Communications Strategy Author: Head of Communications, Anna Bowden Date: July 2014
Author: Directorate: Head of Communications, Anna Bowden Corporate Services Consultation: Heads of Service (Jan-Mar 2014) and EMT (March 2014) and themed session at Board (June 2014) Equality Analysis 10 June 2014 Assessment Date complete: Approval date: Executive Management Team June 2014 Approval date: Lewisham Homes Board July 2014 Strategy Review date: April 2017 Equality Impact Assessment Review April 2017 date: 2
Strategy Overview and Aims Lewisham Homes is committed to providing high quality communication as part of its mission to deliver excellent housing services. This strategy will play a key role in our mission by ensuring that we communicate in a timely, open, reliable and responsible manner, and target audiences appropriately. To be effective we aim to increase awareness and understanding of what we do, build relationships and therefore contribute to increasing customer satisfaction. This strategy sets out how the communications function will support the organisation s corporate objectives and strategies for ICT, People, Community Engagement, Customer Services and Equality and Diversity. Good communication and information about our services is the responsibility of all Lewisham Homes representatives, including staff and Board members. By articulating our key messages, identifying audiences and delivering effective communication tools we can provide clear guidance to prepare and equip all representatives of Lewisham Homes. It is essential that Lewisham Homes speaks with one voice for the clarity of our messages to be maintained. Lewisham Homes is now in its eighth year and is at an important place in its journey. We have strong support from our residents and the Mayor under the Housing Matters consultation which saw our staff speak with thousands of residents about their priorities and about our future. However, we are operating in a changing environment with central government decisions having an impact on our organisation through self-financing, Welfare Reform and Right to Buy sales. It is time for us to begin to articulate our place in the housing landscape, and share our commitment to investing in Lewisham and creating opportunity for local people. We are three years into our Decent Homes programme which is making a big impact with our residents. In terms of our customer service and satisfaction, we will be investing in our online offer to residents and respond to the increasing demand and expectation for self-service. Our new online service is due to launch in 2014 and, as outlined in our Customer Service Strategy, it is anticipated that self-service and online access will present more cost effective and value for money customer service option in the future. There is a range of effective internal communications in place to help keep employees informed and engaged with the organisation. We want to bring a new focus to our efforts in this area, and aim to capture and reflect the voice of our employees to creating an employer brand that attracts and engages the best talent to join our team. Mission and objectives Lewisham Homes mission is to deliver excellent housing services for thriving neighbourhoods in Lewisham. Our strategic objectives are: 1. Excellent services 2. Quality Homes 3. Sustainable business 4. Community focus 5. Employer of choice 3
Communications objectives To increase understanding and manage expectations about the services we provide, and therefore improve customer satisfaction with these services to 80%. To inform residents and facilitate two-way communication to ensure residents can influence our services. To create an employer brand that attracts, engages and helps retain the best talent. To build a brand that articulates our vision, promotes our staff, work and place in the housing landscape. To provide professional advice and facilitate two-way communication for staff. Ensure that communications plays a part in staff feeling motivated, valued and informed. Link to strategic objectives 1 2 3 4 5 Where are we now Audiences We are responsible for developing effective communication links with residents, staff and other audiences. Information will be targeted appropriately for: Tenants and leaseholders Current and potential employees Resident and community groups Board Members Lewisham Council Unions Media press, online, industry Online community/bloggers Other housing providers Regional/National Government Suppliers, partners and contractors Customer data and feedback In 2012 the STAR survey showed dissatisfaction in some key areas of service, the main reasons being poor communication, customer service, or not listening to tenants (26%); or lack of response/action and outstanding repairs 24%. Three fifths (60%) of dissatisfied tenants said that if there was an improvement in communication then they would feel Lewisham Homes is good at keeping tenants informed. One fifth (20%) of tenants stated if Lewisham Homes sent them relevant information this aspect would improve. This is the same for all demographic groups. Although 62% of tenants have access to broadband at home (2012 STAR survey), less than 3% of customer contact is via digital channels. Part of this strategy is based on the development of online services and a channel shift for residents use of these, presenting an opportunity to increase customer satisfaction, as well as reduce the demand on our customer contact centre. Staff and resident surveys being carried out in 2014 will give us further insight. 4
