from your team and stakeholders. You can also use templates, automation, or other tools to streamline your update process and save time. Improving your update process will help you update your team and stakeholders better and faster.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?