Guide to communicating with internal and external stakeholders

5. Appy a systematic approach

For a systematic approach to communication, you have to plan the issues, the required outcome and you have to consider the type of information you are giving.

Do you want to inform, to instruct, to motivate or are you seeking information?

• To inform means to give staff the facts required for their work.
• to instruct is more directed, usually with a specific purpose in mind.
• to motivate is about staff commitment, making them recognize the merits of the EMS for the business, the environment and themselves.
• to seek information means all those times when you are not telling staff something but are encouraging them to tell you.
  
  Seeking information is about asking the right questions, or simply keeping quiet at the right time in a meeting so others have space to bring forward their ideas. It is about complementing top-down communication from management by bottom-up input from employees. Workers on the shop floor have the best knowledge about what actually happens during day-to-day operations, what environmental impacts are caused and the reasons for these impacts.