Supporting change management communication with the right media is vital. A DVD of the Transformation at Wiltshire hit the right note both internally and externally.
Wiltshire Council had undergone huge transition from five local authorities (four District and 1 County Council) into a single Authority. This was the precursor to a major transformation programme that would run for four years after the initial transition.
The Executive Team at Wiltshire had already engaged Practicus to help provide the team of Change & Project Managers to deliver transition. Once successfully delivered, the Leader & Chief Executive opted to use the Practicus Media & Comms team for change management communication - making sure everyone was aware what had been achieved during the first phase of the programme.
The results were outstanding. The team conceived, directed and produced a DVD that would convey to internal staff, the Council Members and to the taxpayers of Wiltshire, as well as other Local Authorities what had been delivered in a very short time. The objective was twofold, to demonstrate that best value and practice had been achieved and illustrate to all audiences that the Council was to be trusted implementing such huge ongoing change. The feedback on what Practicus produced was strong: "... watching the staff’s faces when they saw it, they felt proud of what they’d done."
Jane Scott, Wiltshire Council Leader, “One of the good things for us internally with this DVD was watching the staff’s faces when they saw it, they felt proud of what they’d done...”
Laurie Bell, Service Director, Communications, “All round it hit all the spots for us.”
Such was the feedback, that the Management Journal (MJ) put the DVD on the front cover of its magazine in December 09 as a free give away. Furthermore the MJ agreed to a supporting article written by the Council Leader.
Ultimately the change management communication messages the Executive team wanted to get across couldn’t come directly from the Council in any kind of promotional way. The film had to contain independent assessment of what had happened to be accepted by all audiences.
View the Practicus video of Wiltshire's unitary transformation (featured in the Management Journal, December 2009)
You can find more information on our change management communication work with this organisation and on similar initiatives by contacting us.
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