A few hints on gaining, and keeping, the support of the community.
1. Define the real issue and know it may not be the obvious one.
One of our clients, a leading grammar school, found itself involved in an internal dispute over whether or not the senior school should be geographically split from the junior and middle schools. The educational arguments raged thick and furious. But the core issue had more to do with values than education. And it concerned the more prosaic question of whether the school should grow bigger or not. By focussing on this real issue the school council was able to resolve the situation.
The State Rail Workshops in Sydney wanted to put in place a PR program to turn around the hostility of dissatisfied internal customers. Customer dissatisfaction was certainly an issue but it wasn't the core issue. After investigating the situation, we launched an employee relations program, not a customer relations program. Service was poor because quality was poor because morale was poor because management and employees were constantly at each other's throats. That was the core issue.
2. Take every opportunity to consistently focus attention on the real issue.
The central issue facing the Independent Panel on Intractable Waste had nothing to do with finding a waste disposal technology. That was a possible outcome not an issue. The issue was the need to solve a serious environmental problem. As soon as attention focused on understanding and analysing the problem, the pathway to the solution became much clearer.
The National (Chemical) Registration Authority adopted a similar approach to its inquiry into organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). The issue had less to do with the toxicity of OCPs and more to do with providing people in tropical Australia with protection from a voracious termite that can eat its way through just about anything - including lead sheeting. If the termite could be sorted out by other means, demand for the pesticide woulddrop, making it easier for it to be deregistered
3. Gain community support by ensuring community relations staff are competent, sensitive to community concerns and believe in what they are doing. Often regional or suburban staff are closer to the community and more aware of how people should be dealt with. Shrewd head office staff will always consult with regional staff and provide them with lots of capacity to get on with the job.
4. Develop a clear plan. The primary rule is that each campaign must be approached individually and planned for systematically.
5. Do your research. You can try second guessing the community if you like but it is better to find out for sure where the public stands. In developing a campaign, or even a one-off strategy, it is a serious handicap not to have an insight into public opinion.
A few pointers about public opinion:
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Concrete events play an important part in changing attitudes and opinions.
When State Rail looked like running into trouble closing down some country stations, the story of the station with five staff but which hadn't had a train stop at it for three years brought the public debate to a grinding halt.
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Opinion leaders play a major role in shaping public opinion and gaining their support can be critical.
When he introduced an economic and industrial relations policy, then Opposition Leader John Hewson managed to get just about every significant interest group offside. Business and Church leaders joined the list of Coalition antagonists and their concern permeated the whole community.
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Attitude change is related to the immediacy of the issue to the individual.
The easiest way to get public opinion to run your way is to engage the emotions of people on a matter they feel strongly about or which is close to them. Mabo began to go off the rails for the Government when its opponents cleverly brought our backyards into the issue. Even though opinion polls indicate that most of us have not been misled by that, it does introduce an element of doubt.
6. Keep your policies simple and support your staff.
7. Keep the program honest.
8. Take your case to the people. Engage public opinion at the grass roots. Identify the active participants in the issue.
The spectrum of public opinion tends to comprise 80% who are not very interested, 10% who you won't convert no matter what you do and 10% who are aware and likely to be opinionated. This final 10% commonly splits 60:40 on issues. This means that to convert as few as 2% of the community can shift momentum your way.
9. Inform the people who need to know. This may be your Minister or your Board or your CEO. Establish and maintain regular lines of communication.
10. Get to know media owners, editors and workers (journalists, producers, researchers). Don't necessarily wait until you think you have a story (or have one thrust upon you) - familiarise them with your organisation and its activities as a routine part of your job.
Hallmarks of a good relationship
We know an organisation has achieved a satisfactory relationship with the community when satisfaction is articulated :
In the early 1990s, when Westpac bank was in trouble, the reaction of the public was along the lines of "serves 'em right" and a succession of crises continually undermined its credibility, staff morale and overall performance. Most of the crises emerged from the climate of community suspicion.
When Banker's Trust, a hitherto unimpeachable merchant bank, suffered a glitch with its profitability around the same time, the market's view was "good bank having a bad day" and forgave it. That's because BT was operating in a climate of community approbation.
If you are having a bad run and people still love you, you know for sure your relationships are in good shape.