24 Nov Bridging the gap between public and private sector communications
Working with the public sector, whether it’s planning, regeneration, or community activities, can be rewarding, but different priorities and ways of working can add challenges to project delivery.
Drawing on her years of experience navigating the inner workings of local authorities, The Assembly Line founder Diane Cunningham shares tips for how the private sector can bridge the communications gap and make projects run more smoothly.
Stakeholder mapping
Don’t assume that everyone within a local authority knows everyone else. Local authorities are massive organisations and can be quite siloed.
A lot of my time on projects is spent introducing people to each other.
Someone could be developing a culture strategy, but in a completely different part of the council organisation to the person who is, say, running a town centre project.
To navigate this, carry out stakeholder mapping at the start (internal to the local authority and external).
Who else might you want to talk to, and which other departments within the council could be relevant? Which projects would seem connected but might not be? Find out who knows who and how things join up.
Structures and timings
Local authorities aren’t very agile and are not always logical in their processes. There will be a rigid hierarchy of members, committee and cabinet meetings through which decisions are made.
If a decision is going to be made at a committee meeting and you miss it, you’ll have to wait for the next one, which could be a month or more away. Cabinet agendas can also fill up quickly, which means items slip.
If a big project is underway, such as a masterplan, smaller items may be bumped to the next meeting.
Then there is the period in the run-up to a local election when decisions are limited or can’t be made at all.
Understanding the process for your project or piece of work is critical. Will there need to be a public consultation, for instance? Who or where is the final decision being made, and when? Is there an election?
Find out the key dates for your project and any other big decisions – ask the question, as it’s not always written down. Then plan your project timeline accordingly.
Masterplans can be 20 years, but electoral cycles are short. It can be frustrating when a councillor or local authority wants something done to meet election deadlines or appease one group only. There’s a risk it won’t be of longer-term value.
What to do: Challenge gently, ask where the project fits in the bigger picture/plans and ask where the resource is to deliver or maintain.
Having done that, make peace with it and deliver.
Public consultations and stakeholder communications
It’s important to reach the right people with public consultations. The council might be tempted to host it at their offices or in a local library. It’s free and convenient after all.
And that may be the best place, but it may not. You need to go to where the people actually are, not expect them to come to you.
Consultations also need to happen at different times of the day, including outside traditional 9-5 hours, to make it accessible for a wide range of people.
Build weekends into consultation programmes, catch people on their way to school or work, morning or evening, take space at events (sports games) or regular spaces (youth clubs, chess club, etc.).
This should be complementary to an online engagement campaign, too. While the private sector can be quite nimble on social media, councils can’t and have statutory messaging that needs to be scheduled and shared. It can be challenging to negotiate a slot in the preplanned comms schedule for project updates and engagement.
Think about the comms channels which are available to you to keep people updated without upsetting the council’s core messaging.
Don’t forget to keep people updated…it often goes quiet after the visible consultation ends, but keep reminding people of the project timeline and when they will hear more.
You can do this via email to key stakeholders, where they are not public-facing, and ask them to cascade the update.
Local authorities aren’t always the best at talking to a wide variety of people, such as market traders, volunteers or business owners.
It is born out of risk aversion, a fear of pushback and negative conversations. It means that sometimes councils can cave on moving projects forward and take the path of least resistance.
The private sector needs to be aware of this, but can help a council hold its nerve, supporting them and building confidence where there are difficult decisions.
Top tips
Working with local authorities can be rewarding. It requires learning and bedding in time, especially as not all local authorities are the same.
The key is asking the questions at the start to understand how the organisation works, key deadlines and the people.
It’s really not that different to the private sector; it’s just more structured, less nimble and a bit slower, but the projects can create real change in places.
This is our November newsletter where we discuss things we have seen and lessons learnt monthly.
Sign up to The Assembly Line newsletter for urban and place shaping observations.