GGF readers, lend me your ears

I come to bury the idea you can't do a better job of listening, not praise all that great creative content you're producing

We’ve shared a lot of success stories of creative, effective content creation in these early days of Good Government Files. That’s because it’s what I know best (and I’ve got to start somewhere), and there is some truly amazing work being done by local government communicators.

But sending messages is only half of the job. Per Merriam-Webster:

Communication: a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior (emphasis mine).

So, how well are you doing receiving information? Put simply, are you listening? Are you putting as much effort into listening as you are into messaging? Methinks likely not. I cite a study below that shows, on average, around 80 percent of organizational resources devoted to public communication is focused on distributing the organization’s messages. So methinks correctly.

We need to up that other 20 percent. It’s a Good Government Truism that building and maintaining credibility is fundamental to effective governing. It’s been my experience that credibility occurs when stakeholders believe you are listening to them. I mean, really listening. And if they can see you are really listening, then they’ll know that you care. And when folks know that you care, that’s as good as it gets in government work in my humble and correct opinion.

Is it easy? No. But know this:

So today we embark on the first in a series of posts focused on listening. We’ll start with an overview that shares some theory and some best practices. Because you need to be getting both quantitive and qualitative input to govern well, the next posts will share great examples of how to do both, with a deep dive on surveys followed by profiles of specific listening projects. We’ll wrap it up with insight on how you should be preparing for public engagement, i.e., what to think about and what hard questions to ask yourself before seeking citizen input.

We’ll start with some research on effective listening. I was turned on to the aforementioned study by my two favorite comms professors, Ashley English and Jacque Lambiase. Both are PhDs who teach at the TCU Bob Shieffer College of Communication. (Kind of. Jacque just semi-retired.) I introduced you to Ashley in my last post. Both study and teach public sector communications, and Jacque was one of the co-founders of the Certified Public Communicator program at TCU. Both are passionate about good government.

The study, Creating an Architecture of Listening, was led by Professor Jim Macnamara, PhD, Professor of Public Communication, University of Technology Sydney. Macnamara’s research involved 36 case studies of major government, corporate, NGO, and non-profit organizations in the U.K., U.S. and Australia. In examining these, 104 interviews were conducted and more than 400 documents were analyzed including communication, engagement and consultation plans and reports. I highly recommend reading it.

If that’s TL:dr, then spend a couple of minutes with this list from Macnamara. I think it’s pure gold, and states flawlessly what I’ve seen work in my nearly 24 years of experience in contentious yet successful citizen engagement.

The seven canons of listening

1. Recognition of others as people or groups with legitimate rights to speak and be treated with respect.

2. Acknowledgement, which is sometimes assumed to be part of recognition of others or seen as part of response, but quick and specific acknowledgement is an important signal to those who speak that what they say has been heard and is receiving attention.

3. Giving attention to others. Beyond an initial acknowledgement, listening to others requires cognitive focus as well as some level of empathy (affective engagement or emotional intelligence).

4. Interpreting what others say as fairly and receptively as possible.

5. Trying as far as possible to achieve understanding of others’ views, perspectives, and feelings.

6. Giving consideration to what others say. It should be noted, however, that giving consideration does not require agreement (see next point).

7. Responding in an appropriate way. Beyond initial acknowledgement, a more substantial response is usually required.

This is essentially the Golden Rule of listening. Treat people the way you would like to be treated. Particularly when dealing with controversial issues. If you listen like this, people will believe you actually care, that you’re not just going through the motions. And I know you care or you wouldn’t be reading this newsletter.

While Macnamara provides great advice on how you should be listening, let’s get into the what. Ashley and Jacque have some helpful suggestions based on research they’ve done in Fort Worth, where TCU is located.

Six ideas for better listening

Phase out

• Town halls

• Voice of usual suspects and trolls, receiving too much attention

• Celebrations and state of the city back-slapping events for elites

• One-way digital messaging in toxic spaces online

• Communicators pushing out content that you've always produced

• One 3-minute comment

Phase in

• Trained listeners in breakout rooms

• Meeting residents at their own special neighborhood events

• Face to face discussions and boots on the ground

• Scientific surveying of residents for representative input

• Shorter but multiple structured inputs

• Communicators as the ears of your city's administrators

Let’s drill down into a few of these recommendations.

I wholeheartedly agree with getting rid of Town Hall meetings. They’re OK for political candidates, I suppose, but not for conducting productive government engagement. My last installment in this series will provide insight into choosing the right kinds of meetings and techniques for public input, so I’ll save my Town Hall hate for that post.

