Enhancing public sector communications March 2009 Meredith Barker Public Sector Relationship Manager, Archives NZ

Archives New Zealand – Relationship Management Strategy Why do we need a strategy? the purpose of this work is to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones with the public sector to raise awareness of the work Archives New Zealand does to make sure we’re using the right tools to get our messages out there. feedback from stakeholders says we’re communicating well but we want to do better

What’s the process? Workshops with internal and external stakeholders Stocktake of communications to date: – what has worked and what hasn’t both internally and externally - evaluated who we’re talking, to how often, and whether our messages are being received - new target audiences

What does it mean for the public sector? Stronger relationships between Archives New Zealand and its public sector stakeholders through: - targeted and timely communications - building relationships across organisations (information managers, CIOs, chief executives etc) A whole-of-organisation view to get messages across – not only bottom up but also top down Greater support in selling messages across organisations The relationship management strategy is not a golden ticket, we’re relying on you to communicate relevant information messages within your own organisations.

‘Selling’ messages within your own organisation The greatest threat to many projects is a failure to communicate No matter what our profession, we must be able to communicate effectively to succeed

Basic communication planning Keep it simple and stick to the basics: - purpose: why am I doing this? - objectives: what do I want to achieve? - key messages: what do I need to say - audience: who do I need to say it to? - strategy: how will I achieve my objectives - communication tools: how will I communicate this to my audience - evaluation: what worked? What can I do better next time.

What’s the point - defining the purpose consider why you need to communicate something take a step back and ask stupid questions what would happen if you didn’t communicate your message? what are you going to gain by telling people about the issue?

Objectives bottom line: what do I want to achieve? keep your objectives simple and achievable – no more than three or four don’t set unrealistic goals

Audiences know your organisation define exactly who you need to communicate with internal or external audience (or both) identify your allies and your enemies

Key messages what do you need to say? keep messages simple, get rid of the jargon put them in a context that people can understand think about how they will be communicated internally vs externally put your messages in context for your audience, use real life examples

The Strategy The ‘how’ – how you communicate, what, when Methods for getting your messages across, intranet, website, face-to-face, Timing is everything. Think about other factors, what else is happening in the organisation and whether it’s the best time to communicate Sell the benefits of action vs inaction Don’t reinvent the wheel - if it’s been done before and worked, stick to it! talk to other departments who have done similar projects, find out what worked for them

Communication tools Keep them simple (for your sake) Getting the right information to the right people at the right time and in a useful format is just as important as developing the information in the first place Important considerations include: - using technology to enhance information distribution - formal and informal methods for distributing information – face-to-face meeting, bulk distribution, intranet, website.

Identifying risks Identify potential risks early Agree how risks will be managed and how you will mitigate them Project risks vs organisational risks

Evaluation Pass or fail An important tool not only for measuring success but identifying project failures Use it as a learning opportunity