SIL Communication Strategy Consulting

This project is about creating a work environment where people are informed about the services and products that the organization is able to offer. It is about breaking down communication silos and working across corporate structures to create a unified workforce. I have the ongoing privilege of consulting with department heads and team leaders on interdepartmental communication and audience engagement strategies. Often this involves creative uses of technology and creating data management plans and publishing work flows. At SIL International we use MailChimp, and Confluence to meet these communication needs.

SIL International is over 80 years old. A majority of its staff are Baby-boomers. Currently work flows, even digital ones, usually mirror processes set up in paper based work enviroments. SIL International as an organization has organizational units of various sizes in various locations of the world. Many of these units are also distributed teams. In the broader business world the battle for effective team communications is generally characterized as a battle between looking in the inbox and using the browser for information, collaboration, and connectivity. Tools like #slack, and management decisions to look for more effective team communications platforms have tried to push email our of use. In SIL International the very diverse nature of the workforce presents challenges to those with low-bandwidth connectivity.

We use a two prong communications approach. Email and corporate blog use. For Email we use Mailchimp. For the corporate blog we use Confluence Wiki.

SIL International deployed Confluence company wide in 2008 as a white board for people in the organization to use within their organizational unit. By 2011 the wiki had evolved into a platform for departmental websites and had supplanted official information repositories for official documentation. This has made the platform invaluable for interdepartmental communications.

In 2015 various organizational units within SIL International started to independently use Mailchimp.

Due to the highly transitional nature of SIL International staff, it is often the case that SIL staff do not have the knowledge base needed to leverage the capacities of these two systems. My role is often to demonstrate features relevant to business goals.

I have engaged with:

• SIL International Language and Culture Archive
• SIL International Language Program Training
• SIL International Language Program Services
• SIL International External Communications
• SIL Intellectual Property Team