This document discusses effective communication strategies for officer teams. It defines communication and explains why it is important for keeping everyone informed, encouraging idea sharing, and ensuring accountability. For chapter officer teams, the key is making communication a priority through regular in-person meetings, text reminders from the president, and utilizing advisors. State officer teams should communicate using Facebook, email, texting, and Skype calls depending on the team size. The overall message is that varied communication methods are important to keep geographically distant officer teams organized and working cohesively.

1. COMMUNICATION FOR OFFICER
TEAMS
Created by Micah Melling, 2011-2012 Central Region
Vice President

2. WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?
 Definition of Communication: “The imparting or
exchanging of information or news.”

3. WHY IS COMMUNICATION IMPORTANT?
 There are three main reasons why effective
communication is important.
 It keeps everyone on the same page, decreasing
confusion and error.
 It encourages an exchange of helpful ideas.
 It holds everyone accountable.
 No one can say, “I didn’t know what to do.”

4. THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION
 For communication to be successful within an
officer team, every member of the team must make
effective communication a priority.
 In particular, the student leader of the team must
constantly be “communication oriented.”

5. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES WITHIN A
CHAPTER OFFICER TEAM
 Meetings at school
 Face-to-face communication at school is ideal.
 Officer teams should meet at least on a bi-weekly basis.
 Find a consistent time to meet (e.g. every other Monday before
school starts).
 Make these meetings a focal point for your officer team.

6. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES WITHIN A
CHAPTER OFFICER TEAM (CONT)
 Texting
 Chapter officers should use texting as one of their
primary methods of communication.
 Texting is the most “sure-fire” way to remind teens of
something.
 The chapter president could develop a “texting”
reminder plan.
 For example, each Sunday night the chapter president will
send a short text that outlines the entire week.
 Don’t be afraid to send several “text” reminders a week
if necessary.

7. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES WITHIN A
CHAPTER OFFICER TEAM (CONT)
 Utilize the chapter advisor(s)
 If you want to give every officer a personal reminder at
school, ask your advisor(s) to help.
 They can remind the officers when they enter their classroom,
or they can use their resources to efficiently relay the
message.

8. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR STATE
OFFICER TEAMS
 Key Concepts
 With the members of your team spread out across the
state, effective communication can become tricky.
 Since your team only meets a few times a year, relying
on face-to-face communication is impossible.
 At the beginning of your term, your team must decide
the channels of communication to use.

9. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR STATE
OFFICER TEAMS (CONT)
 Facebook
 All of the members of your team should be “Facebook
friends.”
 This ensures that everyone is always connected.
 Creating a private Facebook group for your team can be
a great communication channel.
 This can be a forum for questions, discussions, and reminders.
 A group like this is only effective if officers check it frequently.

10. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR STATE
OFFICER TEAMS (CONT)
 Emailing
 Reserve emailing for topics that need to be explained in-
depth.
 Don’t use email for simple reminders (e.g. “remember
that your monthly report is due tomorrow).
 The members of your team that have smartphones
should “sync” their email account to their phone.
 This drastically increases the likelihood of responding to
messages.
 Officers should check their email at least once a day.

11. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR STATE
OFFICER TEAMS (CONT)
 Texting
 Texting should be used for quick reminders (e.g. your
monthly report is due tomorrow, your need to submit
your newsletter article in two days, etc).
 Use texting to ask for updates from your officers.
 When you send an important email, follow up with a text
to your team telling them to check their email.
 This may sound silly, but it’s effective.

12. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR STATE
OFFICER TEAMS (CONT)
 Skype for small teams (5 or less)
 For small teams, hosting Skype conferences can be
highly effective.
 These conferences can be on set dates (e.g. every
other Monday at 6:00 pm) or by request.
 Skype for large teams (5 or more)
 For large teams, hosting Skype conferences can be
difficult to coordinate and execute.
 In these cases, don’t even attempt to host team Skype
conferences. Instead, rely on other methods of
communication.
 One possibility, however, is for the state president to
have a monthly Skype call with each team member.

13. QUESTIONS?
 Before May 2012, please contact Central Region
Vice President Micah Melling.
 decavpmicah@gmail.com
 After May 2012, please contact your current Central
Region Vice President.
 Their contact information can be found on deca.org.