Cultural Change

In order to embrace the changes enabled by technology Local Authorities need to adapt themselves.

Local Authorities must learn how to talk with citizens, rather than to them, and understand how to communicate with one voice rather than talk with one mouth.  This is also true of learning to work with citizens and businesses, and understanding how to tap into networks rather than just interacting with the existing aggregators of large organisations and pressure groups.

These new skills will be required widely throughout a Local Authority rather than being concentrated or siloed into specific functions of the Council.

Skills development

New technology means new ways of thinking and working and new skills will be needed

The August 2010 Socitm Insight briefing on Digital Inclusion contains the following paragraph:

“Finally, public sector workers must have a good understanding of what technology is able to do, and are not digitally excluded themselves. We cannot emphasise too strongly how investment in this area pays back, not only in developing digital capability in the community, but in exploiting technology successfully to deliver services at lower cost.”

To support this, a programme of workshops should be undertaken to educate key staff members and to furnish them with tools and knowledge to disseminate the skills to their teams and throughout the organisation.

Engagement

Allowing and encouraging the customers involvement in all aspects of council business.

The biggest anticipated shift in the way all organisations operate over next few years is the way that they relate to their customers.  Rather than just serving their customers, organisations are going to be working with them. Staff will need to understand:

• that networks of people have become an important resource
• that personability and responsiveness can disarm and convert a critic
• their own limitations to effect change
• how to deal with abusive or persistently disruptive people (tools and processes must be available)
• how to mobilise and collaborate with the public

Institutional voice

Defining the language, tone and manner that staff should use in written online communications with customers.

A council must be authoritative yet approachable, regulatory yet flexible, definitive yet collaborative.  These conflicts in how council staff communicate with staff are likely to be resolved by having more than one tone in their written and spoken communications.

At least the following three ‘institutional voices’ should be developed and defined:

• personal and personable
• authoritative
• official

Communication

Staff will need to be trained in communicating effectively with customers.

Communicating with the public should no longer be mediated only by a Communications Team trained in marketing communication techniques and processes.  Communicating with the public should instead be more widely distributed around the organisation.

As well as providing more staff with the skills and tools to engage customers in conversations and understanding of the benefits and pitfalls of conversing publicly, staff must also be given confidence that they will be supported if mistakes are made.

Capacity building

 

The new role of the council will require new knowledge in order to make good decisions

In order to build the capacity within the local authority to make good decisions about the use of the web you should:

• understand the areas of knowledge identified in this strategy
• identify suitable individuals and teams to take responsibility for gathering and disseminating knowledge
• allocate time to those people to allow them to:
  • identify and join the networks that best hold the required knowledge
  • absorb that knowledge
  • institutionalise that knowledge through distillation, documentation and dissemination