Communications Strategy
Communications Strategy
SMT Sponsor: Chris Lines / Author: Chris LinesDate: 16th March 2005 / Version: 2
For SMT on: 22nd March 2005 / Approved at SMT 22/03/05
Summary: The NPHS Senior Management Team agreed a communications strategy in the summer of 2004 as a working document.
The appointment of a Head of Communications in January 2005 led to a review of this strategy and all communications activity within the NPHS. This review included structured interviews with key staff and stakeholders and questionnaire work with a sample of 50 staff across the organisation.
The communications issues and challenges identified in this review are reported separately (SMT 03-05 CL1) and summarised here.
This revised Communications Strategy seeks to refine and, in some cases, redefine the existing strategy with priorities and messages stated more clearly.
The strategy has been agreed by the NPHS Communications Group.
Relevant Previous SMT Papers: Communications Strategy August 2004 / Ref. No.: SMT 03-05 CL2 V2
Proposed Publication/Distribution if Approved:
· Publication on the NPHS internet and intranet sites with links in the E-newsletter
Contents
1. Introduction Page 4
2. Issues and challenges Page 4
2.1 Internal communication challenges Page 4
2.2 Marketing communication challenges Page 5
2.3 Public communication challenges Page 6
2.4 Conclusions Page 6
3. Communication aims Page 6
4. Communication values Page 6
5. Communication principles Page 7
6. Communication strategy Page 7
6.1 Internal communications Page 7
6.2 Marketing communications Page 8
6.3 Public communications Page 8
7. Messages Page 9
7.1 Vision Page 9
7.2 Role and purpose Page 9
7.3 Key work and priorities Page 9
8. Organisational development Page 10
8.1 Clear organisational structure Page 10
8.2 Work planning process Page 10
9. Internal communications programme Page 10
9.1 E-bulletin Page 10
9.2 Clear cascading system Page 11
9.3 Staff directory Page 11
9.4 Intranet Page 12
9.5 Workplaces Page 12
9.6 Staff conference Page 12
9.7 Induction Page 12
10. Marketing communications programme Page 13
10.1 Database Page 13
10.2 Stakeholder Forum Page 13
10.3 National Public Health News for Wales Page 13
10.4 Prospectus Page 13
10.5 Conference attendance Page 13
11. Public Communications programme Page 14
11.1 Assembly Healthy Living all-Party Group Page 14
11.2 Web site Page 14
11.3 Media relations Page 14
11.4 Corporate identity Page 14
12. Monitoring and the way forward Page 14
1 Introduction
The NPHS Senior Management Team agreed a communications strategy in the summer of 2004 as a working document.
The appointment of a Head of Communications in January 2005 led to a review of this strategy and all communications activity within the NPHS. This review included structured interviews with key staff and stakeholders and questionnaire work with a sample of 50 staff across the organisation.
The communications issues and challenges identified in this review are summarised here.
This revised Communications Strategy seeks to refine and, in some cases, redefine the existing strategy with priorities and messages stated more clearly.
The strategy has been agreed by the NPHS Communications Group for wider consultation prior to presentation to the Senior Management Team.
2 Issues and challenges
The communication issues and challenges identified are grouped and summarised here as follows:
· Internal communication challenges;
· Marketing communication challenges;
· Public communication challenges.
It should be noted that, in communications, perception is as important or more important than reality. It may be argued that some of the issues listed are not really problems or have been dealt with. However, whatever action has been taken to deal with issues, perceptions remain unaltered in many cases.
2.1 Internal communications challenges
The internal communications issues and challenges identified are as follows:
· Lack of identification with, understanding of and loyalty to the organisation;
· Inability to influence the organisation;
· Inability to understand or make the complex matrix management model work;
· Visibility and identity issues arising from partnership working;
· Imbalance of formal communications on corporate rather than service issues;
· Cultural divide between ICDS and the rest;
· The lack of understanding of the work planning process, its lack of strategic direction and the unclear connections between business planning, work planning and objective setting;
· Growing pains arising from organisational change and work pressures;
· Geographical isolation;
· Inconsistent use and unreliability of communication channels;
· Poor information technology and poor use of it;
· Inconsistent application of the NPHS graphic corporate identity;
· Lack of induction material focusing on NPHS, rather than Velindre NHS Trust;
· Lack of understanding of the role and contribution of the Velindre Trust.
2.2 Marketing communication challenges
The marketing communications – communications with stakeholders - issues are defined as follows:
· Multitude of stakeholders and their variety of interests;
· Lack of understanding of the NPHS, its purpose and the services it provides;
· Invisibility of some NPHS work to the partners it’s provided for;
· Inability to influence the work plan;
· Difficulty in balancing local and national priorities;
· Money flow which doesn’t reflect service development;
· Difficulties in using, and variability of information on, the web site;
· Lack of systematic transmission of public health information to stakeholders.
2.3 Public communication challenges
The challenges arising from communication with the wider public are as follows:
· Poor public understanding of the concept and practice of public health;
· Public belief in only a minor or incidental role of public health;
· Very low profile of the NPHS and very limited attempts at public health advocacy compared with the high profile of many public health issues;
· Good reputation of the NPHS in responding to media enquiries.
2.4 Conclusions
The NPHS faces many, massive and complex communications challenges. The fact that these are more most lengthy and detailed in the area of internal communications reflects the emphasis of the challenge not just the more detailed research in this area. Given media interest in public health issues, a campaign to raise the media profile of the NPHS is straightforward in public relations terms. A programme to develop the identity, cohesion and loyalty of NPHS staff is not so straightforward.