Channels We provide a range of accessible channels including online, print and face to face. These include the website, intranet, magazine, leaflets, events, eflyers, posters, text messaging, social media and more. The development of customer service points is covered broadly in our Customer Service Strategy and ICT Strategy; however, this strategy aims to set out the strategic use of these channels in order to contribute to achieving the organisation s aims. The growing expectation for online services and interaction via social media is being considered through this, Customer Services, ICT and Community Engagement strategies. With an active and growing community of bloggers and social media networks, there is great potential for engagement activities through online forums, blogging and video, and we are incorporating some of these channels into our activities. We have had good success through our Twitter, which is emerging as a contact point for general customer enquiries. The introduction of online services provides us with more opportunities to increase engagement online, including creating discussion forums, surveys and targeted eflyers. Equality and Diversity considerations We make best use of our existing communications methods to provide information to audiences as set out in our Equality and Diversity Strategy and the Equality Analysis Assessment. As part of our approach through resident engagement activities we are focused on a holistic approach to digital inclusion activities that support our residents to participate online and access a range of services and information. A range of alternative formats and other types of support through our services are regularly promoted through our communication channels, including but not limited to providing interpreters and translations, alternative formats, using plain English and avoiding jargon, acronyms and abbreviations. Our websites are mobile-friendly and designed in accordance with good practice in accessibility. Media We have a responsibility to develop a positive working relationship with the media in order to maintain and enhance Lewisham Homes reputation. We monitor and are in regular contact with local and industry press, social networks and blogs. Our preference is to communicate directly with audiences through a variety of our own channels to ensure information remains accurate and is distributed effectively to relevant audiences. In 2013/14 Lewisham Homes was featured 95 times in the media. Of these 56 articles were positive and 27 negative. There are occasions when residents engage the media to challenge us. Most press enquiries come via the Council s press office and we work together to respond to these. Our aim is to work directly with residents to solve problems and deal with complaints quickly. Key issues and challenges One of the consistent themes gathered from our customer surveys and consultation work is that our residents feel uninformed about our services. This appears to be due to their experience as a customer (eg. being kept updated about progress of their enquiries, particularly for repairs and ASB), rather than down to the communications materials they receive. It is part of our Customer Services Strategy to shift residents to online services and this is an opportunity to address these issues. Unfortunately, the development of services has been limited by our ICT arrangements, though we are working on achieving this, as set out in our ICT Strategy. 5
Political and economic debate and influences around housing generally has meant that Lewisham Homes has been adapting to the changing shape of services (eg, Welfare Reform and Right to Buy), as well as a changing path for the future having paused our conversations with residents about our future. This environment has meant that establishing clear messaging is challenging. Major Works and decent homes continue to be a high profile part of our activities and is making a big impact in our residents homes. Satisfaction with services has been positive (93%) and with nearly 5000 homes complete the programme is now entering a wide-scale programme of external works. From 2014, information and support for leaseholders and our consultation is particularly important, as they are required to contribute to costs of work. To minimise the issues in the long term a proactive stance is needed. Where we want to be Key focus areas 1. Marketing the residents portal / channel shift Supporting the channel shift to digital channels will be a key focus following the launch of online services. This will allow us to improve data capture and analysis, deliver more targeted digital communications, increase customer engagement in our digital channels and enhance customer value. A strategic campaign plan sets out the approach to marketing online services, focused on registration, not use of services, as this is impacted by both technology and other factors. 2. Employer brand We will continue our efforts to be an employer of choice by creating an employer brand that attracts and engages the best talent. We aim to do this by capturing and reflecting the voice of our most important advocates, our existing employees. This will be measured by brand familiarity and offer acceptance rates, increase in quality job applications and size of candidate long list; and employees with optimised professional social profiles. A campaign plan will set out the proposed strategic approach to creating an employer brand. 3. PR/Media campaign We will deliver a proactive PR programme designed to share our story and strengths in connection with our strategic objectives. This will include building a positive profile and story around our contribution to housing and building the first new council homes in Lewisham for 30 years; sharing our successes in supporting people through the offer of apprenticeships, graduate placements, training and back to work schemes, and community development initiatives. Brand A consistent brand and identity gives us the tools to communicate effectively, by allowing our stakeholders to instantly recognise us and access our services. It s not just about the logo or the colours we use but how our visual, written and verbal communications all work together to present a united image that reflects our values and corporate objectives. We have set out brand guidelines which outline the basic building blocks needed to produce all communications material, whilst still allowing for creativity. 6
