Across the country, local government is all under the same strain – to save money and improve services. Some of the action taken has seen traditional salami slicing and others have taken a more radical approach. And as a result more councils are deciding to commission services, moving away from traditional provision for obvious reasons.
In Staffordshire, we’re putting in place a new operating model - one which is focussed on commissioning the right service in the right place at the right time. So what are the implications for communications? Everyone knows higher resident satisfaction directly links to feeling informed. Knowing what services are on offer, what the council is doing for me and making sure you’re giving me value for money are the reasons quoted when residents say what helps them to feel informed.
So what does being a commissioner of services mean for local authority communications teams when it’s a challenge keeping residents informed of services when we’re actually providing them? It becomes even more tricky when reputationally things go wrong - you can be sure the local authority gets recognition then.
For marketing services especially it can be a showstopper. And naturally as a democratic organisation, it goes without saying that politicians have strong views on this. Do we become a hard edge enforcer of branding, who threatens to withdraw funding if the local authority doesn’t get recognition or is that a step too far? The jury’s still out here but one thing is for sure it’s a debate that will continue to rage in 2012 and beyond.
Comments
Very topical - I'm currently drafting a paper for my directors and members on the future of our brand. Some are thinking it may be irrelevant now as we're entering a world of more partnerships and outsourcing. My argument is that it's actually now more important than ever that our role is clearly understood, whether as a direct deliverer or a partner or commissioner.
At the end of the day, the public will still be paying something called 'Council Tax' and need to know what we (and others) are doing to deliver value for that.
One thing I'm absolutely determined to prevent is generation of new partnership / service logos as that will muddy the waters further whilst visibly wasting money too. Instead, I'm trying to get people to focus their attention on shared actions and values in pursuit of a common vision - which here is 'improving the quality of life for the people of Poole'.