Representing the community in the council

A big part of getting the engagement right will be in balancing two things – being an effective representative of the council in the community and being an effective representative of community concerns within the council.

Here is some food for thought to help you get it right.

1. Get out there

With all the new technology connecting us, it’s all too easy to forget that the best way to engage is often face-to-face. Not every part of the community has the ability to regularly access the internet. And online communication usually requires residents to opt-in to hear what you have to say, meaning you preach to the converted. Many still prefer to speak to a real person.

Community events

One of the best ways of engaging with your local community is through participating in local events. Attending existing events and groups can be more successful than organising your own meeting.

• There are a huge range of events, from meetings of local residents’ associations and Neighbourhood Watch meetings to school fêtes and street parties
• This is a simple way of meeting a wide range of local residents particularly those with strong community links
• Building links with schools, community groups and networks can help you to understand what is happening when.

Advice surgeries

These provide residents with the opportunity to meet their local representative and raise any issues they might have. All that’s needed is an accessible venue, somewhere to sit and a bit of advertising.

• Select a well-known local venue; this might be a library or community centre, but it doesn’t need to be - a café or garden centre might work just as well.
• It’s important to recognise that certain venues can inhibit or prevent people from coming, such as pubs, religious buildings, or places without disabled access). Either make use of a variety of venues or stick to ones that are accessible for everyone.
• Choose a regular date for your surgery, such as the first Saturday of the month
• Advertise to the local community through as many channels as possible
• Consider running the surgery alongside other public officials. i.e. local MP or neighbourhood police team

Mobile surgeries

Surgeries provide an opportunity to reach out to harder-to-engage parts of the community. Instead of waiting for residents to come to a venue, mobile surgeries take place on the doorstep.

• Select an area you want to engage with, and tell people that you‘ll be in the area by putting a leaflet out to the houses you plan to contact
• You may want to hold your surgery in a park during summer or on a street corner.
• You must follow through on that commitment, so some effort is needed to estimate the number of doors you’ll realistically be able to knock
• Bring equipment with you to write down people’s issues and something to leave at the premises you knock so people know how to get in touch with you
• Most won’t raise anything concrete, but mobile surgeries are still important for building relationships and making residents more likely to reach out in future

2. Keep people in the loop

Though people are busy, most would still like to know what is going on in their community. And regular information from local representatives can help to build the trust upon which future engagement can be based. There is much anecdotal evidence to support the assertion that people are more receptive to engagement that informs and are far less keen on engagement that seeks to promote a particular point of view or sectional interest.  Propaganda is completely counterproductive. Here are a few ways of keeping your residents in the loop effectively:

Newsletters

Give some thought to the design. With all the junk mail a person gets these days, you have at most a couple of seconds to grab their attention.

• Keep content interesting and relevant, using no more than 100 words per story, and pictures where possible
• Include your contact details, and any social media channels you’d like residents to follow. Consider including local surveys, petitions and response slips
• To comply with the Data Protection Act, you’ll need (at minimum) to make it clear on the response slip what you intend to use their data for, and to store and dispose of any personal data securely
• A fast and cheap way of reaching residents.
• Standard e-newsletters to a few hundred people can be done via regular email
• There are some great online services for mass-mailing or more professional designs
• Similar sites can also be used to send mass text messages, which can be a great way of reminding people that an event is taking place.
• Overuse of emails and texts is likely to result in people unsubscribing (an option it’s important to include)

Direct Mail

People are more likely to read a letter which goes through their door, particularly if it is in an envelope and has their name and address on it. While direct mail may be too expensive for regular newsletters, it can be useful for communicating about a particularly important issue. For example, when planning permission is being sought for a project which you do not believe is in the area’s best interests, it may help drive up the number of objections. (Although be aware that, if you’re on a planning committee yourself, this isn’t allowed.)

Remember, no council resources can legally be used for party political communications, so be clear whether you are acting as a representative of the council or of your party when you are sending out a communication. If you’re uncertain, it’s always best to ask.

3. Reach out

Networks of engagement already exist which can help you to connect with your residents. Here are a few ways of reaching out:

Make the most of the council

• Council communications officers know the best points of contact with local media
• They can help with publicity around non-political issues and are largely responsible for the council’s outbound communication channels, which may include neighbourhood newsletters/e-newsletters
• Make sure you are copied into all the relevant mailing lists, from neighbourhood newsletters to planning applications and the Forward Plan
• Community engagement officers should be able to signpost you to local residents’ groups and help to identify key points of contact within your neighbourhood (such as Police Community Support Officers)

Work with other agencies

Reach out and partner with parish councils, neighbourhood policing teams or the many other bodies which represent residents.

• Spread messages collectively across mailing lists
• Co-locate community engagement events, such as neighbourhood police teams attending councillor advice surgeries
• Consider providing a multi-agency approach to the resolution of local problems

Community networks

Highly-connected people influence community opinion. To persuade them is to persuade others. Examples may include the chair of a residents’ association, school governors and long-serving teachers, local small businesspeople and publicans, religious leaders and neighbourhood watch co-ordinators.

Checklist. The do’s and don’ts of breaking bad news

Engagement invites a person to open up and express their views and feelings, but what they want cannot always be accommodated. Even when you’ve been very clear about the scope for change on a particular issue, people can end up frustrated and angry. This is especially a risk when you have to deliver news they don’t want to hear. It may be possible in the long run to bring about their wishes, perhaps through further engagement, but in the immediate term you have to try and deliver bad news well.

Don’t say ‘It’s not as bad as you think’

Don’t be evasive about details to cushion the blow

Don’t sugar coat too much

Don’t say ‘I know how you feel’

Don’t tell them how they should feel (there’s no ‘should’ when it comes to emotions).

✔ Do be prepared, with all the relevant facts to hand

✔ Do be clear and direct

✔ Do give them space to feel what they feel

✔ Do maintain professional boundaries: it isn’t the real ‘you’ that the person is angry with, it’s the role you play in your job

✔ Do actively listen to them.

Finally, as well as the above dos and don’ts, it’s worth getting to grips with active listening. This is a technique which can help diffuse difficult situations and develop some common ground. Below are the key elements:

• listen carefully without coming across as time-pressured
• acknowledge how the speaker feels
• summarise in your own words what the person has said
• check that they agree with your summary