Consistent application of the Lewisham Homes brand should be used to reflect our identity and will help audiences to recognise us. Its success depends on: A planned communications programme linked to strategic objectives A clear and consistent approach to brand voice and identity as set out in our Brand Guidelines Use by any third party to be approved by the Communications team External communications Communicating well with our tenants and leaseholders is crucial to our services and reputation as an organisation. We have developed our external communications and established ourselves as an organisation that is working hard to improve and deliver for its residents. We want to continue to develop our existing tools to ensure they are meeting the needs of our target audiences, are innovative, reflect the changing environment, represent value for money and are accessible to all. This will include emphasis on refreshing our brand and online presence, ensuring our messages are clear, and providing a range of channels to facilitate communication. Our messages are set out below: We re 100% focused on Lewisham We want our residents to love where they live We want to make a difference to Lewisham people and the housing landscape We re proud of our people and our work External communications includes our approach to stakeholder audiences such as Lewisham Council. We will build on our efforts to provide councillors and officers with information and clarity about our services, and continue to work with the press office through our Service Level Agreement. We will continue to provide eflyers, networking events and connect through social media channels which are particularly well used by councillors. We are introducing a new approach to our brand as an employer; this will be mainly through online channels and designed to attract interest in our organisation and talented people who may want to work for us. Our resident survey being carried out in 2014 will give us further insight. Internal communications Effective internal communications help to ensure that employees understand our values, mission and how their role contributes to the overall objectives and Business Plan. We will keep staff informed and engaged through a range of tools including the intranet, plasma screens, eflyer, briefings and events. By ensuring our staff feel involved and able to participate in open and honest communications they will be more likely to be proactive and suggest ideas and opinions as well as represent the organisation well in their day to day roles and interactions. A one page concept has been developed specifically for communications to staff. This sets out the five strategic objectives and three main messages associated with these, it is designed to promote clarity and consistency for leadership communications within the organisation. Our values are also important to thread into our day to day communications. These were launched in 2013 and are being embedded in a range of ways, and will assist us in developing the culture we seek. To build on our internal communications we will continue to facilitate involvement from employees at every level and increase the accessibility of all directors. We will also revamp 7
our intranet site to deliver a fit-for-purpose site which enables user-driven content. Repairs operatives and caretakers make up a third of our employees and have some of the most significant and regular contact with our customers, it is important that they feel valued and connected to our mission. Many do not have access to computers through their day to day work; therefore we are developing our ways of sharing information with them, particularly through using smart phones. Our staff survey being carried out in 2014 will give us further insight. How we will get there We have an annual communications programme which maximises the use of our established communications channels, aligns to the Business Plan 2014/15 and sets out the actions for improving communications. The programme includes communications with residents, staff, stakeholders and our approach to press/pr. It also acknowledges the cross-over with other corporate documents including Customer Services, Community Engagement, ICT and People Strategies. Campaigns We will agree individual campaigns which support the business, such as driving take up of direct debit, within the annual programme to ensure appropriate time and capacity is allocated. This annualised approach to the planning of campaigns will also help ensure that we minimise ad hoc and unplanned work which is, inevitably, more costly and less efficient. Resources The Operational budget for 2014/15 is 630,000 including staff, printing and postage costs. The communications team is made up of the Head of Communications and 5.4 staff. This enables campaigns, media monitoring, web development and graphic design be carried out in-house. Monitoring and review Activities will be monitored through the Business Plan and supporting communications programme. Evaluation and measurement of activities include: staff and resident satisfaction 25% of residents registered for online services by 2017 web analytics and social media followers/friends (2136 Twitter followers March 2014, 2887 followers on social media overall) There were 56 positive press mentions featured in 2013/14, over the next three years we want to see more than 60 per year Other campaign specific measurements are set out in the appropriate planning documents. The strategy will be reviewed annually by the Executive Team as part of the business planning process and a revised strategy will be submitted to Board in 2017. Developing the strategy This strategy has been developed to complement Lewisham Homes strategic objectives and Business Plan 2014/15, as well as key strategies and service requirements (in consultation with the Board, Executive Management Team and Corporate Leadership Team members). A range of analysis tools have been used to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and to map the influence and interest of audiences. 8
A themed session was held with the Board on 10 June 2014. The feedback from this session has been taken into account in the final version of this document including setting out the approach to promoting Lewisham Homes activities externally, addressing communications with councillors, and outlining how social media and the online portal can be used. Appendices Communications Programme 2014/15 Equality Analysis Assessment 9