Our clean water staff are, deep down, the ‘salt of the earth,’ and it would significantly benefit our mission to help them all to be talking billboards as well. one of their colleagues tell their stories, be it at dinner parties, on train rides home, or on social media. ACTIVITIES THAT GROW ADVOCATES
CLEAN WATER ADVOCATE Winter 2018
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While many of us find ourselves spread thin due to a lack of staff and time or too many distribution channels and projects, I personally have learned that one of my most worthwhile professional priorities is to creatively engage this passionate audience, which is often hidden in plain sight. Understanding and committing to the objective of inspiring them is half the battle, with small daily practices to ensure progressive success. But making the extra effort to involve staff in organized campaigns or activities—specifically ones connected to the heart of the organization’s mission—goes a very long way in growing advocates organically. Our flagship event is “Earth Day LA” (2018 will be the third). More than 3,000 residents come out to spend a Saturday afternoon with us, learning about sustainability. It’s also LA Sanitation’s annual “Day of Service,” where staff can volunteer their time to serve free food and beverages, man educational booths, direct vehicles, or even portray mascots. We encourage staff to bring their loved ones, promoting a sense of family and pride. The booths allow the public to learn about
LA Sanitation’s programs and projects, but just as importantly, they also give staff an opportunity to take pride in the programs. The energy of the crowd impacts employees as much as it does the public, and when video footage of the event is saved and added to our orientation video, it energizes future employees as well. Recently, LA Sanitation launched “recycLA,” an exciting new public-private partnership that changes the way solid waste is collected from businesses and multifamily homes across the city. As part of the launch, we held a thorough training session for staff to help them use the right phrases when explaining the program. We created and distributed fact sheets to help everyone understand recycLA’s benefits. Ultimately, employee involvement in company campaigns doesn’t have to be elaborate, just deliberate and done well, so that employees know that their organizations care that they care. BUILDING INTERNAL COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE As clean water leaders, the gestures we make on a daily basis tend to subtly communicate our priorities. Our email distribution lists are one such gesture. Through lists created for each work site, we have the ability to connect with every city employee. And while group emails generally get a bad rap these days, every communications study shows that they are still the most effective and widely used medium for reaching audiences en masse, whether associates or strangers. The Department of Public Works recently launched a digital employee newsletter in which stories, project updates, and vital information are shared with all 5,500 staff across the city. We make deliberate efforts to encourage interoffice and department networking. It’s not uncommon for us to repost each other’s social media content or mention each other in our blogs. Building internal communication infrastructure