When I talk with people managers of communicators who need coaching, I’ve noted a number of comments that no communicator should ever utter, and no manager of a communications professional ever wants to hear.

Of course the list could be much larger, and there are always circumstances that can influence our choices, but in the spirit of working smarter and managing our own reputations, here are the top six that no communicator should ever speak.

I didn’t think it would matter externally. There’s no such thing as an internal message that doesn’t move into the realm of external stakeholders. Assume anything created for internal distribution will be read by media, customers, suppliers, competitors and any other external constituent. Better response: We’ve considered both internal and external stakeholders.

I didn’t think it would matter internally. If it’s important enough to put in a press release and share externally, you can bet your employees want to know about it, too. Every communications plan or event that’s teed up for external distribution should have an internal component as well. Better response (this looks familiar): We’ve considered both internal and external stakeholders.

There isn’t a way to measure that. Maybe you don’t have the budget to do research polling, or media measurement, but there’s something in EVERY communication plan that can be measured. From the basics of on-time, on-budget and executed-to-plan to more specific metrics around message delivery, placement and reach, every plan needs a metrics component. Better response: We can cover basics on measurement for on-time, on-budget and execution-to-plan, but we’ll need additional resources to get more specifics on other metrics.

I think (insert name) is handling that piece: The best plans in the world won’t matter much if there isn’t clear accountability for who does what, when, and with what tools. It’s about the specific details on execution. Expressions like “I think” send a message that you haven’t cemented the details and thus, there’s risk in executing the plan. Better response: “There’s a detailed work plan with who has what accountabilities, sequencing and what tools they’ll be using at the back of this planning document.”

I didn’t think I needed to run this by (insert name/function). Every communication plan needs to be reviewed by a specific group of people and/or functions. It’s about compliance/disclosure in many organizations, and simple alignment in all of them. Discussing specifics with your manager or function head – as you begin the planning process – is the critical first step to mapping out various approvals required from leaders and key functions, like HR and Legal. Better response: “We mapped out approvals when we began, and have secured all necessary reviews and approvals to this point in the planning process.”

I wasn’t aware of . . .There are always events, conditions and circumstances that we can never know because they’re confidential inside our organization, but I’m talking about the news that came today, last week, or a month ago from a competitor, customer, legislator, regulator or other stakeholder: the stuff we should know. Ideally, we never say this because our Google alerts tip us off in real time. But it never hurts to do one additional search – a double check on issues surrounding our plan — before a plan or draft document gets routed or presented for review. It’s all about doing our homework. Better response: “I was aware of that, and have made the following adjustments to our plan/messaging:…”

These communication no-nos are most relevant when the communicator has had advanced planning time to pull together a communications initiative. But even under tight deadlines, they represent a strong discipline that make all of us better at what we do.