Borough of Poole
Carbon Management Programme: Communications Strategy
“Changing attitudes towards reducing CO2 is not like selling
a particular brand of soap, it’s like convincing
someone to use soap in the first place”
“Courtesy of futurra: Climate Change Communications Strategy”
Project No: / CF001Version: / 3
Date Of Issue: / November 2008
Author(s): / Caroline Williams/Julie Purkiss/Paul Cooling
Approved by Project Board: November 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION
2DOCUMENT VERSION CONTROL
3PURPOSE OF DOCUMENT
4BACKGROUND
5OBJECTIVES......
6COMMUNICATION TO DATE...... 5
7 STAKEHOLDERS……………………………………………………..………………….....……5
8COMMUNICATION APPROACHES……………………………….…………………...... …….5
9 COMMUNICATION PLAN………………………………………...……………………….………….6
10RESPONSIBILITIES………………………………………………………………………….……….6
11RESOURCES……………………………………………………………………………………….….7
12RAID (Risk, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies…………………………………………….……7
13 - STAKEHOLDERS…………………………………………………………………….……………….8
1 DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION
Name / Job Title / Role / Action RequiredCarbon Management Programme Board
Cllr Don Collier / Councillor Champion / Review & ApprovalAndrew Flockhart / Programme Sponsor / Review & Approval
Adam Richens / Finance Champion / Review & Approval
Paul Cooling / Programme Leader / Review & Approval
Carbon Management Programme – Leaders
Paul Cooling / Programme Leader / Review & ApprovalStuart Osman / Deputy Programme Leader
Carbon Management Programme Core Team Members
Mike Garrity / Planning / ReviewSteve Chapple / Waste Management / Review
Karen Fry / Green Travel Planning / Review
John Paton / Estate/Buildings Maintenance / Review
Julie Purkiss / Internal Communications / Review
Mike Hiscock / ICT / Review
Ian Johns / Schools Liaison / Review
Clare Freeman / Leisure Services / Review
Adam Richens / Sustainable Procurement / Review
Steve Norcliffe / Street Lighting / Review
Erica Pretty / Housing (Home Energy Conservation Act) / Review
Mike Harrison / Housing (Council Housing) / Review
Chas Rowling / Cultural Services / Review
Steve Johnson / Street Lighting / Review
Other Interested Parties
Caroline Williams / Corporate Communications Manager / ReviewChris Owens / Service Unit Head Customer Services & Communications / For Information Only
Ian Turner / Senior Communications Officer - Media / Review
2 DOCUMENT VERSION CONTROL
Version / Date / Amended By / Summary Of Change0.1 / Sep 2008 / Paul Cooling / Amendments to Core Team Officers & Front Cover
0.2 / Nov 2008 / Paul Cooling / Amendment to Sections 10, 13 & Front Cover
3.PURPOSE OF DOCUMENT
3.1 The purpose of the document is to set out the communication strategy to support the implementation of the Borough of Poole’s Carbon Management Programme. It identifies all those stakeholders who need to be communicated with, and will inform the development of the Communications Plan for this project.
3.2 Any additional communication that is specific to individual work will be identified separately but will follow the principles set out in this document.
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4.BACKGROUND
4.1 “Reducing Poole’s Carbon Footprint” is a priority in the Council’s corporate strategy and our key aims for this project are to:
4.1.1 Reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the Council’s operations
4.1.2 To improve efficiency and save money. (The Council does acknowledge, however, that initial investment will be required in order to secure future cost savings).
4.1.3 Show leadership to the community, local businesses and other stakeholders
4.1.4 To contribute to the Local and Multi Area Agreements
4.1.5 To contribute to mitigating the causes of climate changes in line with the Nottingham Declaration (which the Borough of Poole signed in December 2006).
4.2 The Government has introduced NI 185, which relates to local authorities reducing their carbon emission levels. The Borough of Poole “inspirational” target is to reduce our carbon emissions by 25% by 2012, based on the FY 07/08 baseline. (The UK Government has set a long-term goal of reducing emissions by 80% by 2050.)
4.3 There are two elements to the emissions calculations:
4.3.1 Stationary Sources: offices, leisure centres, schools, communal areas of
council-owned housing, street lighting, traffic lights, bollards, etc
4.3.2 Transportation: fleet and business travel, car and train journeys, air travel, school buses, refuse vehicles, etc
In addition to all council owned and operated facilities, the calculations must include all contracted out services – any service or facility funded with public money. (However, it does not include the embedded carbon emissions in goods procured by the Council).
4.4 Although this project is specifically targeted at the Council’s own emissions, there will be opportunities to share activities with both businesses and the general public, and it is likely that more dedicated campaigns for both these audiences will follow on and make significant use of the achievements (and any disappointments) of this project.
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5. OBJECTIVES
5.1The overall aim of the communication strategy is to keep people well informed and motivated to minimise the resistance to change and make sure they do reduce the energy we use throughout the Council buildings in the Borough.
