Many people pride themselves on going with their gut instincts. A new book Gut Feelings provides evidence that too much analysis may be a bad thing, and may not result in any better decisions. Trusting hunches and intuition are really colloquial terms for what the author Gerd Gigerenzer and his colleagues call "heuristics", defined as fast and efficient cognitive shortcuts in the brain. Personally I am a big believer in instinct - but I feel equally strongly that "chance favours the prepared mind". My topic in this month’s enewsletter gives you tips for planning on the fly, to be able to make sound communications decisions when the opportunities arise.

Here’s my Top Ten list of questions to consider if you need to make a good decision quickly:

1. What objective does it serve? There’s a reason why this is number one. If your idea or opportunity does not further at least one larger objective, preferably from your organization’s strategic plan, you probably shouldn’t pursue it.
2. Who is the audience? Secondly, if the audience reached by the opportunity isn’t one that you have defined as a key audience for your organization, it may not make a lot of sense to spend too much time communicating to it. There are many promotional opportunities that fit into this category; they are often nice to haves rather than have to haves.
3. What do you want to achieve? If you determine the opportunity is a good fit to advance a larger objective, and that it reaches the right audience, you’ll want to identify specifically what you intend to achieve. For example, if you have accepted a speaking presentation, your goal might be to use it as a platform to announce a new initiative. Deciding this will help figure out what you’ll need to do to achieve the goal.
4. What’s the payoff? At the end of the day, there has to be a return on your investment. This can be measured in hard results, for example, the number of media calls, new clients or donations, or softer results, like making yourself known to a new organization or community. Events are a great example of this. They are labour intensive and not always a huge money maker, but they can’t be beat for cultivating relationships and raising the profile of a cause or organization.
5. How much will it cost – time plus money? Even “free” opportunities have a real cost. Be sure to factor in staff and volunteer time, as well as budget into your decision making and planning.
6. Is the timing suitable? Sometimes the best opportunity comes at the worst time. The timing should line up with your organization’s timeline. For example, participating in a newspaper supplement that comes out in a season your organization does not offer programs, or when your audiences’ attentions are focused elsewhere, may not provide you with enough return to make the expense worth your while.
7. Who will do the work? Beyond the actual delegation of tasks and deadlines, it’s important to think about who will need to be available and who else might be affected. You will need to identify and plan for this in advance. Examples that create communications mayhem are sending out a news release when the spokesperson isn’t available for interviews or followup, and not having people available or equipped to answer inquiries after a blitz of some sort.
8. How will you define and measure success? Back to number three, take the time to verbalize or document what you will consider as achieving your goal. Without doing this, you can only rely on subjective impressions to measure your success. When your action is complete, make sure you evaluate it and note any lessons learned for the next time.
9. What work have you already done that you can reuse? Don’t reinvent the wheel. Hopefully you’ll have something in your communications tool kit that you can use as a starting point. Nudge nudge wink wink.
10. How can you leverage it after it’s done? Sometimes the value in the opportunity is what it leads to. If you’re going to put a lot of effort into something, seek other opportunities to take it to the next level. A presentation is a good example. Identify other places you can present it, write an article based on it, make it available on your website, and use it as a basis of a cultivation letter with your donors or others important to your organization.