Having researched what you might consider your "branding" dilemma, our consultant team has come up with three areas with which you can "rally" the people in your Communications Office- both managers and other operating personnel. These three areas are also part of Dr. Ronald R. Short's "Learning in Action" training programs.
First, Organizational Awareness. This is a reinforcement, actually, of the job your Communications Office is expected to perform diligently, whether in New York, Bangkok, Bratislava, Paris or London. It would seem right and proper that such awareness comes with pressure of performing on time and meaningfully. It therefore also means that some creative decisions, such as the "branding" issue comes from top officials who feel (or felt, at the time) that your people are already committed to their tasks, having had their ranks reduced. By taking some of them away from these tasks would mean that some of them might not get done in time, or properly. This sort of organizational awareness puts their jobs into perspective, in relation to what other UN groups and other divisions of UNDP are involved in. In short, you could consider this a sort of "the end justifies the means" approach.
Second, Dr. Short also discusses team self-awareness. This means understanding, coping with, and when needed, correcting any weaknesses and at the same time building on the st6rengths of your team. Please note that throughout this memorandum, the word "team" appears frequently. Such self-awareness must be focused on the jobs to be done, world-wide. It is important that this outside consu8ltant who created the "branding" logo and campaign will not have the success or failure of that campaign fall on the heads of your team. It certainly is important that you stress, both in personal meetings with your staff, and a written memo to be distributed to them all, world-wide, that in no way does the use of an outside consultant re...