Natural England

Corporate communications strategy (AP01/52)

FOR DECISION

Background

1. Good external communications are key to the Agency's success. Clear, succinct communications should be our hallmark. As a relatively small organisation with limited resources, we will only achieve our objectives by persuading others to adopt our proposals for change. This means assembling and presenting a convincing case and backing it up with facts. As we move into delivery we also need to demonstrate our effectiveness, showing how we are making a difference by reporting our success.

2. Effective external communications require focused and consistent messages. Sometimes the breadth of our interests means we are not sufficiently focused and our messages are many and varied. The danger of this approach is that we risk being seen as an expert on nothing in particular and we are not sought out by commentators as a leading voice on a particular rural issue - we lack clarity of purpose.

3. Two other factors have a significant bearing on our approach to communication in the immediate future. First, we anticipate a decline in Government interest in the rural agenda. World issues, a possible recession and its consequences for public spending mean that we will have to try harder to get our messages across and show why the countryside matters. To get the attention and support of ministers we will need to exploit areas of mutual interest - particularly areas where the government is keen to demonstrate its own effectiveness, such as health and public services.

4. Second, as rural issues have gained ground at a political and public level, the number of organisations with an interest in this area has grown. This means it is harder for us to be heard. To regain ground we must identify the areas where we are ideally placed to lead the debate and then speak out with clear authoritative messages. We must also build and refine the profile of our lead players to differentiate them from other vocal rural advocates.

The need for a new communications strategy

5. The new communications strategy is intended to maintain or increase the visibility of the Agency and to clarify its role by more carefully targeted and clearly articulated communications. More specifically it will:

• outline clearly our communications aims, priorities and messages over the next year in line with organisational aims;
• set a framework for developing communications programmes for all parts of the Agency as part of the business planning process;
• form a basis for developing area-specific communications plans eg publications, media relations etc;
• integrate communications activity across the agency and ensure that it is focused on achieving organisational priorities;
• encourage a clearer, simpler approach to all Agency communications.  

6. Once agreed, the strategy will inform all communications planning for the Agency over the next year. The aim is to cascade the strategy using the business planning process as shown in annex 1. 

Corporate communications objectives

7. Following an assessment of the wider context for our work, we propose that for the next year our communications objectives should be to

• keep rural concerns high on the political agenda, nationally and regionally;
• reinforce the Agency's pivotal position in helping the Government deliver on its objectives while maintaining our independence;
• ensure recognition of the Agency as delivering useful outputs and tangible outcomes for the countryside;
• build the profile of our leaders as authoritative commentators. 

8. Overall we aim to create a clear impression of what the Agency is about - leading on rural issues - and the blend of thinking and doing which distinguishes us from others operating in the rural arena.  

Key themes and messages for next 12 months

9. We will achieve these four objectives by pursuing three communications themes:

developing and defining policy on the countryside - influencing and persuading government and other decision makers; 

developing deliverable solutions - showing how issues can be solved; 

publicising key information/issues. 

Policy development/influencing and persuading 

10. We will create a rolling programme of key messages which will be promulgated by the senior team. The programme will be reviewed every six months and will identify future messages that can be worked up for delivery six months later. The key messages will be used to focus the efforts of the Chairman, Deputy Chair and Chief Executive with 50% of their time allocated to them. This allocation of effort will be mirrored at a Regional Director level. Elsewhere in the Agency (director and principal manager level), we expect to see less investment in key corporate messages with more emphasis on programme specific stories but all communications should be under-pinned by the agreed approach, its style, tone and content. 

11. Proposed key messages in the first six months are: 

• the future of food and farming, including sustainable land management;
• better public services in rural areas, including new standards of entitlements. 

12. In the second six months: 

• what works for the countryside, a new vision for rural economies;
• rural futures, the future prospects for young people in the countryside from
  • both a social and economic perspective;
  • the link between the countryside and the quality of life, particularly health.  

13. These key messages are explained further in annex 2.

Showing solutions 

14. Demonstrating where we are helping to boost rural communities such as Vital Villages and Market Towns will show how change can be achieved. Practical examples coming from these programmes will be dovetailed into our key messages to add weight to them and demonstrate the unique links we make between policy and action. 

Publicising key information/issues 

15. There are a number of areas where we can use information to reinforce our role as leading experts on countryside issues. Previous work on the impact of foot and mouth disease on rights of way is a good example of where we demonstrated our authority by bringing together information. In the short term, our work on mapping open access land will dominate this public information role. In the medium term, a public information campaign designed to alert walkers and those who manage land of their respective rights and responsibilities will be the key public information activity. A full communications programme to support this work will be needed for 2002/3 onwards.  

Key audiences  

16. The audiences for our communications themes (influencing and persuading, showing and publicising information) vary widely - from senior politicians to the public. Even within the proposed key corporate messages which support our influencing and persuading work, there will different audiences at a political, opinion former and practitioner level. Identifying target audiences is an essential part of the detailed communications planning system which we have put in place. As part of this work, we must remain alert to the balance that needs to be struck between delivering clear, convincing messages to those who have the power to make the changes we seek and the need to build our reputation with wider audiences so there is a better appreciation of our role. 

Resource implications 

17. The proposals in this paper are intended to bring clarity and focus to communications work at all levels. No new resources are required, more a refocus of effort. 

Risk assessment 

18. Given the political context within which the Agency operates, communications is a high risk activity. We need to make sure our messages are clear and backed up by facts - not anecdotal evidence. We need clarity and consistency to give us strong focused messages distinguishing us from others. We need to plan ahead so we are prepared, but give ourselves enough room to exploit the unplanned opportunities that crop up. The proposals put forward in this paper are designed to plan, manage and focus the communications process which will reduce the risks identified above. 

Next steps 

19. Annex 1 sets out the process we intend to use to 'roll out' the corporate communications strategy across the Agency. However, other more subtle shifts in our communications work are needed to ensure it is played out to full effect: 

1. • we need to keep our nerve, stick to our agreed priorities and not be diverted onto minor issues;
   • we must continue to develop our communications skills and, where necessary, pull in external expertise, particularly when an independent view is needed or where we are trying to engage new audiences and markets;
   • we must work hard to ensure our communications products use clear, convincing language to persuade those with influence of our case, but also engage wider audiences so our reputation continues to build and develop;
   • we must put more emphasis on monitoring our effectiveness so we can learn from our own experience. A programme of communications evaluation is scheduled for next year;
   • we must remember the importance of internal communications in explaining the communications strategy to staff, its benefits and the role each individual has in implementing it.