You, the government marketer, are no longer the organization’s lead communicator. I was asked by my planner colleagues, “Where’s your blog?” Well, I don’t have a blog (other than this one). One of them pointed out rather correctly that my job was to be a “social media enabler”. I like that term.
So you’re a public sector marketer. Are you the one blogging, posting on Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr? If this is the situation (and it usually is), it’s a bad situation. You shouldn’t be doing this. Your job is to get your service providers, administrators, planners, and policy analysts to blog — to teach them how to communicate their ideas to the public.
They’ll say, “we’re too busy!” Everyone knows that isn’t true. Public sector workers aren’t busy, that’s why nobody trusts them. They certainly aren’t busy cleaning up the oil spill or growing the economy. What are they doing? They need to be out there communicating with the public and talking about what they are doing. Yes, it’s important for community engagement. We’ve talked about that plenty. But there is another reason why your front line public servants need to be blogging and tweeting: to justify their jobs.
In a day when governments are facing steep budget cuts, we’re finding a lot of workers being furloughed or laid off. Is the public sympathetic? Not really. It’s your job to change that. Or rather, it’s everyone’s job.
Visit my blog, Conversion-Driven Government.
Very well said. In fact it is just like “technology is an enabler”. web 2.0 which is the new form Internet is also an enabler.
Cheers,
Arvind
Suspect that I MIGHT be guilty of throwing out the baby with the bath water. When you include in your blog the statement ” Public Sector workers aren’t busy, that’s why nobody trusts them” my immediate “gut” reaction is since I “know” that is definitely a statement that IMO doesn’t hold any water then perhaps the rest of your “blog” comes under some suspicion.
People “know” that public sector workers are lazy. The reality is that they aren’t, they are very busy. Let’s document it on the web. That’s what I’m saying. Perception is everything.
Whoooooa. Lazy? Just the opposite. Incredibly hardworking, unfairly stereotyped, and despite it all public sector employees keep on doing the best they can.
In general statements meant to correct an incorrect stereotype IMO should be put in quotes so the reader doesn’t get confused and think that they are meant literally.
This is exactly why people should have some sort of communication/media training before they start blogging about their jobs. I agree wholeheartedly that the frontline employee has the most credibility with the audience. But it is easy to say or do things inadvertently that create incorrect perceptions by the public.
Also (no offense intended) it’s not giving me a lot of confidence to see the beer in the profile photo! Govies are stewards of taxpayer dollars…can’t be (or appear) drunk and watching the money. No matter how good the intention, perception is reality in today’s world.
“{Your job is to get your service providers, administrators, planners, and policy analysts to blog — to teach them how to communicate their ideas to the public.” – completely agree. I do think it is our job to try and start conversation, but it is also our job to get others to join/participate, become activitely engaged. As a job, social media is not a soap box – as you put it, it is an enabler.
I’m not in the business of managing perceptions. Folks don’t trust that any more. I can have a beer in public (just as the President can), without being labeled as irresponsible. This isn’t 1950.
The public will believe what they believe according to their worldview. And there is little you can do about it except actually produce results that get talked about. As of now, the government treats taxpayers like a piggy bank and it’s really a bad situation for building trust.
Thanks Sara, I think that’s the whole point. Unfortunately, blogging has been equated to ranting and giving stances on things and that isn’t the case when its done well.
First rule of branding: you have a brand whether you like it or not.
Saying that you are not responsible for managing perception doesn’t change the fact that your behavior (and yes, you profile photo) creates one.
And if you represent any organization your actions do affect how the public perceives them.
Working for the government is a position of public trust. The beer photo is IMO not appropriate if you want to be perceived as someone whose views should be influential of gov.
Unfortunately there is an idea that managing perception is inherently dishonest. It is actually the opposite. It is an honest and also an adult, accountable, responsible thing to do to put yourself before the public in a certain manner, knowing how this is perceived, and taking the hit if you strike the wrong chord.
Don’t get me wrong, I think your points have merit, but am pointing out some things that may detract from their influence among the people whose behavior you want to influence.
Also, I am more influenced by specifics than sweeping generalizations (the comment about gov treating taayer money like a piggy bank). Providing examples enables the reader to engage in productive dialogue and also shows a certain amount of objectivity.
You may hate the bad things you think you see in govt, but if you don’t engage with, understand, and respect the intentions of the system and the good intentions of the people in it, how will you create positive change?
Increased dialogue at any level and through any format by public servants should be encouraged. Our government should not be a mystery to the people it serves.
This is one thing I like the most about social media. The comments and discussions like the one happening below 🙂
And what’s best is that even if this fires up to a war of words, it still remains a war of words from a distance…:-) Everyone’s safe this way. ha ha.
