The inaugural meeting of the local government communication leaders network earlier this month gave us so much food for thought.
by Matt Nicholls
More than 50 colleagues from councils, combined authorities and fire services gathered in Birmingham – and many more would have been there had it not been for last minute covid-related dropouts, and of course the odd unforeseen crisis that is the nature of life as a head of comms.
The wordcloud above – generated by contributions on old school post-it notes over the course of the day – gives a bit of an insight into the huge array of topics that were covered.
The energy and enthusiasm in the room was the most striking thing about the day. Many of us have been talking about creating a network like this for some time, and it was clear this was an idea that was long overdue.
When you’ve spent a day discussing everything from conflict in the Middle East through to mentoring, it’s difficult to distil all the learning which emerged. But here’s a few of my takeaways…
We’re all suffering from long covid
As mentioned, coronavirus itself meant a fair few colleagues couldn’t be with us in Birmingham.
But it is the lingering impact of the pandemic that ran through so many of our conversations.
There was a near unanimous feeling that workloads haven’t come down – whether that’s because of raised expectations, new challenges such as the cost of living or a lack of prioritisation since BAU work started to ramp up again.
Adjusting to leading in a hybrid working environment is also a big issue. I asked for a show of hands to find out how often teams were expected to be in the office. It was a surprise to see that some are pretty much free to come in when they like, with no minimum requirement, whilst some are back to almost full-time office working. I’d say two days a week was the narrow winner in terms of the most regular frequency.
The balance between wanting to be flexible employers and the benefits of face-to-face contact is a really difficult one to strike, and it’s fair to say opinions were mixed.
The rest is politics
Another unforeseen consequence of hybrid working is there is less contact between teams and elected members.
This matters when communicating in a political environment. Many colleagues highlighted concerns about political awareness skills, which in pre-covid days may have been honed through those moments when a councillor passed your desk or you chatted with them at the water cooler.
This isn’t an argument for everybody being back at the office. But given the current political landscape it is these sorts of skills that are arguably going to be as important as any other.
More than 100 councils are now under no overall control. A general election is looming, increasing numbers of authorities are facing the possibility of issuing Section 114 notices or facing some kind of intervention. Devolution continues to transform the local government map in England.
For comms leaders operating in this changing context, public affairs will be an increasingly important string to add to the bow.
Influencing government, MPs, stakeholders and elected mayors will bring dividends to communities as well as placing communications right at the strategic heart of their organisations.
Many leaders at the event have successfully moved into this space, so sharing that learning will be a really useful next step for the network.
WhatsApp groups are the new marmite
The last part of the day was a discussion around next steps for the network, what people would find most useful and how the momentum from the event could be maintained.
Ideas included setting up a WhatsApp group, peer to peer support around specific issues, ensuring our discussions mirrored what our senior leaders are debating at Solace – and tons more.
The differing views of ‘what next?’ were brought home to me when two people – who shall remain anonymous – came up to me afterwards and said: ‘Matt, whatever we do, can we please not have another bloody WhatsApp group! I’m in too many of them!’
I had to chuckle, but that is actually a nice illustration of how people will have different ideas based on their own particular challenges and needs.
It’s also important that the network fills gaps rather than tries to duplicate great work already going on, such as that led by organisations like LGcomms.
So, our immediate next steps are to set up a virtual call for the network to discuss a topical issue impacting comms leaders, and to get a date in the diary for the next face to face meeting in the New Year. We’re also busy going through feedback and ideas that came out of the event.
Everyone I spoke to afterwards came away feeling energised by the day and the chance to meet so many of their peers for the first day.
There’s a reason why people choose to be a communications leader in local government and stick at it – despite all of the many difficulties.
Thanks to everyone who helped make the day such a success, particularly our friends at Birmingham City Council for hosting us.
If you’d like more information about the network or have ideas for its next steps, please do get in touch.
Matt Nicholls is head of communications improvement at the Local Government Association. You can say hello on Twitter at @mattypn
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