Upload
alexina-ellis
View
220
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
Center for Coordinated Assistance to StatesCCAS
Developing a Communication Strategy
Multi-System Collaboration Training and Technical Assistance Program
Webinar #7September 23, 20152 p.m. – 4 p.m. EDT
Kathy Bonk, Executive Director, CCMC
1
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
Center for Coordinated Assistance to StatesCCAS
Who is around your table?
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
Center for Coordinated Assistance to StatesCCAS
3
Housekeeping
•Place your phone on mute to eliminate background noise
•Speak directly into the phone when talking, the webinar is being recorded
•Use the chat box on the right side of your screen to ask questions
•Feel free to engage other sites in questions as they are presenting information
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
Center for Coordinated Assistance to StatesCCAS
MSC-TTA upcoming activities
• Final Work Plans Due to Training TeamSeptember 23rd
• Webinar 8: Site-Based PresentationsOctober 6th @2pm-4pm Presentation slides due September 30th
4
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
Center for Coordinated Assistance to StatesCCAS
Today’s Presenter
Kathy BonkExecutive Director
Co-FounderCommunications Consortium Media Center
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
Center for Coordinated Assistance to StatesCCAS
Agenda
1.Messaging Matters2.Developing a Proactive Collaborative
Strategic Communications Plan3.Be Prepared – Reacting to a Crisis or
Backlash
6
MESSAGING MATTERS
Values-based Messaging and Framing
Best Practices for Strategic Communications Plans
Developing and Communicating Messages
1. What are your goals?2. Who is the audience?3. Appeal to values: why do I care?4. Describe threat to values.5. Offer solutions.6. Address urgency and consequences of
action.7. Give people something to do.8. Have an anecdote or story, using images.9. Anticipate attacks.10. Be repetitive.
Safety Family
Commitment
Collaboration Experience Responsibility
Respect
Well-Being
Self-Confidence
Community
Protection
Dedicated Cost Effective
Accountability Service
Prevention
Integrity Education
Fairness Quality
Partnerships
What Research Suggests: From the FrameWorks Institute
• People use mental shortcuts to make sense of the world.
• People look for cues to help them “file” new material; they ask: is this a story I know?
• People get most information about public affairs from the news media which, over time, creates a framework of expectations, or dominant frame.
11
FCQNQMIC DFVFIQRMFNT
12
FCQNQMIC DFVFIQRMFNT
Communications is Storytelling.
“Understanding means finding a story you already know and saying, ‘Oh yeah, that one.’”
“Once we have found (the) story, we stop processing.” – Roger Schank
The Power of Stories:
• Storytelling is both an art and a science.
• Stories reflect – and evoke – core values and widely held beliefs.
• Storytelling has become the norm for most mass media. Reporters say: “I need to put a face on the facts for my audience.”
The Storytelling Challenge:
• If the focus is just on individual, the audience can conclude that it is a personal problem or success story without a broader public solution or a “bringing up by the bootstraps” situation.
• Or worse, the policy solution is so overwhelming for the individual that their eyes glaze over.
Levels of Thinking
• Level One: Big ideas: equality, responsibility, respect, safety, fairness, opportunity, life choices, education
• Level Two: Issue-types: mental health, child welfare, juvenile justice, foster care, child abuse, domestic violence, education reform, health care, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness, crime, gun control
• Level Three: Specific policy proposals: 4(e), case management reform, team decision-making, resource families, minors’ rights, independent living, data driven management objectives, MST, FFT, DYRS, FCA, DHS, DCFS, WIC, Results Based Accounting/Outcome
(As developed by George Lakoff for the Frameworks Institute)
16
Open the Right Door
• Agencies too often operate at level three.
• But the public is usually up at level one.» Can we open the conversation at level one?» What frame or door should we open to get the
conversation started down a path that produces support for our policies—even in the face of opposition?
• Prime the conversation with the right level focusing on one or two ideas.
18
Messages are Heard or Glazed Over
• Issues are relevant to target audience when messages are based on core American values» Entitlement vs. Self-Sufficiency (Teach a “man” to fish)» Juvenile Delinquents vs. Troubled Youth» Practice Reform vs. Safety and Well-being» Child care vs. Early Education
• Speak in a language target audiences understand.
• Play to strengths: family, community, and helping people help themselves with education and training as top values. Understand the values debate.