5.2Specific objectives of the overall communication strategy of the project are to:
Communicate the purpose of the project and expected benefits / requirements
Gain and maintain commitment to the project and its objectives
Keep all stakeholders informed of timescales and progress
Involve and communicate to relevant stakeholders in developing carbon reduction
Keep all involved well informed of the actions they will need to take
Consult and maintain good communications with relevant partnerships as appropriate
Support the communication of the various work being planed and implemented as appropriate
Encourage and motivate permanent change to the behaviour and attitude of staff
5.3Measures of success will be developed to test whether the communication strategy has been successful. This will be through structured feedback and relevant performance indicators. Effective communication is integral to meeting some of the milestones in the Carbon Management Programme plan and these will be measures of success in themselves.
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6. COMMUNICATION TO DATE
6.1 There have been a variety of “green initiatives” over the last few years. However this programme is still in its development phase and has not yet been widely communicated. Two senior management seminars were held in June 2007 to set the scene for the overall “Protecting Poole’s Environment” priority.
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7. STAKEHOLDERS & AUDIENCES
To appreciate what needs to be communicated and how it is communicated, it is important to identify who the stakeholders are. The Key stakeholders have been listed in Appendix 1, along with some initial thoughts on what each of them should need to know and expect from the project. Communication may need to be tailored to meet their requirements – and delivered by a method or methods appropriate to that service unit or group. Many of the basic underlying messages (appropriately delivered) are likely to be common across all groups, however some will relate to the progress of the project itself, but most will communicate/ encourage/motivate action/activities to change attitudes and behaviours around carbon reduction.
8. COMMUNICATIONS APPROACHES
8.1The style of approach to different groups will need to be tailored to their needs. However the same principals will be followed:
- All communication should be informative, professional, friendly and authoritative but not ‘forced’ or ‘lecture-style’. Where appropriate, communications should be motivational and fun.
- All written communication should follow Plain English principles and be available in alternative formats if necessary.
- All messages will be relevant to their audience. For example, officers may relate far more to “this is the equivalent to a light bulb being on for 30 days” rather than “this would reduce carbon emission by 0.2 tonnes”
- The Carbon Management Programme Board will agree key messages at each stage as appropriate to ensure consistency of messages.
- All forms of communication will be delivered and/or written by people who are well informed of the project, its aims, objectives, benefits and progress and will be developed in conjunction with the Communications Team.
- All existing channels of communication in the Council will be used as appropriate and additional channels considered
- A great deal of “green communications” best practice guidance exists and this will be considered for each aspect of the project. The most noticeable guidance is from futurra in their Evidence Base for the Climate Change Communications Strategy.
8.2Branding
A brand for the Carbon Management Programme - see cover of this report – has been adopted. This branding will be used consistently for all communication connected with the project. As well as providing instant recognition of key messages it will reinforce the nature of the implementation of various actions around the Council.
9.COMMUNICATION PLAN
9.1A communication plan will be developed alongside the Carbon Management Programme plan to take account of the key stages of the programme. It will set out responsibilities and timeframes and be published widely. It will include:
- Manager/Unit Head briefings (School heads)
- Staff briefings (including Communications Network)
- Workshops and training
- Toolkits and practical solutions
- Consultation
- Newsletters (perhaps Revive Splash with focus on CO2 reduction)
- Outcomes / Service league tables / Blue Peter style measure-ometer
- Management Emails
- Chief Executive Updates
- Posters and other marketing materials (perhaps “aide-memoirs”)
- Intranet (Loop)
- Dedicated intranet home pages
- Electronic marketing (& targeted)
- Consideration for “electronic” and “non-electronic” staff
- Project reporting
9.2 The plan will cover the ongoing and regular communication. The plan will be reviewed on a regular basis and events and initiatives introduced where necessary to support the Carbon Management Programme plan.
9.3 The list of communication methods above is not exhaustive. There will be requirements within each action for specific issues and appropriate communication and initiatives will be thought through and designed as they arise.
9.4 Any marketing materials will be produced with specific consideration for their impact on the environment.
10.RESPONSIBILITIES
10.1 The Carbon Management Programme Board will approve the communication plan and a member (or several members of the Core Group) will take overall or part responsibility for implementation. The named people in the plan will have responsibility for meeting the timeframes and making sure the communications are in line with this strategy.
10.2 All carbon and energy related issues throughout the council are the responsibility of the Carbon Management Programme Board and all enquiries and communications significant to this area should be directed to the programme board for the attention of Cllr Don Collier. Andrew Flockhart will support Cllr Collier and specialist advice will be sought from other stakeholders as and when necessary.
10.3The Carbon Management Programme Board will monitor progress and outcomes of the communications plan.
11.RESOURCES
11.1All existing methods of communication will be used and many of these are already resourced, for example the intranet. It is expected that that any direct resources needed to meet the communication plan will be met from the Carbon Reduction budget.
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12.TIMESCALES & MILESTONES
12.1 The overall project target is to reduce carbon emissions by 25% by 2012. This has not yet been broken down into annual targets. In the short term, “quick wins” will be the priority.
13.RAID (Risk, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies)
Risk / Impact / Likelihood / MitigationManagers won’t allow staff time to implement the necessary actions / High / Medium / Widespread communication clearly indicating senior management support for the project’s activities.
