Public Communications in Strategic Planning

Before my current consultant role, I obtained my degree in communications and worked as a communications specialist for two different municipalities in Alberta. Safe to say, communications is a passion of mine!

While I may not write communications plans in my current role, there is a significant communications component during strategic planning.

During strategic planning, we discuss three key communication components.

Internal Communications

The first aspect is communicating about the strategic plan internally. We always recommend having a strong internal communications plan to ensure success with the plan. We highly recommend that updates on plan progress be provided to council quarterly. This ensures that council is aware of how the tactics in the plan are progressing, and there is motivation to keep the tasks within the plan on track. We also recommend that a corporate plan be derived from the strategic plan. A corporate plan ensures that administration can track progress on tasks related to the strategic plan and keep track of projects that are and are not progressing as expected. Without internal communication around a strategic plan, there is a very good chance that they plan will stall and end up collecting dust on a shelf.

External Communications

The second component of communication regarding a strategic plan is engaging with community and stakeholder groups. For example, the agricultural society, the Lions club, or the Rotary club. Service and community groups have strong ties to the overall community and can be great advocates for a strategic plan. These groups also tend to hold or be involved in regular community events. This means that they may be able to promote and advocate for the strategic plan at different events, ensuring that it is communicated out to the community as a whole.

Communicating with the Community

The third, and most important, is communication out to the community. The community voted in council, and council created the strategic plan. The community has a lot invested in the strategic plan, and it is important they are they know about it, can access it, are aware of accomplishments within it, and are able to see the overall vision for their community.

Engaging the community can seem like a large task. However, there are various ways to go about ensuring community members are aware of the strategic plan. Poster boards showing the high-level details of the plan can be set up at community events, one-pager handouts can be given to people who attend events and who pop into the municipal office. The plan can be promoted on social media, the plan can be presented at various council meetings, and local reporters can be asked to interview people such as the mayor about the plan.

There are many benefits to getting the community involved with the strategic plan. People may feel freer to give insight and feedback on the plan, accomplishments that happen during the plan can be celebrated by the entire community, and community feedback can help to shape any subsequent plans. Community members are the key stakeholders of the plan, and their engagement is the key to ensuring success for the strategic plan.

We always say that “no strategy survives first contact with reality.” And while this may be true, a solid communications strategy for a strategic plan sure helps!

Do you have any ideas on how to communicate a strategic plan with the community? Drop me a line at lauren@strategicsteps.ca