public administration communication

ian FarroW Managing Director of Westco

SiMon joneS Director of Communications, Westco

The international PRO PR Conference has the mission of connecting experts who are part of the public relations industry, but also those who are part of the integrated communication process. PRO PR will be held this year from May 4 th to May 7 th at Jezero Hotel, Plitvice Lakes, Croatia. Among the participants of the conference are Ian Farrow, Managing Director of Westco and Simon Jones, Director of Communications, Westco. Westco is a UK-based agency and training provider that specialises in public service communications and research.

What should transparent public administration communication look like?

Transparency in public administration is often cited as one of the most important elements of building trust and reputation. When transparency is removed or undermined, then the connection between public bodies and the people that they represent becomes weaker.

Yet, what do we mean by transparency and, as communicators, what kind of things do we need to do or think about to make our organisations more transparent?

In one sense transparency in public administration is about making sure that the public are sufficiently engaged in decision-making. Often, this has to start before any decisions are made. Our role is to ensure that people are aware of the issues that are being discussed and have had the chance to input into the decisions that are being taken. This is particularly important for certain groups of ‘stakeholders’ who are particularly impacted or affected, or who have a vested interest.

There are plenty of examples of leaders of Governments and public bodies which have had to abandon policies because people have not been sufficiently engaged, or because the scale of opposition has been underestimated.

That is why our job, as communicators, is so important. Our job isn’t just to publicise new policies, our job is to ensure that all of the reputational issues have been considered before new policies have been announced. For this to happen, the organisations that we work need to value the importance of strategic communications as opposed to tactical. In other words, to ensure that communications is properly planned and is insight-led.

As communicators we need to have sufficient influence within our organisations to enable us to provide effective challenge. Our influence grows if we are able to provide intelligence to back-up our argument. For example, by analysing what people are saying on social media or by suggesting that focus groups are carried out to assess likely perceptions.

At its core, communications in public administration should act like a radar to constantly be on the alert for reputational threats while making sure that mitigations are put in place for the different scenarios that might occur. Arguably the most effective public administrations or Governments are those which place strategic communications at the heart of decision-making.

For leaders, transparency is also about being clear what is and isn’t working. The public are much more forgiving about mistakes if leaders own up to mistakes and are clear about the remedies that are being put in place. There are lots of examples of leaders who have had to resign because of attempts to somehow coverup what has occurred.

There is also another important role that communicators play. That is to ensure that the public can easily connect with their services and that information is accessible and clear. After all there is nothing more frustrating than being at a bus or train stop and not knowing if the bus or train will ever arrive.

Clear communication is also essential. The language used should be simple and jargon-free to ensure that everyone can understand it. Timeliness is often critical, particularly when it comes to communicating changes in public services, such as opening times.

The need for transparency underlines is the critical role that effective communication plays in effective public administration. It shows why, as a profession and, as individuals, we can never afford to stand still and must constantly look to learn, improve, and evolve.

Structure And Content

It could be said that the purpose of public administration communications is to connect people with government bodies that make decisions in their name.

To do this effectively communications must be capable of building confidence and trust of citizens. For Government and public bodies, trust is a license to operate. Remove it and you erode their ability to effectively operate.

Public service communications is littered with perennial challenges and constraints, along with new challenges that have emerged with changes in society.

The book ‘100 Years of Government Communications’ by AZ McKenna is an excellent journey through the history of the UK’s Government public service communications and outlines many examples.

The first is providing truthful and transparent communications. Winston Churchill’s famous war time phrase that ‘truth was so precious she should be attended by a bodyguard of lies’ may have been apt during world conflagration, but people will always see through propaganda.

It could be argued that the more extreme falsehoods during the Great War, such as the infamous Kadaververwentungsanstalt – a German factory where corpses were supposedly turned into soap – only ended up undermining trust in government tion seen as competent and ethical; government is viewed as unethical and incompetent. Business is under pressure to step into the void left by government.”

