About Us

 

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We excel in helping corporations achieve business results by developing communication programs that are measurably effective. We diagnose how well your current systems are working and develop practical solutions that get the results you need.

Developing
Focused Diagnostics

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 Providing
Practical Solutions		 Achieving
Business results
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We've built our business on quickly and accurately finding the match-ups and misalignments between what your company needs to achieve and your current approach to getting there.

Our initial assessments provide a baseline against which to measure your success.

While many of the diagnostics we use may seem familiar, our copyrighted questions often produce surprising answers.

Some of our diagnostic tools include:

  • Communication audits
  • Engagement surveys
  • Interviews
  • Starch Test
  • Readership surveys
  • Focus groups
  • Content analysis
  • Benchmarking
  • Publication analysis
  • Pilot/control group studies
  • International impact assessment
  • Web / intranet usage analysis
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We partner with you in developing strategic plans that align corporate business goals with your internal or external audiences, or both. Here are several practical solutions we've developed for clients.
  • Aligned communicators and HR management through a facilitated strategic planning process, including an assessment of the perceived strengths and weakness of their employee communication program, and the opportunities and threats facing it (a SWOT analysis).
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  • Refocused a client's media relations planning process to better integrate messages sent from various internal and external communication functions to the same audiences.
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  • Developed a long-term measurement strategy for an HR program that includes pretesting materials, ongoing knowledge testing and tracking communications against operational outcomes.
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  • Merged the best of two communication programs during an acquisition.
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  • Trained entire communication departments at several clients in a consistent way to plan and measure their work.

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The best way to illustrate what we can do for you is to highlight what we've done for some of our clients.
  • Directed a controlled pilot study that proved a new approach to communication within call centers improved the accuracy of answers to customer questions by over 60%.
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  • Identified specific operational information blockages between pairs of departments that were reducing productivity.
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  • Pinpointed the reason safety was suffering in certain locations for a shipping company, and developed simple solutions to stop it.
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  • Helped develop a behaviorally focused internal consulting function, including a template for the planning process and an assessment tool, to track the success of the projects.
 

 

 

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  Angela D. Sinickas, ABC
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A pioneer in the field of organizational communication measurement, Angela Sinickas has been measuring the effectiveness of communications since 1981. Her prolific publications and speaking engagements on the topic since then have made her name synonymous with measurement of organizational communication. Angela and her measurement work have been cited in Harvard Business Review, Investors Business Daily, HR Magazine, Executive Solutions, PR News, Journal of Communication Management, Ragan Report and Communication World, among many other publications.

Angela is the president of Sinickas Communications, Inc., an international communication consultancy helping corporations achieve business results through targeted diagnostics and practical solutions. Her firm's recent clients include: 

  • AOL
  • Amdocs (Israel)
  • American Standard
  • AstraZeneca
  • Barclays Global Investors
  • Bombardier Aerospace (UK)
  • Cisco
  • Eli Lilly
  • Ergon (Australia)
  • Humana
  • Internal Revenue Service
  • Judicial Council of California
  • New York Medical College
  • Novartis
  • PacifiCare Health Systems
  • Raytheon
  • St. Joseph Health System
  • Southern California Edison
  • Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong)
  • SWIFT
  • University of Ulster (UK)
  • US Army Corps of Engineers
  • USAA
  • Welch's
  • World Bank
    ...among others (see full list by industry).

She has also conducted in-house training sessions on communication measurement for communicators at AEP, AstraZeneca, BellSouth, Caterpillar, Cisco, JP Morgan Chase, Georgia Pacific, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, Pacific Telesis, PartnerRe, Rockwell, Royal Bank, SAP America, Shell, Skandia, Southern California Edison, TRW, USGS and other organizations.
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Angela has been an organizational communicator since 1974, working in the public and private sectors:

  • Principal and Senior Communication Consultant, Measurement and Strategy, William M. Mercer, Incorporated; 1993 to 2000
  • Vice President of Communication, Secomerica, Inc.; 1990 to 1993
  • Communication Consultant and Unit Leader, Hewitt Associates; 1984 to 1990
  • Manager of Internal Communication, Chicago Tribune Company; 1979 to 1984
  • Editor, Public Information Officer, and Assistant Director, University of Illinois Medical Center; 1974 to 1979
  • Managing Editor, Chicago Business Review; freelance 1977 to 1978

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 Speaking Engagements: Angela has been a featured speaker at over 350 communication conferences worldwide, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, France, China (Hong Kong), Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the U.S. She teaches an online graduate course on communication assessment at Northeastern University. She has also been a guest instructor at California State University, Loyola University, Pepperdine University, Universitat Ramon Llul (Barcelona, Spain), University of Southern California and University of Ulster (Belfast, UK).

