Thursday, June 26, 2014 why I love local government comms
Over the past few weeks and months, there has been an emerging trend in local government communications – this trend has seen a number of really, really good people leave the sector and go onto other very impressive things...
by GUEST EDITOR Emma Rodgers 
Now that has probably been a brilliant thing for those people individually but it got me thinking. What do we do when all the good people are gone? How do we attract new talent into local government communications at one of the most challenging times in it’s history? I’m not sure yet of the answer and it would be arrogant of me to think that I could come up with that solution alone. What I did decide though is that I would write down my top five reasons why I believe local government communications is a good place to be and here’s that list. I’m hoping it will spark some views and debate.
We make a difference
Ultimately whether we’re digital, media, marketing or any other specialism, our work makes a difference to people’s lives on a daily basis. It could be recruiting foster carers, updating people on where they can access services, helping to change behaviour or attracting investment that will bring more local jobs. Knowing this gives me a real sense of purpose and motivates me to get up in a morning. And I know I’m not alone in that. Generally most people who work in the public sector are motivated by these values. A friend of mine recently left employment at a council to work in a pr agency. She left after just a few weeks saying she couldn’t buy into what she was doing. That speaks volumes to me.
Change is also an opportunity
So we’re in or on the cusp of some of the biggest changes the sector has ever seen since its inception in the 1940s. Budgets are being slashed, people are being squeezed we’re having to reconsider the new boundaries for the public services. It’s hard, really hard. But….. at the same time, it also provides us with a real chance to effect change for the better and influence how services can look in the future. As the ones who reflect back the voice of the people to the organisation, we can be really directing the future and playing a bigger part than ever in how we do public services in the 21st Century. We can bring new ideas, innovation and solutions for what’s ahead.
We get to hold the mirror up
When I’m asked by people what I do, responses to this have included ‘so you’re the one who communicates that old people’s homes are closing down.’ This sadly is a reflection of the tough times and major changes we’re going through in the sector. But I do take solace from the fact that through what I do, I get to hold the mirror up. My colleagues and I are in a unique position that means we can act as the moral conscience for the organisation – we shine the light where others often are reluctant to go. We are really clear about the impact decisions could have on people and we can speak up for those who can’t necessarily do it for themselves. And for me that’s important.
Local government comms people are ace and we share
One of the most amazing benefits of working in local government comms is the people. Up and down the country, there are others who will have faced the same challenges you have and who are more than willing to share this with you. That’s unique. Not many other sectors would do this and without a doubt if you’re a commercial sector, this wouldn’t happen. My cousin is high up in marketing for a major global consumer company. I asked if I could pick her brain or go and see what was going on. She was clear that it wasn’t allowed. Meanwhile through the brilliant learning networks that are out there for local government, people are more than happy to share. Just one of the many practical examples of this for me was where a question asked for me on twitter by Comms2point0 ended up saving the local authority I worked for £4,000. That just wouldn’t happen elsewhere. Even better there is an awesome movement of innovation and change in local government comms and digital where ideas and new ways of doing comms better are always being shared. Take Localgovcamp last weekend and Commscamp 14 happening in July. Free to attend unconferences where good things stem from. Again that is blooming unique and not something to be sniffed at.
No day is ever the same and you get to try new things
This to me is one of the best things about local government. In previous comms lives, I used to go on cruises or spend time in Mexico and that was my job but heck after a while it was predictable and made me feel soulless. In local government [nearly 10 years on], I can still safely say that no day is ever the same and that keeps me interested and challenged. And for me and others I’ve had great opportunities working in local government going from internal communications to corporate communications to marketing to media to social media. The scope and breadth of what you do is pretty special. You forgot that though. It was only when a new colleague after listening to a conversation about the impact of a major redesign of services that involved staff, partners, MPs, media and residents said to me ‘wow, it’s unbelievable the role comms plays’ that it reminded me of that.
What do you think?
There are other reasons and of course this is down to my own experience. I deliberately haven’t gone into the downsides here but I would really love to hear other people’s reasons as to why they think local government or public sector comms is a good place to be.
I love what UK Government Communications are doing to attract new blood into the sector but I’d also love to hear from others on their thoughts for how we go about attracting fresh talent into comms in Local Government.
Tweet me @Emma Rodgers
Emma Rodgers is Strategic Manager [Communications and Marketing] at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, where they will be shortly recruiting for new communications and digital posts in the coming weeks. Watch @comms2point0 for more details.
pic via Wikipedia Commons
Reader Comments (10)
Great post :)
One way to attract new people could be bringing people in for work experience - we've had a few students and graduates recently spend some time in our Comms team at Maidstone, and the response has always been "I can't believe how much you do, or how much the council does - it's so interesting!"