19
Our Framing Challenge:
• If the frame doesn’t fit the facts, people usually will reject the facts, not the frame.
Why Frames?
• Tell us what this communications is ABOUT
• Trigger shared and durable cultural models or meta-messages
• Signal what counts, what can be ignored
• “Fill in” or infer missing information
• Influence decision outcomes
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
Center for Coordinated Assistance to StatesCCAS
GROUP DISCUSSION
QUESTIONSCOMMENTS CONCERNS
OBSERVATIONS
22
Developing a Proactive & Collaborative Strategic Communications Plan
BEST PRACTICES
23
Issues Media Curve
24
Strategic Communications Planning Guide
25
Vision and Goals
What do we want to achieve?
How will we know we’ve achieved it?
26
Identify Target AudiencesWho needs to be informed, persuaded or mobilized?
Segments of the community Parents, students, youth,
volunteers Influentials: UN or agencies Policymakers: elected
officials & bureaucrats Change agents: community
leaders, advocates & activists
Media: journalists & bloggers Legal: attorneys, judiciary,
reformers Academics: schools of public
health, education public policy
Foundations, business & corporate partners
27
Develop Messages for Target Audiences
Involve policy and substantive experts
Assess past news coverage
Gather the facts and research
Visualize the “ideal” story or outcome
Develop message box or memos
Repeat, Revise, Repeat
28
Messages Should Be
29
• True
• Believable
• Emotional
• Supported by the facts, but not just facts, add compared to what?
• Framed to win
• Aligned with more powerful issues
• Visual for television and web sites
• Repeated over and over
Develop and Train Spokespeople who:
Target audiences will find credible
Have personal stories to tell
Recognize the importance of the media
Watch and read media
Are willing to be trained
Are disciplined to stay on message
30
Message Box
Three or Four Key Supporting Message Points
Overview of Issue in Big Picture/Values Language
Summary of Specific
Facts/Problems
Why Action is Needed
Action Steps for your Audience
31
CentralMessage
Critical Elements for Outreach
32
• Message development and framing
• Strong written materials in one page, 3-5 page summaries, full reports or books
• Reporter-friendly Web sites
• Local mainstream and new(er) social media
• Editorial and op-ed strategies
• Visuals and good television stories pitched to reporters on a regular basis
• Radio strategy (AM and FM) news and talk
• Cultivate a reporter corps and develop a beat
• Made-for-cable events and forums
Tools of the Trade
33
• One-on-one relationships with journalists
• Press briefings
• Press conferences
• Press kits and written materials, on-line and on-paper
• Editorial board visits
• Op-ed placements
• Radio news feeds and podcasting
• Video feeds and webcasts
• Audio news conferences
• Paid advertising and PSAs
Quick Response and Damage Control
• Coordinate a media monitoring and quick response team including opposition research
• Develop a plan for same day, appropriate response
• Challenge reporters who are inaccurate or mislead readers/viewers
• Ombudsmen strategies
34
Internal Communications
• Be inclusive with staff by showing them you respect their ideas.
• Include them in the strategic planning process.
• Show you are a good listener.
• Acknowledge the difficulty of their work.
• Build on successes of the past and learn from a crisis
• Don't tear everything down and start over – this approach can lead to resentment.
35
Internal Communications
• Identify rising leaders and align with them.
• Use the strategic plan as a reference document to show resistant staff what the community expects the system to do.
• Send staff copies of positive media articles.
• Ensure that you stick to your message and repeat it over and over and over. Why? Some staff won't really hear the message until having it said to them several times.
36
37
GOOGLE: Social Media Video – The Social Media Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8
Social Media: FRIEND?
38
Social Media: FOE?
39
Social Media: The Balancing Act
Resources
Reach
Reputation
Reliability
Round-the-Clock
Repeat, Revise, Repeat
40
23
GROUP CONVERSATION & COMMENTS
42
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
Center for Coordinated Assistance to StatesCCAS
Be Prepared – Reacting to a Crisis or Backlash
43
Start with the basics.
44
Phone Who answers the phone? What are the protocols for reporters?
Computer Monitoring and returning e-mails
that can reappear in strange placesInstant Google Alerts to track breaking news
TV & Tivo Local media review 24/7
Cable
And more…
45
Find out and Stay with the facts.