Managers don’t encourage staff to implement the necessary actions / High / High / Active support from SDs to all their service units (eg, league tables, monthly activity reports, attending team meetings to discuss successes). Put measures into business plans.
Staff don’t engage with the project / High / Medium / Careful plan all levels of communication and consult with staff in focus groups about what would work for them.
The day job gets in the way / High / High / Creative comms to inspire and motivate actions, so that they rise up the priority list
13.STAKEHOLDERS
Communication needs to be tailored to their needs and delivered by a method or methods appropriate to that group.
Internal
Strategic Directors. Will wish to know how this project will help achieve tangible efficiencies/cost savings, how it will provide information that will better help them to understand carbon reduction issues in Council and how it will achieve the Government targets (with progress updates). Will also expect to know that the project is being implemented according to plan, on time and will achieve its expectations.
Service Unit Heads. As above, though less directly affected. Likely to be most interested in what sort of carbon reduction information will be available and how this will help them support their unit more effectively in the simple actions required to save energy and be more cost efficient. They need to be encouraged to recognise and achieve the savings potential that the project has been created for and to actively encourage/support the efforts within their Unit.
Specific Service Unit Heads/Service Managers. Some service units will have more direct involvement and a much greater potential impact on the success of this project than others (eg, fleet reviews, building insulation, street lighting policies). Much of the communication with this group would be direct with the Programme Leader.
175 Managers & Line Management. This group will be directly affected; they need to be sold the benefits in terms of easy access to information to encourage their staff. Will need direct awareness sessions/workshops/toolkits.
Joint Information Consultative Committee (JICC). This group includes trade union and Councillor representatives. They will need to be informed of issues that may affect staff and which require cabinet decisions.
’Green’ champions – to be known as “The Crew” (Carbon Reduction Energy Wardens). Achieving “buy-in” from this group is vital as they are likely to act as “help points” and may in reality undertake the manager/employee motivation and direct communications. It will change the way they work, they may see it as creating more “admin” for them and they may view the potential efficiencies as a threat to their jobs. These staff are likely to be their unit’s Employee First representatives, so will be engaged in the project via Focus Groups. They will need to Champion the project! They will require detailed training and the provision of practical toolkits.
Communications Co-ordinators. Although not necessarily as involved as the “green champions” the Communication Co-ordinators will be a key group to help encourage successful implementation of the project action plan. They will have similar communications requirements to the “green champions”.
Schools. Communications with schools will be discussed and developed with officers from CYPSQI. This will need a special approach, and needs to involve an understanding of the requirements of the curriculum and the development of pupil projects, which can help towards their course work. Some “easy and quick” actions need to be discussed and agreed with CYPSQI and implemented alongside (eg, turn off computers when not in use, turn off room lights when not in use, etc). Regular visits to the Governors’ Forum and articles within the Governors newsletters are also possibilities.
Programme Board. Will expect to know that the project is being implemented according to plan, on time and will achieve its expectations.
Programme Core Group. They are vital to the success of the project and the delivery of the project plan. The Project Management needs to ensure that there is good two-way communication with them linking through to the Programme Board and Managers.
All Employees. They will be directly affected in becoming more aware of the benefits of reducing our carbon footprint, taking individual action at work and at home. There will be an importance of spreading the message to family and friends so our actions can be filtered out to the residents of Poole and encouragement to share successes from home.
Councillors. They will appreciate a clear, simple overview of what the project means in tangible terms, savings that are being made, when the key milestones take effect, how it is being funded and who they should contact if they have queries. They should also be encouraged to take part in the activities and reduction measures, and to spread the word amongst their residents.
External
Partnerships. They will be part of the success of this programme, as we will be working with these groups to be able to implement actions. Some partnerships have already got strong links with the Council, so we will be encouraging them to create their own actions and communication tools. Joint communications may be appropriate on some occasions. Key partnerships include Bournemouth Borough Council, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth & Poole Primary Care Trust, Friends of the Earth, NHS, The Environment Agency, Poole Agenda 21 etc.
Media. Will be interested in this project, however unless the Council’s actions are making significant difference to the public, they may not necessarily publish articles (creativity will be required to identify and present stories that are of interest). When the project moves to the external/public communications campaign they will need to be engaged with more regularly.
Public. Unless they are ‘green’ minded people, or want to know their Council Tax money is being wisely spent on carbon reduction actions, or that these measures are improving our efficiency (such as reducing our fuel bills) some will have no interest at all. However, there is a good opportunity to promote the actions we are taking on our website and in Poole News and Business Brief. We can also start to encourage residents to start taking actions of their own by publishing hints & tips of successful activities on the website.
- ACTION PLAN
Detailed action plans will be developed alongside each element of the programme.
There are 2 main areas of work:
14.1 Activities for Staff. Initiatives that staff can take part in to help reduce our carbon footprint. Communications for these activities and initiatives will be widespread across the Council and will be spearheaded by The Crew, working within their services to encourage and motivate staff and monitor success.