A communications doctrine is a central idea that guides your efforts, essentially your ethos of communicating.
A communications doctrine influences your strategy, tactics, organization, consistency, shared know-how, or STOCK.
A communications doctrine goes from exploiting knowledge based on past experiences to expanding knowledge based on new experiences.
A communications doctrine sets how you conduct research and gather intelligence to determine what types of tactics you will deploy.
A communications doctrine requires you to make short-term and long-term predictions.
You should see a communications doctrine as a guide for how you will communicate based on past events and a well-informed guess about the future.
A communications doctrine will take time to assemble.
A communications doctrine will involve stakeholders, both internal and external.
A communications doctrine must battle tradition, bureaucracy, politics, and culture.
A communications doctrine should study the lessons of the past and also welcome ideas that could succeed in the future.
A communications doctrine eliminates motivation and embraces discipline.
A communications doctrine will be more no and less yes.
Producing a proper communications doctrine will help you achieve your future business objectives.
If it doesn’t, your future communications effort might have all of the success of New Coke.
-Marc