Don’t AssUme Anything.
Collaborative Strategies
• Clients, families, or youth
• Employees
• Contractors/Partners
• Governor’s Office, County Commissioners, Mayors
• State Legislature
• Advocates
• Public/Community
46
Environmental Scan
You and the Stakeholders
47
Your Communication Strategies
Who Needs to be Involved?
• Communication technician: Writer, editor, project manager
• Communication facilitator: Listener and information broker, liaison between organization and stakeholders
• Problem-solving facilitator: Collaborates with other managers to define, avoid, and solve problems strategically
• Expert prescriber: “Hired gun” to make PR problems go away
48
Environmental Scan: Media Backlash in a Crisis
What’s the Situation?
Key Questions to Ask Yourself:
• How did you find out about the story, situation or crises?
• How fast can you (should you) respond?
• Do you have all the necessary information to respond or make a strong statement, or should you wait until all the facts are confirmed?
• Who will speak for the agency?
• What is the media behavior? How many reporters are working the story?
• What is the public/community reaction?
49
Environmental Scan: Media Backlash in a Crisis
What Gets the Most Attention?
Child/Juvenile Death
Child AbandonedOvercrowding & Bad Conditions
“Celebrity” perpetrator
Child/Juvenile Injury/Accident
Child AWOLUntreated Mental Illness
Divorce/
custody
Infant Roll-over RunawaysDomestic Violence
Agency/
employee wrongdoing
Child/Juvenile Crime
Home Alone Substance Abuse Lawsuits
50
Environmental Scan
Remember Agency Realities
• Agency exists to serve public.
• To be effective, agency must have impeccable reputation and community support.
• In free society, media are watchdogs.
• Public provides financial support. Agency must perform and be accountable.
• Agency has a responsibility to tell its story—and a right to be skillful at it.
51
Communicating in a Crisis
Preparedness
• Responsive communications/media relations
• Prevention/Risk assessment
• Early warning
• Crisis team, as needed
• Crisis plan/procedures
• Communications and Operations strategies for crisis management
• Debrief, learn and improve
52
Communicating in a Crisis
Early Warning
Internal tracking for situations that are:
•Illegal
•Hazardous
•Wasteful
•Unethical
•Against mission, mandates, policies, procedures
•Damaging to agency image
•Likely to attract negative public/media attention
Immediate internal notification of:
•Death/injury
•Threats
•Police involvement
•“Celebrity” perpetrators
•Wrongdoing (employee, foster parent, child, etc.)
•Lawsuits
53
Communicating in a Crisis
Crisis Management Team
Permanent Members:
• Commissioner
• Communications Director
• Deputy Commissioner
Situational Members:
• Supervisor
• Caseworker(s)
• Probation Officer
• Other insiders with case knowledge
• Legal counsel
54
Communicating in a Crisis
Crisis Procedure
• Business hours and after-hours protocols
• Rapid crisis team meeting: facts and strategies
• One or two seasoned spokespersons
• Key messages: tone, big picture, details, lessons learned
55
Communicating in a Crisis
Crisis Danger Grid: Everything is NOT a Crisis
56
Communicating in a Crisis
Strategic Objective
Provide enough details to convince journalists, editors, and the public that your agencies….
•Did all that it should and could?
OR
•Is accountable, contrite, and prepared to improve?
57
Communicating in a Crisis
Baseline Strategy
• Be accessible and forthcoming.
• Tell the truth.
• Tone: Acknowledge situation, show appropriate emotion.
• Big Picture: Establish context, educate if possible.
• Details: Accept or deflect responsibility, support with facts.
• Lessons Learned: Describe future preventive strategies, if appropriate, announce policy changes.
58
Communicating in a Crisis
General Tips
• Never underestimate a crisis.
• Never lie or be defensive.
• Personalize your agency.
• Explain what you do and the situation.
• Respond quickly.
• Never say, “No comment.”
• O.K. to say, “I don’t know. I’ll find out.”—then do it.
• When you goof, confess and repent.
• Stay ahead of the story
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
Center for Coordinated Assistance to StatesCCAS
GROUP DISCUSSION
For More Information, contact:
Kathy Bonk, Executive DirectorCCMC, Communications Consortium Media Center1300 I Street NW #400EWashington, DC [email protected]
59