However, the challenge for public service communications is that it must recognise this polarisation and speak to ‘tribes’ that hold very different beliefs and are becoming further entrenched fuelled by social media. Communications leaders need to be close to and understand policy, but they must also speak truth to power seen through the prism of an understanding of the society that they serve.

Other challenges include the need mindset of simply ‘sending out stuff’ and hoping for the best. communications. Could this have been partly responsible for senior mandarins in the Second World War viewing rumours of Nazi death camps as mere propaganda? Public service communications, in the words of Alex Aiken, then Executive Director of Government Communications, must be an enduring goal of delivering “truth well told” to the public.

There is a clear difference between the SOS model (‘sending out stuff’) compared with a planned and coordinated model, based on the use of insight and data. The most effective communication strategy is one that fully understands the problem we are trying to solve, understands what is most likely to influence and what channels to use.

The knowledge gap in public administration and sometimes, amongst ourselves ,is failing to appreciate the level of sophistication that is needed. Think about many of our modern challenges whether it is tackling vaccine hesitancy, helping people to deal with the cost of living pressures or combatting climate change. They all require a sophisticated communications and engagement approach that is just as much about data and psychology as it is about creativity.

Public service communications must not be politicised. Experienced communications leaders need political nous to tread this line carefully. The issue of politicised UK government communications dominated the early 2000s, particularly against the back-drop of the Iraq War. This led to Sir Bob Phillis conducting a review in 2003 which set out seven principles that should underpin government communications which includes (1) Openness, not secrecy; (2) direct, unmediated communication to the public; (3) genuine engagement on the formation of policy: (4) positive presentation not ‘spin’; (5) greater use of communication channels, not just relying on newspapers or broadcasters; (6) co-ordination across government departments to avoid conflicting or duplicated messages and (7) reinforcement of the notion that the Civil Service is politically neutral.

These challenges in the battle for trust are as pertinent today as they were 20 years ago. Trust in government had a bounce during the pandemic as people relied on direct intervention during the crisis. This was however short lived. As the Edleman Trust barometer 2023 points out “Business is now the sole institu- for communications leaders to get to grips with data and its use in marketing. During the second world war the Ministry of Information set up the Home Intelligence Division (HID) which sent out researchers to compile qualitative insight from conversations across the country. Due to lack of transparency the HID became known as “Coopers Snoopers” but was basically the forerunner for focus groups and data analytics working together to better enable effective public service communications. is there a lack of education in the field of public administration employees and should politicians knoW more about public relations?

Communications leaders need to learn coding, how to develop algorithms, how to use data for predictive analytics and be ready for the tsunami of Artificial Intelligence products landing on the desks as I write. The time to learn this was yesterday!

There is a battle in public administration, particularly at a local level, to ensure that sufficient resources are in place for effective public relations.

In part, this may be because there is a lack of education about what constitutes effective communications.

The importance of our role can often be undervalued by public administration leaders who think our job is to simply relay information in the form of press releases or social media posts. That, in turn, can breed complacency on our part as we fall into a

For public administration leaders they need to be ready to invest in growing our capabilities because the most effective public bodies are ones that understand and can harness the power of strategic communications by ensuring that the right resources and skills are in place.

Equally, the same can be said for politicians. History has shown that there is a direct correlation between effective leadership and effective communication. The very first president of the United States, George Washington understood this. He had a very clear vision and narrative and was able to bring people with him through his ability to impart that vision.

The same can be said for Barack Obama. His speeches, both as a presidential candidate and as President of the United States, were noted for their clarity, passion, and eloquence. His communication skills were seen as critical in mobilising support for his policies, such as the Affordable Care Act.

At a local public administration level, it is just as important to develop an effective communication style. For many this does not come naturally which is why it is so important to have an effective communication team around that leader to help build skills and confidence. At the heart of this is the need to have an effective narrative and vision, with the ability to use storytelling to help impart that vision and bring communities with you.

Put simply storytelling is the formation of a persuasive argument through the ability to humanise the argument. Often this contains the vivid description of ideas, beliefs, personal experiences through stories or narratives that evoke powerful emotions and insights.