With resource, time and budgets shrinking, comms teams have to be super astute in how we plan if we are to make a difference to our residents.
by Lindsay Coulson
My approach is not an easy fix but it does work and once you’ve been through the process once, it gets easier and easier.
So here are the key points:
1 PRIORITISE: I like to take information from three places – the priorities set out in the corporate plan, the administration’s manifesto pledges and the priorities of the service areas. This means having meetings with directors, Cabinet members and the leader/CEX to flush out their priorities.
I then take all that information and distil it into a list of priorities. This could include anything from social worker recruitment to helping people with cost-of-living to building trust in the authority.
2 RESOURCES: How much resource do you to have to actually deliver. I do a quick and easy calculation of the amount of resource there is in the comms team. Each person will usually be available for about 220 days a year. I add it up, take out about 30-50% for crisis, media handling etc and can then work out roughly how many projects and campaigns we can run. Remembering that less is more!
3 GET BUY IN: It’s so important to ensure your senior managers and leaders feel a sense of ownership of your priority list. Take time out to get sign off which often involves a round of amends and negotiation, it will be time well spent.
4 PLANNING TOOLS: You’re then ready to get your strategy and planning tools in place; draft a comms strategy and get it signed off at the highest level. Draft a work plan, make sure you have a comms forward planning grid in place and work with your team and services to draft campaign plans that will deliver the priorities.
5. ENGAGE: Present your comms strategy to management teams across the organisation and get their engagement and buy in. Bring people from across the organisation along with you.
If you can get it right it empower scomms teams to stops the ‘can you just’ conversations and deliver less but with much greater impact.
Lindsay Coulson is a consultant at Lindsay Coulson Communications
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