It might not be as glamorous as some agency or private sector work, but the variety and the "making a difference" elements really make it for me!
Hey Louise. Thanks for the feedback & idea. Much appreciated. I think I meant that it was more of a problem for the sector than our team specifically. Most people don't thibk of local government communications as a career choice & we need to change that in my view.
Thanks again.
Hi Emma, sorry, that was what I meant too - I just re-read my reply and realised that wasn't clear! To elaborate, I wonder if there's more to be done when people are at uni or schools encouraging them to think about spending time with local government comms teams during holidays, rather than going straight for the big agencies and so on when looking for their work experience. Perhaps school/college/uni leavers on interested in public relations, marketing, digital and so on automatically go for organisations with those things in the title, or big private sector companies, as I'm not sure people always realise there are communications departments in local government unless they actually sit down and think about it! It's not unusual to hear people thinking councils only deal with bins, roads and schools, so it's perhaps not surprising that people don't think of comms in a local government context - that's definitely the kind of feedback we've had from our work experience students.
Great piece Emma - I will share it. I think all comms people should read it when we feel -put upon' or 'down' - Think councillors should read it too!
Thanks Louise. Agreed on all points. If I am honest I never knew what Local government was at that age never mind knew they had comms departments. I also had my head turned by what I thought was more glamorous pr. Shallow huh. It took me a while to find my value set ....but since I have, I really rate it & know I couldn't go back to the type of comms I did before. I was probably more ignorant than a lot of folk but not rare. I think a lot of students don't know what local government is about. I totally agree it would be an ideal opportunity for us to get to students first. : )
Thanks Mark. That is really good to hear. Given some of the truly rubbish jobs I have had I sometimes used the phrase about some (a minority I am pleased to say) local government workers (not comms either) that they did't know they were born. In my view there is still a lot to be said for working in Local gov & local gov comms so I prefer to try & think of the good things.
Great post, Emma. I left local government recently to set-up comms2point0 as a full-time operation. I left so I could do more in local government and the rest of the public sector. What surprised me at localgovcamp recently was someone greeting me with the words: "Ah, Dan, how is the dark side?"
I guessed - successfully - that he meant how was the private sector which effectively I am and I was rather taken aback as I don't feel inherently private sector although I am thinking slightly differently.
The answer to my own question is that there probably needs to be more blurring of boundaries and there will be as outsourcing takes place and the comms comes either from partners or via partners. And as capacity is cut and there are fewer troops on the ground it'll make sense to have some external expertise to fall back on where in the old days you would have had a body, a pension and a desk.
Good post, Emma.
Can't believe I missed this post - after the last few weeks for me it feels particularly timely and relevant! As with Dan, I left local government so that (somewhat counter-intuitively) I could do more for the sector. As more people leave local government for the private or voluntary and community sectors, and inversely as more people then return to local government, I feel the 'them vs us' divide will become an issue from a bygone age, when such distinctions mattered.
Yes, there are some companies which are only in it to make as much money from local government as possible, but increasingly companies are bringing together people who really want to contribute to the public sector and letting them do this across geographic borders. There is little opportunity to do this from within local government so you are forced to look elsewhere to do so.
That being said, I don't feel any less a public servant, even if technically I am no longer one. I still work exclusively to improve the lot of local authorities and love working with people who, like you, care passionately about their jobs and making a difference. I love all your reasons for loving your job, and hope you still love it whoever employs you!
Hey Dan
Belated repsonse to your post. Thanks so much for the comments. Agreed on your points. I'm not hung up on who does what as it's a completely changing landscape and there is going to be less and less of us to do it. It's more about how we make it work and being able to attract people into the sector is going to be critical to that. As above, I for one believe there are a hell of a lot of brilliant reasons to work for local government and want others outside of the sector to feel that too.
To me it doesn't matter whether you're private sector, 3rd sector or whatever - it's about working together in the best way with ideas, innovation and sharing. I think it's also critical we don't get too inward looking and working with people like you who are on the outside looking in really help with that.
Em
Hey Glen
Thanks for your comments. Glad you spotted the post. It's obviously one that you're passionate about.
I was sat at Commscamp14 thinking about exactly what you say and why oh why in local government we don't work together more. To me it's mad but we are so missing a trick that we don't share things in a better way when we so easily could. Websites, campaigns, advice, support, whatever it may be.
I'm not sure if it's because organisations are too siloed to think more widely, whether it's funding, egos, politics or it simply being too hard to find a way through. Whatever the reason we need to do more of it and as mentioned above to Dan, we'll only benefit in my view by spreading it more widely than just this sector and by attracting talented people to work in local gov.
Thanks for your feedback. Hope things are good.
Em