Organizations sponsoring her presentations include:

  • ABERJE (Brazil)
  • Advanced Learning Institute
  • Association of Communication Directors (Spain)
  • Association of Women in Communications
  • BrainWave (Barbados)
  • Conference Board
  • Conference Partnership (UK)
  • Federated Press (Canada)
  • Frontier in Knowledge International (Malaysia)
  • Institute for International Research
  • International Association of Business Communicators
  • International Conference Management
  • International Quality and Productivity Center (USA and Australia)
  • Learning-in-Business (UK)
  • Management Leadership Network (UK)
  • Melcrum Publishing (UK)
  • PRIA (Australia)
  • PRINZ (New Zealand)
  • Public Relations Society of America
  • Ragan Communications
  • San Francisco Academy
  • Vinco (Sweden)

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 Publications: Angela is the author of what has, industry-wide, come to be regarded as the definitive source of information on conducting organizational communication research: How to Measure Your Communication Programs (1st Edition, 1994, Ragan Communications, Chicago; 2nd Edition, 1997, and 3rd edition, 2004, Sinickas Communications Publishing, Irvine, CA). She is also author of Getting Started: Communication Measurement, a 40-page booklet available in English and Spanish that highlights how to set measurable objectives and overviews a few basic measurement tools. She has also written chapters on measurement in the IABC textbook Inside Organizational Communication and the Ragan manual Employee Communication: The Comprehensive Manual for People Who Communicate with Today's Employees.
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She has published more than 100 articles in international communication journals and is a columnist for Strategic Communication Management.

She is on the editorial boards of The Journal of Employee Communication Management and The Business Communicator.
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 Awards: Angela has won 15 international-level Gold Quill Awards (in 1981, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006) from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), including five specifically for communication measurement projects. She was named "1992 Communicator of the Year" by the Orange County, California, chapter of IABC. She earned the designation Accredited Business Communicator from IABC in 1983. Other awards include:

  • Regional IABC Awards: Silver Quill Award of Excellence 1997, Helios Award of Excellence 1987
  • Business Insurance Employee Benefits Communication Awards: Best of Show 1997, Award of Excellence 1985
  • Illinois Wesleyan University, 1st place for Fiction, 1983
  • United Way: 1st place for Writing, 2nd place for Overall Publication, 1980

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 Professional leadership: In addition to many volunteer activities for IABC, PRSA and the Association for Women in Communications, Inc. at the chapter level since the 1970s, Angela has also contributed to IABC at the international level. Her recent assignments have included:

  • Gold Quill Revitalization Task Force 2001
  • Think Tank Chairperson 1998-1999
  • Think Tank member, 1996-1998
  • Research Foundation Board of Directors, 1994-1996
  • Gold Quill Blue Ribbon Panel, 1991-1993, 2004

She was also a member of the Council of Communication Management's Board of Directors (2003 - 2006)

Angela teaches an online graduate course on organizational communication assessment for Northeastern University.

Languages: Besides English, Angela is fluent in Spanish and Lithuanian, and is conversant in German.
 

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  Client List
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We partner with corporations in a variety of industries.
A sampling of our clients include:
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Aerospace/Defense: Bombardier Aerospace (UK), Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Rockwell
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Education:

 		  California State University, New York Medical College, Ohio State University Medical Center, University of California, University of Chicago (Argonne National Lab), University of Southern California, University of  Ulster (Northern Ireland)
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Energy & Chemicals:

 ALSTOM (France), American Electric Power, Carolina Power & Light, Ergon (Australia), ExxonMobil, GE Energy, Halliburton, Lyondell, Petrobras (Brazil), Progress Energy, SaskPower (Canada), Shell, South Jersey Industries, Southern California Edison, South West Gas
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Financial:

 Allianz (Germany), American Express, Barclays Global Investors, CapitalOne, Edward Jones, First Data, GMAC-RFC, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Lloyds TSB (UK), The Marmon Group, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), SWIFT, Wells Fargo, World Bank
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Food & Beverage:

   ConAgra, Growmark, Mars Petcare, Masterfoods, Quaker Oats, Starbucks, Strauss-Elite (Israel), Welch's
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Government:

   Hong Kong Civil Service Training and Development Institute, Department of Finance and Personnel (Northern Ireland), Internal Revenue Service, Judicial Council of California, Saskatoon Health Region, Surrey Police (UK), UK Department of Work and Pensions, USACE, USDA, USGS, US Navy Recruiting Command, VA
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Health Care:

   Ascension Health, Baylor Health Care System, Catholic Health Initiatives, Christiana Care, Eisenhower Medical Center, Children's & Women's Health Center of BC, Humana, PacifiCare Health Systems, Roche Molecular Systems, St. Joseph Health System, Vision Service Plan, Saskatoon Health Region (Canada)
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Insurance:

 Allstate, American Standard, California State Automobile Association, Clarica (Canada), Fireman's Fund, MetLife, Standard Insurance, PartnerRe (Switzerland), Skandia (Sweden), USAA
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Pharmaceutical &
Medical Devices:

 Alpharma, AstraZeneca (UK & US), Eli Lilly, ETHICON, Johnson & Johnson, MEDRAD, Merck & Company, Novartis Pharmacia Corporation, Novo Nordisk (Denmark), Novozymes (Denmark), Roche (Switzerland), STERIS, Wyeth, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare
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Professional Services:

 Accenture, Amdocs (Israel), PriceWaterhouse Coopers (Canada), SAIC
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Retail:

 Nordstrom, REI
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Technology:

 3M, AOL, AT&T Broadband, ATMI, Inc., Beckman Coulter, BellSouth, Cisco, Denso International America, GE Medical Systems, Hewlett-Packard, HP Imaging & Printing Group, Honeywell, Network Appliance, Quest Diagnostics, Sabre, SAP America
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Telecommunications:

 

  

AT&T Broadband, Sprint Nextel, Telstra (Australia), Verizon Telecom, Verizon Wireless

Other:

   Aimco, Caterpillar, Clorox, Delphi (Mexico), Federal Express, Georgia-Pacific, Husky (Canada), James Hardie Building Products, John Deere, Osram Sylvania, Placer Dome (Canada), SC Johnson, Scania (Sweden), Timken
 

 

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