Public sector comms: how to not be evil
Hel Reynolds
Author of this post
Hel is social media trainer and boss of Comms Creatives.
She has been working in comms since 2005, and has been brushing up her expertise in social media for brands since the good old days of MySpace.
She also draws the Comms Cartoons, and is usually attached to a mug of coffee.
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This resonates so much with me, Helen.
I spent a large part of my career arguing that certain institutions were operating on false and damaging principles. I got no thanks for that from the people who had built their well-paid careers on managing the organisations which administered the damaging outcomes. Eventually their system spat me out and carried on doing things the wrong way.
Brilliant stuff. Public services are nothing without the public. Well worth checking ourselves whenever possible. We’re not where we want to be, but we’re getting there. It’s cool that WAO are doing videos with their reports now, the website’s much clearer. But as 25% of the working-age population in Wales lack basic literacy skills, there’s a lot more to do to make stuff accessible. Can’t rest on our laurels.
Keep up the good work!
– Dyfrig
Said it well there Helen and enjoyed reading it.
Excellent and insightful. Inspirational. Now I need to put it into practice.
Reblogged this on Adventures in Housing and commented:
I’ve finally had time to read this properly, and I recommend you do too!
Well said, from one who spent their working life in local government. Like the diagram. And thanks for the link to the Guardian Big Ideas podcast on banality of evil.
This resonates so strongly with me, Helen. How I battled against those managers in my miserable 11-year local government PR/communication career… towards the end I felt I’d become a certain senior manager’s very own Max Clifford. She certainly seemed more interested in promoting herself than listening to local people. I particularly hated those calls from local reporters asking why a service had been axed, etc. because it always seemed to me that the wrong things were axed… would we really have noticed if a few of those senior managers had disappeared? And while I battled (and did myself no favours in the long-term), I watched those ‘pleasers’ and process-obsessed officers getting all the praise and promotions. Oh dear… it’s been three years now so probably best forgotten. A brilliant article as always.