When is the right time to send out my message?

Picture the scene, you’ve created a beautiful piece of communication in good time for send out...

It’s been lovingly curated, completely changed by the leadership team, reviewed (reviewed again, and again) it’s been checked (again), signed off and aligned with the strategy and then (just for good measure) reviewed again… by the time that all this has happened it's now 5.42 on a Friday afternoon.

You're faced with an internal challenge...

You've got to press send (because it's an important message that everyone needs to know about) but is this really the best time?

Get it sent!

You’ve pressed send and it's now "out there"...

When reviewing the message, you realise that the message fell flat, it bombed and had some of the worst engagement for a long time!

Timing is everything!

This week, I was asked a question like the scenario above... we know we had to send the message out, but what's the best time to send a message.

Well, there are two questions for me in the question that's been raised.

1: Did you actually have to send the message out then? As communicators we can sometimes get railroaded into sending messages at some pretty strange times, but it's important to challenge this thinking from time to time (maybe one for another time)

2: When is the right time? - let's look a bit deeper...

Well, like most things there are no hard and fast rules on this one, and it will differ depending on how your organisation works. For me you need to ask a number of questions before pressing that button...

Is it urgent?

Sometimes that message needs to go, and there can be no delay... This usually happens around a crisis where a message needs to go ASAP out to an organisation. If that's at ten to eight on a Friday then it needs to go.

On this scenario, it's important to use the right communication tool to make sure that the message gets across to as many people as possible. I'd suggest that an email isn't going to cut the mustard on this one, and you may need to think about using a text message function to get the message out quickly and directly to everyone.

This highlights a real issue for some organisations who don't have a crisis communications plan, and something I'll definitively be looking at in the coming weeks. Needless to say, if you don't have one - start thinking about it now!

It's not only around crisis comms though, sometimes organisations need to work quickly to manage a message that could turn into a bigger problem or create a risk...

Put bluntly - sometimes that message needs to go, and while it may be going against everything we think, the risks of the message not going are far bigger than not sending...

Who does it need to go to?

This is all about audiences, sometimes a message flops, because it's just not relevant to people. When you send a message, consider who is the audience and who needs to know. It may be that the message only needs to go to one particular audience rather than everyone (or one particular level or department)

What communication tool should you use?

The message of course needs to be relevant, but it's also important to use the right tool too. It's no point sending out a huge brief in an email when you need a message to land quickly, get to the point and share what you need. If you do need to share lots of background information, it may be that you need to include an attachment or link to more detail, but we're starting to move off the point here...

I'm busy...

As communicators, it's important to understand the organisations rhythm and flow, how does your organisation "run".

I've been lucky enough to work in many different organisations and each one is different. Retail tends to send messages on a Monday so stores can then get the work out of the way and then focus on the store for the rest of the week. For some organisations where the majority of colleagues work in an office, Friday is a better day as there are not as many meetings and people tended to use it as an admin day.

The point is try to avoid sending messages at times when colleagues are likely to be busy or distracted. If Monday is the reporting day, when everyone is busy pulling together facts and figures, that message about this week's canteen menu isn't going to land well (ever!)

We know that everyone is busy these days, but also try to understand when there are times that colleagues are open to messages landing in their inboxes (or other ways to communicate for that matter)

Meet your audience where they are - and if you're unsure when that is, ASK!

Timing is everything

Timing is particularly important for organisations that are global, it may be that you have to change the timing of some of your messages to work for particular teams or departments and meet them where they are...

No-one should be receiving their weekly update summary in the middle of the night, wait until the morning until you press send!

One watch out on this is around big information (or crisis information like we spoke about before) if everyone needs to know something at the same time - then the above may not be possible.

In summary...

Timing is everything for internal communications - but in summary, there is no hard and fast rule on the best time to send a message out. The key for me is making sure that you're meeting the needs of your team - and this comes through listening (not trial and error) to the teams to understand those key times to land your message in the most engaging way.

I work with forward thinking business leaders who don’t want to forget about their most important assets; their colleagues and customers.

I deliver practical advice & coaching to help your organisation communicate the right way, at the right time.

Please contact me on [email protected] or 07779 700 675

Let’s start the conversation and arrange a consultation to enable you to communicate to your people with impact.

sparkconsultants.co.uk