The following notes came from a meeting that I had with colleagues on how to communicate efficiently within the department (R&D department)

Why do we have to communicate, why sharing knowledge ?

Business

Brainstorming and idea creation are facilitated
Duplicate work can be avoided
Decision can be taken faster and in a more efficient way (better alignment)
Faster and easier involvment of new colleagues
Living Experts knowledge is captured

Individual

People have access to the same level of information
The team feels as a team (people cohesion)

Target Audiences

A R&D department (technician, engineer, researcher and project manager). The people are not necessary in the same office.

What & How

Technical Communication / non-Technical Communication
Spoken Communication / Unspoken Communication
Live Communication / On-demand Communication
Short, middle and long terms communication
Face-to-face meeting: Technical Day, Local Pulse
Web conference : Technical Meeting
Newsletter : Monthly Management Report
Reporting : Portofolio Management tool, project presentations, project planning, technical notes

Communication strategy

Process committee meeting

Who : A small group of three persons
What : Innovation process update, administrative process update
When : 3 times a year
Time frame : long terms
Benefit : workflow efficiency, faster work

Department Day

Who : the whole team
What : 1 thème (example : communication faire savoir), 1 day
When : Yearly
Time frame : long terms
Benefit : En plus de la thématique, le team building

Department Meeting

Who : The whole Team
What : Team communication on non-technical subjects, work climate analysis, general information
When : monthly
Time frame : short terms
Benefit : Communicate every day life’s problems

Technical Day

Who : The whole Team
What : All projects are discussed during 1 day in a neutral location. Difficulty due to high Volume of information. Interactive communication
When : Yearly
Time frame : Long terms
Benefit : Same level of knowledge on the current project progress

Technical Meeting

Who : The whole Team
What : 1 project is presented during 45 minutes and the audience can interact. To be experiemented.
When : Monthly
Time frame : Middle terms
Benefit : Interactive communication, OPTIONAL attendance, could lead to a technical handbook

Local Pulse Meeting

Who : The whole Team
What : 1 hours, 3 minutes per person, weekly log of the project (incl. Risk, decision, problems)
When : Weekly
Time frame : short terms
Benefit : Risk sharing, problem solving, resource allocation

Global Pulse Meeting

Who : 2 to 3 persons from each geographic site, we call them connectors
What : 1 hours, similar to pulse but global, format to be defined/experimented
When : monthly or weekly
Time frame : middle terms or short terms
Benefit : interactive global communication

Monthly Management Report

Who : The whole Team
What : Report current month achievement and updates
When : monthly
Time frame : middle terms
Benefit : information on-request

More relative to KM than to Communication

TPD Knowledge Transfert Session:

Experts are training new employees
People receiving the information should report the learning (Technical Note)
The expert review and sign the technical note

Actions and next steps

Risk : Overcommunication -> No time for « real » work

Test the different new communication vector and give feedback
Work on the most appropriate way for non disruptive communication
Example : notify people when a new document is created in the knowledge base
Understand on how people look for the information, to do so identify some « profils » to perform the study : Technician, researchers, managers, …
Work on how to train people to locate the information