3 Communication aims
The aims of the communications strategy are to:
· Build, in NPHS staff, stakeholders and opinion-formers, an understanding of the organisation’s vision, purpose, objectives, skills and achievements;
· Promote the health improvement, protection and quality messages that come out of the organisation’s business, organisational development and work plans;
· Generate broad-based buy-in to the public health agenda in Wales;
These aims are reflected in the NPHS business plan.
4 Communication values
To achieve its aims, the NPHS has to adopt and promote the following values:
· Empowerment of staff so that they are able contribute to and influence the organisation according to their knowledge, skills and experience;
· Openness so that staff, stakeholders and the public can understand the work and decision-making of the organisation;
· Partnership so that others who share, or are important to, the public health agenda are included in the work of the organisation.
5 Communication principles
To deliver its communications strategy, the NPHS accepts the following communication principles:
· Good communications is a two-way process. It’s about listening as well as saying;
· Action speaks louder than words so communications must be in step with the reality of the organisation and its activity;
· Communications is part of the organisation and the way it works, not an adjacent activity. At their best, communications processes are invisible, inherent and indivisible from the organisation’s working structures and processes;
· Good communications is dependent on clarity of vision, purpose, understanding, messages and language.
6 Communication strategy
6.1 Internal communications
To tackle the substantial communications challenges facing it, the NPHS must first improve and develop its internal communications. Employees must understand, believe and have confidence in the vision, purpose and capability of the organisation before stakeholders and the public can be expected to.
To achieve this understanding, belief and confidence will require more than the improved deployment of communication tools. It will also require organisational change so that the NPHS has structures which are clear and which allow employees to contribute to and influence the direction of the organisation. In particular, the senior staff who are key to the management and implementation of the organisation’s work – Local Public Health Directors, Resource Team Leaders, Communicable Disease Consultants - must have a forum where they can contribute directly to the direction and development of this work.
The organisation should be developed so that every employee’s objectives are agreed in the clear context of the NPHS business plan. Every employee should be able to connect his or her work to the tasks, objectives, goals and domains laid down in the NPHS business and work plans. So, internal communications and messages should be tied in to the business planning process.
Communication routes within the NPHS must be clearer, better understood and more reliable. Communication should be direct and through defined management structures rather than through representatives as far as possible.
There should be a known, accessible and appropriate forum for every employee where s/he can have a say and where s/he can be informed of NPHS work. These for a should complement communication channels where the organisation can communicate directly with all staff.
6.2 Marketing communications
Stakeholders come into contact with the NPHS primarily through the staff who provide its services. These staff are therefore the organisation’s most important communicators. Staff who understand, believe and have confidence in the vision, purpose and capability of the organisation (see 6.1 above) will be more effective communicators. This is why internal communications are the first priority.
The NPHS exists to provide services so it is important that stakeholders feel that they are able to shape its services. To do this, dialogue has to be two-way.
As with internal communication strategy, direct communications should be preferred to representative communications. To achieve this will require key staff to take on clearly defined communication responsibilities for specified stakeholders. Direct, but less frequently used, routes to stakeholders should also be defined.
As far as possible, communications with stakeholders should focus on services that are directly relevant to them. It is important that messages are appropriately targeted. There should be scope for promoting a broader understanding of the NPHS role, work and achievements but this should be limited in the context of the most important and direct service messages.
6.3 Public communications
The third element of communications strategy is that of communications with the public. This element should be rolled out of the marketing communications strategy. There are cases where it is useful to reach stakeholders with messages via the wider public and media but this will only work if credibility has been achieved directly with the stakeholders beforehand.
Public health is central to the public agenda. It already has a high profile. The NPHS should be seen to be leading public health advocacy in Wales. Opinion formers need to be better engaged and briefed. Likewise, both the national and local media need to be engaged with a media programme developed out of the NPHS work plan. Liaison with WAG is key to making this work.
The initial focus of activity should be on those areas of work where there is already an instinctive public understanding: health promotion and health protection.
7 Messages
Developing and agreeing key messages which are understood and instinctively repeated by staff, stakeholders and opinion-formers is key to the success of the communications strategy.
These messages should be based on the services and achievements of the NPHS not on its predecessors, structures, processes or other corporate activity. People better identify with and respond to outcomes, services and actions linked directly to people than they do to structures, theory and jargon.
Messages should also tie in directly to the NPHS domains, goals and objectives so that there is clarity of purpose and a clear connection between what people see is being done and what is being said. Actions speak louder than words so the words must be in harmony with the actions.
7.1 Vision
The vision of the National Public Health Service for Wales is currently being considered with the development of the business plan. It currently stands as:
‘to make a unique contribution to the protection and improvement of the health and wellbeing of the people of Wales, through the delivery of high quality, accessible and appropriate specialist public health services.’
7.2 Role and purpose
The National Public Health Service for Wales seeks to:
· Improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Wales and reduce inequalities in health;
· Protect against existing, new and emerging diseases and health threats; and
· Contribute to improvements in health and social care services.
7.3 Key work and priorities
The key work and priorities of the National Public Health Service for Wales is ‘delivering Health Challenge Wales, reducing the impact of infections and helping the NHS provide safe and effective services.’
There will be many sub-messages in line with the many elements of the work plan but each should have a resonance in this message.
8 Organisational development
8.1 Clear organisational structure
The organisation’s structure needs to be clarified so that there is a recognised forum for the Resource Team Leaders and Local Public Health Directors to meet together to shape the direction and work of the organisation. This forum would have a formal role in developing the work plan, corporate services and policies of the NPHS. By including managers from ICDS it would cover the whole organisation.
These changes would require a more limited but strategic role for the Senior Management Team.
There is also a need to define the roles of key fora at every tier in the NPHS decision-making process so that every member of staff knows the appropriate forum to which they belong and where they can receive information and express views.
The definition of the role of the Regional meeting of Local Public Health Directors requires particular attention so that it does not replicate other fora and has a clear purpose.