Time to start mining
Now that you’ve given some thought as to what your communication goals and strategies are, and you have a solid list of tools to help you share your information, you’re ready to start panning for gold. What do I mean? You are sitting on a gold mine of information. Go meet with fellow employees, your agency’s departments and divisions, and start talking to coworkers about their jobs.
Whether you are working for a fire district, a school district, local government, or a non-profit, you have interesting stories to share with the public. Your biggest hurdle, though, will likely be convincing your coworkers that the public is interested in what your agency is doing.
Remember the scene in the Wizard of Oz, when Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal the true great and powerful wizard? Your agency is that great and powerful wizard - mysterious, intimidating, maybe even reclusive. But when the curtain is pulled back, you allow people to see the true inner workings of the machinery, so to speak. And when the curtain is pulled back, we see that the wizard is just a human with a story and a heart. Let your residents see behind the curtain of your agency and show them the humans working for the betterment of your community - humans with hearts.
So set up a time to meet with people within your agency. Ask people to talk about what they do and why they do it. Learn about the projects they are working on and what successes they have achieved in their area of work for your agency. And this is the most important part - listen. Listen to what they are saying and even what they aren’t saying. People typically don’t like talking about themselves, but they do like talking about their contributions to a bigger project or goal; they like talking about their team. Approach them not through the lens of a coworker but through the lens of a constituent. What would the public find interesting about what your agency is working on.
One of my favorite examples is a large road project the county completed a few years ago. I had the opportunity to learn and see how a road is actually built. Now, perhaps at first you might think they just put down some concrete, stripe it and you’re good to go, but have you heard of Barney bars? I don’t know if that is the actual name of these metal bars, but they are purple, they go into the big paving machine and are dropped into the concrete as it is poured to strengthen the road. Who knew?
Now, do I need a dissertation on Barney bars? No. But a short newsletter article or social media post lets me 1) see what was behind the curtain of the detour sign, and 2) gives me a tidbit of information about how the road was being built. Kind of cool.
“But we’re not building a road,” you say. No, but you are doing other things. Things your staff takes for granted, but the public may be curious about. Who does oil changes for firetrucks? Is that a thing (I assume it is)? What goes on in a school the week before it opens to prepare for a new school year? Do your coworkers participate in some kind of training to help them with their job? That’s interesting. Is one of your departments working on a project that needs public input? Share that info, and help get the word out. Has your team won an award for some initiative or work they do? Share that. Brag on your team and the work they do. It builds morale internally and helps increase awareness and understanding of your agency externally.
Give it a try. Ask some questions. Listen to conversations. Think like a constituent who doesn’t really know what you do, and share the info in a short social media post, a news release, a newsletter, a radio interview…whatever - just get it out there. Pull that curtain back and show the world how your machine really works.
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