By Nick Henegan, Head of Communications, Hertfordshire County Council
As a relatively new joiner to the world of local government communications it is always a pleasure to meet colleagues working in our sector for the first time and hear about the innovative and impactful work being done to support communities.
So I was delighted to welcome fellow professionals from across the East of England to Hertfordshire County Council for last week’s LGcomms Regional Network meeting.
We heard how Cambridgeshire, Central Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire managed competing priorities to keep residents and stakeholders informed during recent flooding; how Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority has transformed its strategic communications and engagement offer to enable them to work in partnership to achieve their priorities; and how the challenges emerging from AI-driven mis and disinformation will only become more pressing.
I came away from the session – which came at the end of another hectic week – inspired and energised. Here are my top three take aways:
Prepare for the unexpected
Crises like flooding can happen anywhere, even when they haven’t before. Here in Hertfordshire we recently saw some communities affected by flooding for the first time and it was clear from presentations at the event that we were not the only ones facing new challenges. Thankfully we have colleagues who have been facing these issues for a long time and a happy to share their expertise. Please check out York City Council’s excellent flooding toolkit and borrow with pride.
Get a seat at the top table
Comms professionals can have the biggest impact when we’re sat at the top table with senior leaders. As strategic partners helping to shape our organisations’ vision and plan we can ensure communications is embedded as a proper delivery arm rather than an afterthought. We can directly contribute to organisational priorities through our campaigns. And most important of all our teams are clear on a shared sense of purpose and can evidence the value they add.
We could talk for hours
Us communicators love a natter and we could have filled three days with the questions and conversations coming out of the event rather than three hours. The final session of the day gave everyone the opportunity to reflect on and share the issues that are keeping them awake at night to inform the agenda for future LG Comms sessions. From opportunities to generate income through communications to the need to convincingly demonstrate local government is offering value for money to the vital role of internal communications in an ever-changing sector it was clear the next gathering to share and learn from each other will be just as powerful as this one.