© Leif Åberg 1997 Åberg’s Kite: Communications Strategy Planning Professor Leif Åberg University of Helsinki, Department of Communication Åberg’s Kite

© Leif Åberg 1997 Humane Visions v to build a solid vision, the organizations have to combine managerial processes and processes that emerge from human activities Åberg’s Kite

© Leif Åberg 1997 The art of kite flying: the kite will fly, v if the weather is windy, and v if one, running against the wind, manages to bring about the essential initial driving force Åberg’s Kite

© Leif Åberg 1997 Once the kite is up, it is essential to maintain active balance between managerial processes and processes that emerge from human behavior Åberg’s Kite

© Leif Åberg 1997 This active balancing is achieved through communication Åberg’s Kite

© Leif Åberg 1997 VISION LEGITI- MACY CORPORATE CULTURE GROUP DYNAMICS INDIVIDUAL DYNAMICS BUSINESS IDEA, MISSION STRATEGY GROUP AND TEAM GOALS TASKS Åberg’s Kite

© Leif Åberg 1997 LEGITI- MACY CORPORATE CULTURE GROUP DYNAMICS INDIVIDUAL DYNAMICS BUSINESS IDEA, MISSION STRATEGY GROUP AND TEAM GOALS TASKS COMMUNICATIONCOMMUNICATION Åberg’s Kite VISION

© Leif Åberg 1997 LEGITI- MACY CORPORATE CULTURE GROUP DYNAMICS INDIVIDUAL DYNAMICS BUSINESS IDEA, MISSION STRATEGY GROUP AND TEAM GOALS TASKS COMMUNICATIONCOMMUNICATION Åberg’s Kite MANI- FESTAT- ION OF VISION SCAN- NING COM- MUNI- CAT- ING CHAN- GE VISION

© Leif Åberg 1997 A) Tools for the Manifestation of the Vision v core story links the past with the future and positions the current standing v strategic keywords: using, e.g., a 3x3x3-diagram v strategic core messages: elaboration of the strategic keywords v slogan: one core message, used for identification of the company v emblem: e.g., logo+name, or an auditive emblem

© Leif Åberg 1997 VISION MISSION GOOD HERITAGE INTERNAL LEGITIMACY EXTERNAL LEGITIMACY Core Story

© Leif Åberg 1997 B) Scanning v the recognition of the first weak signals of essential external and internal changes as early as possible, in order to make corrective actions possible v environmental and internal scanning

Scanning 1 Recognition of possible sources of essential weak signals 2 External and internal monitoring 3 Interpretation 4 Recommendations for actions 5 Action taking 6 Control of consequences © Leif Åberg 1997

Trends © Leif Åberg 1997

Trends Random fluctuation © Leif Åberg 1997

Trends Random fluctuation Environ- mental responses to our actions © Leif Åberg 1997

C) Communication of Change v core story affects the perceptions of the legitimacy of own actions, and brings about positive expectations about the future v take communication of change seriously: it is an ongoing process, calls for extensive and sophisticated communications efforts, and is a joint process of managers and communications professionals

Deal and Kennedy: How to Bring About Change v appoint a hero to manage the change process v make explicit the threat or opportunity that has to be met v introduce change rituals v train the people into new values and new ways of working v call in shamanes, people with visions, to testify for the desirability of the actions taken v use waypoints and benchmarking v emphasize safe actions whenever possible

© Leif Åberg 1997 Building a kite: list of parts Building a kite: list of parts Åberg’s Kite