– Arvind
Harlan,
Thanks for reading!
I’ve been furloughed along with all my colleagues, some of whom have been let go. It happened before I came on board. I have mixed feelings about it, but my bigger concern is with the governments selling all of their assets in order to balance the budget. It’s like pawning your daughters bike to make rent. I think the notion that the private sector is bottom line obsessed and the public sector isn’t is just a lie that people working for government like to tell themselves. Maybe it’s a good lie. I don’t know about you, but I can’t spend a cent without it being vetted by a bunch of people. If that’s not bottom-line obsessed, I don’t know what is… It’s a losing strategy. An organization being cost-conscious and practical doesn’t get talked about.
Sorry to hear. That is lousy.
“I’m not in the business of managing perceptions. Folks don’t trust that any more. I can have a beer in public (just as the President can), without being labeled as irresponsible. This isn’t 1950.”
You are correct; if it was1950 you would have a drink in your hand AND a cigar in the other!
The least you could do is pixilate that beverage, so we can all imagine that it is a tall glass of Kool- Aid and not a scary glass of beer…
Holy cow, you can cut the negativity in your original post and follow-up comments with a knife!
1) *BIG* diff betweeen the President having a beer in public and using snapshot of holding beer as profile pic for professional networking website for govt.
2) The recommendation that govt staff should be involved in social media to justify their jobs to the public is not very helpful to our citizens, don’t you think?
3) Regarding your statement, “The public will believe what they believe according to their worldview. And there is little you can do about it except actually produce results that get talked about. As of now, the government treats taxpayers like a piggy bank and it’s really a bad situation for building trust.”
Problem is, a lot of the time the public doesn’t have all the facts, or is getting misinformation from the media or those who speak the loudest. Part of our job as govt communicators is also to get the facts out and to help citizens use social media as a tool for connecting with us and letting us know what they think.
4) We’ve had 200 people laid off at the City of Reno, and every paycheck I see a line item subtracted for $102 for furlough. Yet, I still care about the public, my organization, and the job I do. If I ever start thinking thoughts like “the government treats taxpayers like a piggy bank”, I’d hope somebody would tap me on the shoulder and tell me it’s time for a new line of work.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
This is a very interesting conversation, I have to say.
Kristy, thanks for your comments.
1) What’s wrong with a good microbrew? I guess I don’t get networking.
2) I think changing the way we interact with the public is important for both our careers and for transparency and trust building.
3) Stories are more powerful than facts. People remember stories.
4) My approach is not to argue with the public (that never works), it’s to restate the story and acknowledge it — and then go from there by creating a different story that gets shared.
Danielle! I agree with your comments about communication/media training. I see the value being a member of govloop has brought to me with my interactions with others, the reading of blogs (and creating them), and reading of other commentaries. But what is “acceptable” and “nonacceptable?” I sometimes fight the inner me to post what is REALLY on my mind and expose things that I don’t agree with; and the reality that I am a federal employee and have unspoken standards and spoken rules to abide by. But the fact that within my organization we are not even attempting to address communication/media involvement by ALLL employees is concerning.
On a side, interesting point of view (the blog). I may not agree with it but sometimes it’s interesting to see how extreme someone can take an issue (whether or not they agree with it). It sparks great conversation.
Hi Nichole,
The message boards are hopping lately aren’t they? Thanks for your comments and I’ll share some thoughts because this stuff really matters to me both professionally and personally.
Basically as I see it there are two factors that matter when it comes to deciding what’s appropriate to say. (Note that I am speaking for myself, not my agency, etc….I am trying to be careful about this disclaimer when I am concerned that people will think that my opinion represents their policy or any policy – it doesn’t.).
Factor #1 – Objective reality, i.e., it’s not acceptable to lie. This might seem obvious but I went to graduate school in the era of super-deconstructionist-relativism where you could say “blue is orange because of neocolonialism” and they’d all be like, “yeah!” So it’s been important for me to draw a line in the sand and say, no, there is reality vs. non-reality and as a PR person I need to stay with the former. (That also means not misleading the public or distorting the truth even if you are factually accurate.)
Factor #2 – What will people think? This includes – my employer, my client’s audience, my family, my friends, everyone who knows me and will deal with me now and in the future. The rules here shift based on cultural norms, political imperatives, etc. Essentially – there is no right and wrong, only what works.
I would say, if you’re not comfortable putting it on a postage stamp and sending it out, don’t post it. Because it will be read, aloud, when you’re not around.
But as more and more people speak up, this will probably be less of an issue.
Also I agree, this is a great conversation.
Extreme works, as long as it’s not expensive 🙂