Weathering the reputation storm

Throughout 2010 and 2011, local government sustained a prolonged aerial PR bombardment from many quarters which led many local government communicators to feel under siege. Town hall tali-bin snoopers, fat cat pay, tales of health and safety excess – the reputation of local authorities took a fearsome pounding.

The findings of the latest research on the reputation of local government from LGinsight/Populus, released at the LGComms conference in Birmingham, are therefore all the more heartening. The headline is that the reputation of local government is robust, despite what is often held to be a prevailing mood of public cynicism about councils. In May 2012, seven in ten (70%) Britons say they are satisfied with the way their council is running things – the same proportion we saw back in October 2010 when this series of polling started (69%). Remember, this is at the same time as YouGov show that approval of what the Government is doing has halved from 42% to 24% from May 2010 to now, and disapproval has increased from 22% to 62%.

So what are councils doing right? The basics, thankfully. Satisfaction with street cleansing has gone from 67% to 73% between January 2011 and now and refuse collection satisfaction has gone from 73% to 85% over the same period (and this from a slump in January 2011 when snow and ice hit services.)

Before mild euphoria sets in, there is however a warning sign ahead of this winter. Only 40% of the public believe the standards of our roads are satisfactory and pavements aren’t doing much better at 52%. Money spent on fixing potholes will continue to be money well spent.

On a general note, the media reporting of councils appears more benign. The proportion of those who believe media coverage of their council is positive or neutral has gone from 61% to 71% in just under a year. Why might this be? One reasonable assumption is that the candid discussions over cuts to council services played out in local newspapers, radio stations and television bulletins across the land have raised awareness of the full range of things that a council actually does. In a pre-credit crunch era, the public and local journalists might have been unaware that councils actually provided some of these services.

Local government communicators, who in many authorities have led consultation and engagement with residents over the future of services, might reasonably claim some credit for this. From October 2010 to June 2011 there was a fall in resident perceptions that local councils took account of residents’ views when making decisions (from 47% to 40%). That has now edged back up to 45%. This is an encouraging sign that residents feel they are being listened to, although there is much more to do.

The LGinsight/Populus poll underlines some eternal truths about reputation and how we maintain it. Reputation is underpinned by three things: keeping people informed; focusing on value for money; and on getting core service delivery right.

The public seem to have ignored some of the wilder excesses of council-bashing in the media and are giving us a considered hearing. They generally believe we do a good job.

All more important, then, that we seize on this residual goodwill to engage, explain - and above all deliver.

Better stories needed for new councils

The hustings are over, the results are in – and across the country, newly elected council administrations are waking up to the reality of being in office.

For local authority communicators, the challenges are more acute than ever. We live in an era in which public cynicism about local authority decision making is widespread and councils need to justify every penny of expenditure.

For communications heads across the country, the ‘morning after the election night before’ conversation with your new leader is a simple one. It covers the following three points.

First, Congratulations. Second, what do you want to be famous for? And third, how are you going to convey what you stand for in a form residents believe?

Question two is more immediate where your council has changed political colour and what the administration stands for is about to undergo a sea change.

But the task for all heads of communications is similar, even if there is no change at the top. And it’s also a question that Chief Executives need to address directly to retain political and public confidence. The priority is to establish what the story of the new administration is. In essence, what do you want to be famous for? Could you explain it in ten words or less to someone in the pub?

The answer does not lie in some vapid ‘mission statement’ but in a clear and succinct articulation of how you will improve the lives of residents and speak to their concerns. Round the country there are some powerful stories from Oldham and Lambeth’s co-operative council approach to “love Hackney” but there are also too many shocking, dull and incoherent ‘corporate visions’.

In Westminster, our approach is “Better City, Better Lives” – a programme to encourage jobs and business while at the same time offering ladders of opportunity through training and work with families to improve the lot of all. This forms the basis of our corporate narrative. It is what we stand for.

The delivery of this narrative needs to be conveyed through audience-focused campaigns which explain your story and provide tangible evidence of it at work.  The old maxim of the property world is that “people buy with their eyes”, and this is true of your residents’ experience of the council. Their every encounter with the council – from doorstep collections to the state of streets and schools – informs how they feel. There is absolutely no point in engaging in fruitless SoS (sending out stuff) communications claiming all is going swimmingly if that clashes with residents’ experience.

The much-touted phrase “doing more for less” now sounds a jaded refrain. With budgets squeezed, councils must show they are concentrating on core value-for-money services and activities which demonstrate they are on the side of residents. That, at the end of the day, is something we should all want to be famous for.