14 JUNE 2018

Today at Otago Regional Council Committee, a new communication strategy was presented. The strategy will be implemented over three years and aims to modernise the way council communicates and engages the community.

Director of Stakeholder Engagement Sian Sutton said a key area of focus would be on improving the customer experience.

“In order to make impact in our noisy and fast-paced world, we need to find ways to be more creative in the way we communicate. The work the ORC does, contributes to the protection and enhancement of our natural environment and we are confident that if that work is communicated in the right way, it will be a win-win for the region and all of us who live here.”

The new communication strategy focuses on key areas including internal communication with staff, community engagement, customer service, public relations and better management of council communication channels.

“It’s important that as an organisation we understand the needs of our customers and over the next year, we will be implementing better customer management systems to improve and modernise interactions with council. Ultimately, we are wanting to drive a customer-centric culture across the organisation that will be more responsive to the needs of our Otago community,” she said.

In addition to customer service, the strategy also aims to innovate councils approach to communication with emphasis on younger demographics and new and emerging social media channels.

“We are committed to creating as many opportunities as possible for our communities to have their say and engage with our work in meaningful ways. We have already invested into a new online consultation tool to enable greater participation, which is a fundamentally important step in this day and age” said Cr Michael Deaker, Chair of the Communications Committee.

“The community is central to the development of this strategy. What we have learnt from them, is that they want to hear from us more and that they want to be engaged on key issues”

“We need to put a greater focus on getting the Otago Regional Council’s narrative out into the public, by highlighting the collaborative and fantastic work being done by both our teams and the community.”

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