Trust in your local community
Bank rescues and banker bonuses; politicians and their expenses; misleading summer weather forecasts; capitalism - there has been no let up in the break down of trust between the public and accepted authority figures and ideas.
Yet at the same time, the public ‘voice’ has never been so influential and its scrutiny so pervasive. One mistake made in the public eye and people rapidly notice and judge you. The immediacies of Twitter and Facebook mean that an issue that could have been contained within a region or with an individual is now accessible to the world. They influence reporting in the media and can galvanise support behind a campaign highly effectively.
The risk of reputations becoming tarnished by a single event is now a real threat. Just take a look at United Airlines. After singer Dave Carroll suffered another bout of damaged ‘luggage’, he penned a song United Breaks Guitars which became a YouTube hit worldwide – and has sent messages of poor customer service bouncing around the globe.
The decline in deference to the traditional organs of power versus individuals getting a louder voice is not a new phenomena, particularly to those working at the sharp end of community relations. In sectors such as the built environment, local engagement is often absolutely essential to gaining the relevant planning permission and then keeping the community onside during the disruption of a construction phase.
Yet almost inevitably, the changing economic conditions have led some companies to consider cutting back on their community programmes as they are still not seen as mission critical. But is this really wise?
Our view is to slash now is pretty dumb! What organisations need at the community level is to develop smarter engagement strategies and invest for the future where the views of the individual will count more and more both in terms of your business day to day and your overall corporate reputation.
So what will those smarter engagement strategies look like?
First, the scattergun approach is going to have to go to be replaced by segmentation down to a much finer level of granularity. Different stakeholders need different things.
Secondly, we see an increasing desire to get personal contact. Consumers, residents, communities, local officials, are all wising up to the corporate jargon. A more human face is needed.
Thirdly, while sectors such as infrastructure, building and development have worked on their engagement, we believe that other industry groups may need to look local more than ever before. Take the finance industry: with the public’s perception at an all time low – and as we all now own a stake in banks through government bailouts, - they should be seeking to build relationships, reputations and engage with the local communities they impact upon. As Ruth Sunderland, Business Editor of The Observer said recently; “The financial industry is going to have to start rebuilding its relationships with the public and the media. Lack of trust is an issue, as is the fact that many financial institutions have a culture of ignoring the wider audiences, concentrating on a narrow financial ghetto.”
In the end, we believe that those companies who start identifying and communicating individually to local stakeholders will have a major advantage over those who keep ploughing the same old ‘corporate’ furrow. The zeitgeist is with you. Add into that rapid development of new social media, ‘power to the people’ is only going to grow. There is nowhere for organisation’s to escape. Think smart, engage, using all forms of traditional and digital media available to you and you will see tangible benefits over those who are still in the same spot, with their heads in the sand.