The idea of phasing out “state of the city” events is probably jarring to some of you. It certainly was to me the first time I heard it. State of the City gatherings are a time to celebrate successes of the past year as well as offer previews of upcoming big projects. It’s a good news, feel good event. Mayors love them, which is no small thing. That said, it’s usually attended by a chamber of commerce crowd — in fact, chambers sponsor these kinds of events in some communities — and there’s often a fee to attend, especially if it’s a luncheon. But if you’re serious about upping your listening game, it’s an idea worth considering. You need to hear from folks who don’t agree with what you’re doing, and that’s typically not the chamber crowd. Jacque and Ashley suggest transforming these into free community forums to share the state of the city with a broader audience.

I know we can’t phase out single 3-minute comments, which is what happens during citizen communications at council and board meetings. The point here is that for many citizens, that’s the only opportunity they’re aware of where they can address elected officials face to face and be heard. As anyone who has sat through citizen communication can attest, it’s among the least helpful ways to engage with local government.

Which leads us to things to phase in.

I’m a big fan of deploying a variety of listening events, whether it’s Coffee with the Mayor or dropping in on neighborhood meetings. I’ll discuss a couple of specific projects later in the series that should inspire you to take your listening to the next level.

And you will find no bigger fan than this guy of statistically valid surveys as a tool to hear from residents. They are HUGELY important, and that’s why I’ll devote an entire post to them next week.

Listen up, I’ve saved the best for last

To wrap up this post, I’m going to focus on the last but certainly not least suggestion on the list of phase-ins. If you do nothing else to improve your listening, you can designate the comms staff as the ears of local government administration. So what does that look like?

All well-run local governments have a process in place for handling emails to their elected officials. This is a significant listening channel. And, typically, it’s an admin tech or maybe an Assistant to the City Manager who processes them. Sometimes it’s the City Manager or Assistant City Managers themselves who take on the duty of responding.

Comms folks are in charge of social media platforms, which comprise another significant listening channel. So why not bring these two listening streams together?

Designating one person with the responsibility to handle responses to both channels increases efficiency and ensures responses are consistent. That’s the primary benefit, but there are many others, according to Sara Bustilloz, Communications and Marketing Director for the City of Round Rock, Texas, who took on the task of handling council emails last year.

If you’re communicating effectively — if you want people to know you respect them and truly care — then you should be responding to those emails and social media comments within 24 hours. If that’s not your policy, yer doin’ it wrong. One lesson learned in Round Rock years ago was that responding quickly often neutralizes a citizen who’s upset. They might not like the response, but if you got back to them in a timely manner they usually calm down and their level of vitriol diminishes or outright evaporates.

Both channels serve as early warning systems for emerging areas of concern from citizens, so it makes sense to funnel those to one office, Sara said.

“You can really see if an issue is gaining traction,” she said. “If you’re responsible for both, you get a more holistic view of what’s going on. Sometimes something pops up on social media first, sometimes on Council emails. Now, one office is in charge of the messaging on the responses.”

I can hear many of you PIOs saying to yourselves, “No freaking way do I have the time to take on council emails.” I know, you didn’t say “freaking.” But we’re trying to not to work blue here at GGF.

So here’s another significant benefit Sara cited: Comms folks can take the task off the already-too-full plates of City Managers and Assistant City Managers. These are people whose work lives you want to improve. (At least, that’s my working assumption. My fervent prayer is that you’re not working for CMs and ACMs you can’t stand.)

“It’s benefitting them, but it’s benefitting us (in communications) as well,” Sara says. “Getting ahead of issues and having the time to truly vet the questions and craft the response is huge.”

Because the City Manager has “knighted” Sara as the designated listener (and responder), that means other department directors respond quickly when she reaches out for information on a hot topic that just washed in over the transom. Some issues involve multiple departments, Sara notes, so she can quickly get the directors of those multiple departments together on a 15-minute call to sort things out.

“The insights I get on those calls are extremely helpful,” Sara says.

So all you PIOs out there, bite the bullet and take on that task if you haven’t already. It’s good for your organization, and good for your comms efforts. Pro tip: If you’ve been trying to get an admin tech but keep getting rebuffed during the budget process, this is a great way to justify that request.

Going one step further, I think most cities should be utilizing a platform like PublicInput or Social Pinpoint or Zencity for managing citizen engagement online. If you’re just relying on social media for online input, yer doin’ it wrong. When the communications team is in charge of the platform, it can provide support to all other departments when they need to engage the public — and help ensure the messaging is on point and the right questions are being asked. They’ll also have access to input received and can make sure administrators get a heads up as these high-profile projects move forward.

So I think I’ve made the case we should be devoting more effort to listening, and not just creating content that wins awards and garners positive publicity for our communities.

If you’re not convinced, then mull on this quote from Ashley and Jacque that appeared in an Op-Ed they co-wrote for the Fort Worth Report.

“Listening, truly listening, should stop us in our tracks. After listening, we should make changes. Take action. For that’s the only way stakeholders will truly feel heard.”