Communication plansIf you are running a plan change, you’ll have a project plan to help you keep those ducks in a row. Have you thought about a detailed communication plan as well? Reviewing a plan is challenging, and keeping everyone informed is crucial during these public processes. If your council has a communications team… Disco! They can help you set this up. If you don't have a communications team, never fear; here are some tips to get started yourself.
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What are they? |
This is your chance to plan how and when you will communicate with people, both internally and externally, throughout the consultation period. A communication plan should be a sub-part of your project plan, but it is nice to talk about it separately. Letting people know what's happening now and what's happening next in your plan review is crucial, so get it lined up as early as possible. You can do use your project plan software, or in some cases you can use a spreadsheet. It will make sure you are organised, open, transparent and keeping everybody (the public, the council, fellow staff members) in the loop.
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Get started |
Think about what you want out of the communications, like informed people, good attendance at meetings, and great feedback on the issues. Consider the issues, audiences, and key messages you need to get across.
First, figure out the big picture. List the major things you’ll need to do during your plan change. These are just examples: Then start filling in some rough timeframes, especially any statutory deadlines, so you can see when things need to happen/realistically will happen.
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Expand |
Then you can start to see where the communication bits start to fit in. Below you can see the "consult" section of the spreadsheet has been expanded and the initial consultation notices and meetings scheduled in.
Keep budgets in mind, get statutory communication sorted first. Think about how often you want to post updates on the website or in papers. Be sure to include the time you need to prepare meeting notices, prepare presentations, update websites, make brochures and work out advertising deadlines. Think about the different forms of media you can use to reach as many people as possible. Plan ahead to get a blurb in the council newsletter, or piggy back on some other widespread communications form the council. Take out some space in the local paper, line up some regular facebook posts in advance, make sure your web pages rock, and get your community boards on board. |
Get some champions |
Now that you have started laying out all of the things you need to do for effective communication, get some other people on board. Make a list of everyone inside the council who can help you field questions and comments – reception, community boards, councillors, department managers. Your communication plan should include helping them understand the plan change, what it means, what the big issues might be, and how they can help make it a great process.
You get the idea - the more specific dates and deadlines you have in there, the better you'll stay on top of all the communicating you need to do! For larger plan reviews, you may need something "gruntier" than a spreadsheet. There are some really good project management applications out there, and our expert planners are available to help you think about and plot your initial project and communication plans.
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If you'd like specialist training in project and communication plans, we can help!