United States Public Administration: Communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry

Deanna’s Input for Question 5:

Leading an effective communication plan is never easy with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry. It becomes even more difficult when leading an intergovernmental Regional Water Policy. A communication plan should include open communication and transparency with an effective and engaged leadership. Communication is difficult across borders and entails a well developed strategic communication plan to get a policy across a region that contains both urban and rural areas, including agriculture. As a public administrator for Riverside County, clear communication regarding the county’s new intergovernmental water management policy is a top priority to ensure successful implementation. The new water policy impacts a diverse population, both urban and rural, and also includes the agricultural and sovereign native Indian reservations. With this in mind the following provides a communication work plan which responds to these dynamics and can be used to inform, educate and raise support for the policy throughout the region.

Communication plan to inform

It is critical that all citizenry across boards are informed, included, and a part of the process to ensure an effective implementation policy plan. In order to be inclusive, it is important to have a clear strategic communication plan.

Some of the critical factors to include would be:

1. Identify the purpose of your communication – to inform, educate and raise support for the policy throughout the region

2. Identify the audience – rural, urban, agricultural and native reservations; factors involve demographics, geography, employment, behavior, attitudes

3. Plan and design the message – (communication campaign) - consider elements such as: content (e.g., policy goals, objectives, timelines, contact info, etc.), mood, language, channels of communication

4. Consider resources – assessment of available resources to design and launch communication plan (some areas you can uses social media, in rural areas they might not have connection to the internet)

5. Plan for obstacles and emergencies – (plan ahead of time to leave room for unexpected errors or emergencies) something can, and usually does go wrong (e.g., inadvertently missing information such as dates, times, phone numbers, email addresses, misspelled words, etc.). Who will do what and how, and who will make decisions?

6. Strategize connection with the media and other – who can help you spread your message – a minimum of one member of the team should have experience, expertise and existing relationships with the media, government agencies, community and tribal leaders, elected officials, businesses, community activist, and ordinary citizens.

7. Create an action plan – designing a scope of work which includes specific activities, outcomes, timelines, person (s) responsible,

8. Evaluation – decide how you’ll evaluate your plan and adjust it, based on the results of carrying it out.

It is important to understand that communication will need to be communicated at different levels

Utilize a 3-tiered implementation approach

o Tier 1 – Primary: Community leaders, Tribal leaders and elected officials

o Tier 2 – Secondary: conservationist and organizations that do work in in tribal areas, agricultural areas and provide water related services

o Tier 3 – Tertiary: citizenry and consumers residing on reservations and in rural and urban communities

Team size diversity is important – 6 considered optimal

o Able to focus on dynamics and needs from specific sections of the community (e.g., rural, urban, agricultural, native

o Come with different backgrounds, expertise and life experiences

o Increased creativity

o Adequate representation and fairness

Other key considerations based on scenario-

Intercultural communication and cultural competence (ability to make adjustments to operations to accommodate cross-cultural values and priorities) are an important consideration. Design approaches to specifically identify and meet the challenges of traditionally underserved and disengaged populations such as citizens living on reservations (e.g., transportation, timing and location of events). To this end, one or more members of the planning team will work directly with this population to ensure that all policy communications are culturally appropriate.

Intergovernmental communication - understanding that different municipalities have existing channels and methods of communication. Comes with differing nomenclature, customs and procedures; timeliness and approval processes.

Important to recognize the need for multiple channels of communication due to dynamics of the audience we are trying to reach (e.g., location, access to technology, age, culture, etc.).

Use various channels of communication (two-way communication is priority, when possible):

o Digital technology and electronic forms of communication – Platforms such as e-government sites, social media pages, twitter, Facebook, Instagram provide multiple avenues for direct, real-time, and often widespread communication.

o Townhalls and community forum – multiple days and times to accommodate work/life schedules; use of live streaming via zoom and other technologies

o Target mailing and face-to-face meetings – with the community leaders and tribal leadership

o Community Canvassing – provides further opportunities to meet face-to-face with citizenry, builds trust and increases citizen engagement

o Public postings – utilize existing high-traffic locations to post communications (e.g., post office, city hall, tribal council offices, Bureau of Indian Affairs website, State and County Agricultural Websites, etc.)

o Paid advertising – radio, newspaper and television

In conclusion, in an effective strategic communication plan there are several important factors for communities to feel connected. First, there must be a high degree of trust between the public officials and their citizens. Without trust, there is no relationship. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to implement public programs/policies that resonate with the community if there is no trust and engagement. Second, it is important to have community town hall meetings that attract diverse community representation. This is important because policy change affects everyone in the community, regardless if they choose to be engaged or not. It is important to recognize that the government complains of lack of involvement, yet also creates barriers to citizen engagement (e.g., timing and modalities of meetings, lack of transparency, complex governance rules and political jargon, etc.) Finally, civility during public debates is critical. Elected officials and public employees must always remember that they work for the people. There are bound to be instances where viewpoints clash. However, transparency, politeness and respect should always be modeled by our leadership.