Strategic Communication Workshop (SCW)

The Course

The Strategic Communication Workshop (SCW) is a hands-on, results-oriented workshop that assists commands in the development and implementation of strategic communication plans and processes. Teams should bring their command's strategic plan and/or a command initiative that might benefit from a communication component. Naval Postgraduate School faculty use the latest research and lessons learned from industry and DoD to generate discussion. Each team is assigned a professional facilitator who will serve as a guide and provide feedback. Teams will be asked to conduct in-depth stakeholder analyses, assess communication risk as it relates to your organization's goals, and develop communication metrics to track desired effects. Take-aways include an analysis of your command's communication capabilities and a roadmap for strengthening communication as it relates to the successful achievement of your organization's strategic initiatives.

Questions To Be Addressed During The Workshop

• What strategic analysis is supporting your communication tactics?
• Who are your key stakeholders and how do they impact the achievement of your goals?
• What messages are your actions conveying, both inside and outside your organization?
• How does communication provide the linkage between day-to-day activities and commander's priorities?
• Are you maximizing your strategic effects with associated communication processes?

Program Formats

4 Day SCW

This online workshop brings together multiple commands from across the Navy in one cohort to learn and engage the principles of strategic communication. Teams participate in plenary sessions with the instructional team, work with their own command team and facilitator on their own initiative, and then report out their progress to the full cohort in the final day.

This workshop is offered at no cost to eligible Navy commands, and scheduled for three sessions per fiscal year [refer to our homepage for dates]. Space is limited. Non-Navy commands, please inquire with the registrar for cost and availability.

Command SCW

Individual Command SC Workshops: Individual Command Workshops accommodate larger command team sizes and can be held online or in person. The Command SCW provide single commands with the opportunity to work with an instructor to learn principles of strategic communication and work on their own communication initiative. The workshop can be used as an introduction to the topic within the command, as a refresher to get new staff up to speed or as a deep dive into a new communication challenge. These workshops are scheduled at a time and place that is mutually agreeable to both the command and CEE team availability. Contact CEE Registrar for workshop cost.

2-Day SCW: View a tentative schedule here.

Half-Day SCW: View a tentative schedule here.

Program Manager

The Faculty

Dr. Stephens is joined by academic experts from the faculty at the Naval Postgraduate School in presenting strategies, principles, and tactics for developing and implementing an effective strategic communication planning process. Classroom presentations are highly interactive and encourage the sharing of experiences among participants.

The Location

The SCW is conducted Online (4 Day) and can be held in person at the Center for Executive Education on the campus of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California or in designated Fleet concentration locations, as designated on our main webpage. If at NPS, lodging is available on-base at the Hotel Del Monte (former Navy Gateway Inns & Suites) in historic Herrmann Hall.

Who Should Attend?

Suggested workshop attendees are teams of up to 8 key organizational members led by a Flag Officer, SES, or O-6. Commands should send a diverse group -- seniority, functional areas, and others who are familiar with the initiative (e.g. Planners, IO, PAO, HR, IT, Policy, and/or Operations).