Reputation (mis) management

Last week my local council wrote to ask whether I thought a local authority merger should go ahead. I don't understand much about it, but as they'd taken the trouble to consult me, I put the letter on one side to read up about it and send in my views

I found out this evening that my parents did the same. But they've now put the letter in the bin, after Shropshire County Council's head of communications made the news for e-mailing colleagues telling them how to navigate the technology to be able to place multiple votes in a BBC on line pole on the same subject, to help sway the vote in the Council's preferred direction.  My parents have taken it as a signal that the Council really isn't interested in their views and the whole consultation is just a PR exercise. 

Helpfully, the head of comms has said:

"I have actually got quite a lot of feedback from people internally about this who feel quite rightly that it doesn't sit very happily with our core values about being open and honest in terms of the way we communicate"

Quite.

It's now the lead story on our BBC local news site. I'd say Shropshire county council's consultation exercise has definitely done a fair bit to influence their reputation.  Just not quite in the way they might have intended.  It's a good example of how a consultation or survey exercise done well, with the right intention behind it, can pay dividends. And done badly or with any intention of manipulating results or pulling the wool over people's eyes, it can well and truly backfire.

Sue

Comments

[Liam]

You do have to wonder at what point he decided it wouldn't ever get out....

L

[Lee Smith]

Hi Sue
I wish Shropshire County Council would consult me on recycling. I've spent most of January sorting my festive trash into lovely piles of glass, cans, cardboard, paper, food and 'non recyclables'. If they could come up with a more efficient approach, I would happily provide them with some free consultancy on reputation management! Oh the joys of country life...
Lee

[Liam]

Oh no, this blog's turning into the Archers................ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archers/

Liam

[Sue]

Absolutely. Now Lee, do you have the problem I do that the big bin lorry can't get down the lane where I live, so we all have to go on a small trek to put our different coloured recyling boxes (that don't have lids, so all the paper gets soaked) out ...?

Tum te tum te tum te tum ... (that's my best impression of the Archers theme tune, in case you hadn't guessed!)