Title

How many chief executives are planning their communication strategy that will accompany the cuts? Sean Harriss, a former comms officer and now chief executive of Bolton MBC, is speaking at the SOLACE conference next week on the subject. I can't imagine a council leader or chief executive at the moment, who isn't spending a significant proportion of their time thinking about and delivering the huge savings the sector will have to find over the next few years. This is a daunting task, and one that brings many stresses and strains. What to prioritise? Where will the axe fall? What of the pain of redundancies and the potential political and managerial fallout? I wonder, however, how many chief executives and leaders are spending much of their time planning and executing the communications strategy which will accompany the cuts? I'm not talking about approving the odd press release or ‘fire-fighting' the inevitable bad news story in the local press, following the effective lobby by an interest group on a particular budget proposal, but a strategic and planned communication campaign that takes into account all of the stakeholders. Perhaps it's because I started my local government career as a humble press officer, but I do think leaders in local government – political and managerial – should spend more time thinking about how we get across our message on the cuts, and try to shape the debate in our localities in a way which at least gives us a fighting chance of being seen as doing our best in a very challenging set of circumstances. We've tried to do this in Bolton, and while not everything has worked, I do believe the time and effort we have spent planning and delivering our message on saving money has made this easier both within the council and in the wider community. Very little of what we have done or plan to do is the famous ‘rocket science', or any more than what other councils will instinctively think about. However, my contention is that this needs to be part of the ‘top team's' plan for how to deliver the cuts. So, what advice would I give council leaders, and particularly chief executives, in preparing to communicate the cuts? The key elements would be: lead from the front. People, whether it is the public or staff, want to hear the message from the top. Ducking the delivery of bad news is not an option, and will only generate suspicion or undermine your credibility. Generating trust in the most difficult of times is key. Staff, in particular, want to hear from the chief executive, and not feel the media message is more important than the message to them be clear about your message and the different audiences you need to communicate with. Although the message may have different levels of complexity for different groups – fellow public sector leaders and local business leaders will understand the detail of the challenge better than the general public – the heart of whatever your message is needs to be the same for everyone, otherwise you and they will be confused and there is a risk that someone thinks you have got something to hide plan and structure the dissemination of the message with military precision. A clear and effective message can backfire if the staff affected hear about it via the pages of the local newspaper rather than from the organisation. The same goes for those members not part of the leadership. Get this wrong, and you will find yourself dealing with process stories about ‘right-hands and left-hands' rather than the issues themselves invest time with the local media, both in the generalities and the specifics. Local journalists and even editors are incredibly busy people, and many do not understand local government. Try to improve their general understanding of your budget in a straightforward way – how much is spent on adult social care, for example – and how many competing priorities you have to juggle. In Bolton, we have briefed the press on each major budget reduction for 2011/12, and while the coverage hasn't always been what we had hoped for, it has been accurate and much better than if we had just let it happen to us get your retaliation in first. The media is obsessed with politicians' expenses and senior management pay. Explain how the pain is to be shared' and give examples where you can show how senior management is part of the budget cuts. If I've said: ‘We have saved more than £1m in top management cost over the past 12 months', I've said it a thousand times. Communicating the cuts will never be easy, especially given the relentless bashing public servants and politicians get, but without a serious plan and a focused strategy on reaching out to the press, public and our staff, it will make a difficult job impossible. Sean Harriss is chief executive of Bolton MBC and has a background in communications. He is speaking at a masterclass at SOLACE conference in Cardiff next week, on ‘Communicating through the cuts', alongside David Holdstock, a head of corporate communications at Hillingdon LBC who is also president of LGComms. Readers can sign up for the masterclass special offer at the SOLACE conference on www.solace.org.uk They don't have to be a SOLACE member or be attending the entire conference.

Title

WHITEHALL

How do we communicate the cuts?

SUBSCRIBE TO CONTINUE READING