Last month I wrote about thinking bold thoughts for 2010. Let's say you did that, and now you want to get the whole company behind you. Your best bet is to develop an internal communications plan, which will greatly enhance the chances that your entire company will follow your lead.

In my experience, internal communications is the No.1 place where great ideas fall short. As entrepreneurs, we want to dream big, announce said dream and then get to work. The problem is, the rest of the company doesn't operate like that. If you don't develop a systematic approach to make your vision clear to others--and keep it front of mind--chances are it will be forgotten before you can get out of the gate.

At first blush, an internal communications plan might sound like a big, scary strategic plan, but it's really not. It's simply an agreed-upon system for how information will travel through your company. It's how vision becomes part of the day-to-day work of the organization.

So if you have a big idea you want to initiate, here's how you can build a plan around it to ensure success:

1. Launch the vision. In our culture, we like to hear from our leaders personally to understand corporate direction. It comforts us not only to hear the words, but also to read the body language that accompanies them. It's how we assess the seriousness and potential of new ideas--and determine how much we should care. When you initiate a bold vision, do it during an all-hands meeting. Make yourself clear, and allow everyone to ask questions. Remember that your main goal is to inspire, not to inform. Perfectly crafted graphs may be helpful, but you must work on embodying the message and showing excitement.
    
2. Name it. Make your message easy to remember by creating an abbreviation or acronym for it. One of my clients recently launched a vision for changing the game, and the company has taken to calling new ideas Game Changers. The moniker keeps the vision real and allows people to apply it directly to their contributions. Companies can put the named vision on the wall, on pens and shirts, and even on the website. The point is to have it become part of the shared language of the office.
    
3. Display a real-time scorecard. Good sales teams know that watching the progress on a goal is almost as fun as hitting it. Find a way to measure your vision, and make the progress public. Put it into company meetings, display it on intranets and send out regular updates. This creates camaraderie and keeps people focused forward, even when unavoidable bumps occur.
    
4. Create a clear downward communications flow. Information flows in any company and, if you don't control it, it flows along the path of least resistance. This usually involves rumors. When change happens, anxiety inevitably comes with it. Make sure there are clear communications pathways to let people know what's happening and how the new vision is progressing. This can be as simple as having a weekly update that you communicate to managers to pass down. Or it can involve liaisons who form a team for getting messages distributed. The net effect is that everyone hears roughly the same information at the same time. There's clarity about what leadership is doing and how the company is performing.
    
5. Have an equally strong upward communications path. As the leader, you also have to get information back to you that's as unfiltered as possible. Create regular venues for people to address questions, complaints and concerns about your changes. I've had success by holding regular CEO luncheons and by establishing a corporate policy where anyone can e-mail the boss about questions. I worked with a very large finance company where the CEO had weekly town hall meetings through videoconferencing, where he answered anyone's question and encouraged debate. As a result, he garnered a tremendous amount of support even though most people never met him personally.
    
6. Celebrate successes and admit failures. People lose trust quickly when new initiatives seem to fall off the corporate radar. Employees are busy, and they have a short attention span. It's your job as the leader to keep your priorities front-of-mind for everyone. Take time to publicly celebrate strides the company has made, and call out individual contributions. It will make success seem personal and within reach. Leaders often shy away from making bold goals because they worry they can't hit them. It's OK to fail but not OK to hide. When you have challenges, publicly admit what's not working. Accept accountability and propose new solutions. The worst thing you can do is to announce a new vision, then silently take it off the table when circumstances get in the way. It will be that much harder to inspire your team the next time.
    
7. Don't forget the rule of seven. Marketers know the Rule of Seven--people need to see or hear something seven times before they will act on it. As the leader, you are marketing your ideas. An internal communications plan is a way to put the Rule of Seven into effect and keep it there. Don't believe for a minute that because it's your priority, it's also your team's priority.

When you establish a well-defined process for communicating new ideas, you'll find that they more often become new realities.