how does local government need to adapt to a digital and networked public?
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The Networked Councillor. How does local government need to adapt to a digital and networked public?. 3 October 2014 Daniel Herrera (Assoc CIPD) Public-I Learning and Organisational Development Manager. Why are we doing this?. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
How does local government need to adapt to a digital and networked public?
The Networked Councillor
3 October 2014
Daniel Herrera (Assoc CIPD)Public-I
Learning and Organisational Development Manager
Why are we doing this?
Democratic participation is dropping.
Participation online is growing.
Findings from the
Networked CouncillorResearch Project & Report 2013
with East of England LGA
• Articulates the challenges and opportunities that face local politicians operating in an increasingly networked and digital society.
• Suggestion is that such a society requires a Networked Councillor embodying key qualities of: openness, digital culture and co-production, in order to reach and respond effectively.
• The research suggests that the emphasis should be on ensuring that elected representatives are deeply networked with their communities. Social media is an important part of this but networked councilors will be effectively working with online and offline networks.
Networked councillor Research & Report 2013
Networked Councillor Report 2013 http://tiny.cc/nc-report
• Many members we spoke to used social media outside of their political life
• There as a general acceptance that more digital methods were needed – but a difficulty in knowing where to start and what to say
• The pace of change is erratic and there are urban/rural differences
• The support they were getting from officers did not seem to meet their actual needs
• Members needed help in integrating the demands of online with their existing work
What did the Members tell us?
Networked Councillor Report 2013 http://tiny.cc/nc-report
• The officers we spoke to often admitted to discouraging members from going online – they saw the loss of control as a big issue
• There was consensus around the need to address the issues of training and support more seriously
• Networked and participatory models should be adopted offline as well as online
And the officers?
Networked Councillor Report 2013 http://tiny.cc/nc-report
How does this impact
Welsh local authorities?
Welsh Online & Offline Data
* Oxford Internet Survey 2014 calculation 71% of Welsh population are online with either a fixed or mobile broadband contract.
2,175,054
888,402
Population of Wales 3.1 Million
Estimated Online Population
Estimated Offline population
Local Authorities need a social media strategy to fully engage their online citizens.
Democratic Services Communications
Consultation and Policy Community Engagement
But who does this involve?
Welsh LGA Authority Member Twitter Followers Facebook LikesCardiff Council 29,800 -City and County of Swansea 18,500 5829Monmouthshire County Council 10,600 2,023Wrexham County Borough Council 10,400 3,437Vale of Glamorgan Council 9,103 4,893Gwynedd Council 8,419 3,167Pembrokeshire County Council 8,290 6,654Caerphilly County Borough Council 7,291 6780Torfaen County Borough Council 7,167 7,446Newport City Council 7,105 3,741Flintshire County Council 6,972 169Brecon Beacons National Park Authority 6,919 12,012Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council 6,838 3,533Powys County Council 5,951 903Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council 5,778 -Denbighshire County Council 5,409 1,188Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council 5065 3,108Conwy County Borough Council 4,895 719Bridgend County Borough Council 4465 434Isle of Anglesey County Council 3,778 3,337Carmarthenshire County Council 3,487 2521Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council 3,352 1,671Ceredigion County Council 3,008 2,668
Sum Total 182,592 76,233Average 7,939 3,630
Welsh LGA Council – Social Media Data
23 Welsh authority accounts Average: 3,600 likes. Total: 76,233
Typical council comms following
23 Welsh authority accounts Average: 8,000 followersTotal: 182,592
Top UK networked councillors average at 2,000 followers
1,264 elected Welsh networked councillors
Welsh Online Engagement Strategy
= Each councillor would only need
on average 1,721 followers to engage the whole Welsh
population in coproductive conversations
This is a whole system change but in a democratic system
the elected representatives are crucial
To make systemic change we need to look at all of the participants:
Citizen
Member
Officer
You can’t make significant change without effecting all parts of the system:
• Networked Councillor member development programme
• Work to connect and create Citizen Networks around targeted communities
• Parallel work with Officers to ensure they have the skills in place to support and extend the programme
Open by default: this is open not just in terms of information but also in terms of thinking and decision making
Digitally native: not in terms of age but in terms of the individual adopting the behaviours and social norms of the digital culture
Co-productive: an expectation that everyone in the conversation has power to act and the potential to be active in the outcome as well as the decision-making process
And as the name says, networked: able to be effective via networked as well as hierarchical power as a leader
The qualities of the Networked Councillor
The range of networked behaviours
Communicative Tell people what you have done
We have developed a model of networked councillor behaviours
Collaborative Discuss with people what you are doing
Co-productive Agree with people what you could do together
1 Tweet or Facebook post alerting 2000 local people
Increased traffic to live meetings: Members using their social networks to advise of new webcast meetings.
Disseminated decision making: citizens more likely to watch when specific decisions notified by the elected representative.
Improved behaviour in debates: when members are aware that their consituency are watching there is a marked improvement in behaviour
Networked Councillor’s Impact on Webcasting
=
Programme Structure
Sprint Title Outcome
Zero Preparing support & accounts
Skills Audit, matching officers & members.Social media 101
Draft programme overview
Two Creating and managing your network
An understanding of who their audience is online as well as techniques for meeting and managing that network
Three Exerting influence and dealing with conflict
Techniques to deal with conflict as well as skills to support viral content creation
Four What happens now?
Open discussion of impact of programme and changes needed (for example updated protocols etc.
One Curating your Digital Footprint
A comprehensive and manageable online presence
Elements of each module:
0.5 / 1 day workshop covering the core theme for that sprintFollow up coaching calls to bring ‘digital & coproduction’ into councillor’s
workflow121 meetings with officer support Regular email / online prompts for action
Sprint format
Each Sprint takes the same format however the first module ideally has time for a longer workshop
Who will be involved?
Members
Different models: Existing social media leaders Enthusiastic new comers Senior members
What degree of party political balance is needed?
Skills set?
Different approaches are possible:
Officers
Different models: Democratic Services Communications Pioneers ICT
Daniel [email protected]
Thank you for your time