Lessons for the comms team

Senior Stuff journalist Andrea Vance recently wrote an insightful piece entitled “Why ‘have your say’ exercises are meaningless”.  It was about a comms and engagement initiative run by Wellington City Council.
 
As a comms and PR professional I was immediately interested because it dealt with the kind of work we do frequently for clients – stakeholder engagement.
 
And it offered some useful lessons for anyone who has to ‘engage’ with ‘stakeholders’ - including industry associations consulting with members - to get feedback or comment on an initiative that might affect them.
 
According to Vance, the 80 page (!!!) consultation document included ‘strategy objectives (that) are pleasantly vague … but entirely lacking in practical information …’.
 
She says ‘the pertinent information for busy people, juggling households, families, careers and an already unreliable waste collection service doesn’t come until page 61.’
 
Obviously feeling deflated by the whole affair, she goes on to say ‘The very words stakeholder engagement make me want to put a stake in my eye.’
 
And, here’s the lesson, ‘Before engaging with the public, organisations need to be clear and honest about what they are trying to accomplish.’
 
Good tips.
 
People are busy, they’re focussed on their own issues (not yours), they want timely, pertinent information that’s relevant to them.  They don’t want to wade thru’ reams of PR spin to get at it.  And they need a simple, easy-to-use way of giving you feedback.
 
And, most importantly, they want to know they’ve been listened to, and that the time they’ve invested in reading/viewing your material and  responding to your consultation hasn’t been wasted.
 
So, the next time you need to engage members on an issue, think about what your comms and engagement process looks like from their standpoint.
 
Will it excite valuable feedback and insights?  Or will it motivate use of the delete button?
 
Take some of Andrea’s lessons to heart.