Two years ago I started a new role at Stoke-on-Trent city council as head of communications. If I’m honest, I never thought I would make that two-year milestone.
When I first told people I had got a new job in Stoke, it was met with mixed reaction. The city has had a chequered history. It has seen a mayoral system fail, a historic decline of traditional industries such as mining, steel and pottery manufacturing, and increased deprivation and unemployment.
My former colleagues wished me luck and told me I’d seriously need it. But I had grown up near Stoke and knew the city was on the up and had a lot to offer. Plus, it was my first head of comms post. So it was with a mix of trepidation and fleeting “eff it” thoughts that I went into work that first day.
I joined just over a year before the 2015 general and local elections. Communications and marketing were always in the media spotlight, and the team at Stoke had been through what seemed like a never-ending review led by a number of interim comms heads while decisions were taken about what was best for the function.
When I first arrived I was met with a little cynicism, which is to be expected given the changes the communications team had gone through. It’s been rocky and challenging at times, but we have pulled together as a team. We are responsible for media, marketing and campaigns, web and social media, graphic design, internal communications, evaluation, public affairs, events and translation services as well as consultation. In a council that serves just under 250,000 residents, we’re involved in most aspects of council business.
I have cried twice in front of my team. Once out of sheer frustration and once when I was so proud of them for their work I thought I would burst. I don’t regret it though. I think it made them realise I was genuine. When one of the team thanked me for having their back, saying they had not had that in a long time, I felt like there was no better job in the world. The public sector is fantastic for peer support; people are always prepared to share and help.
From the moment I joined, the role has challenged me. City councils cover hundreds of services, from bin collections to economic development to services for vulnerable children. Stoke-on-Trent is also a place with a lot going on: we became European City of Sport this year and we’re bidding for City of Culture 2021. It’s at the sharp end of public services, serious case reviews, and police operations.
We had two very sad case reviews recently, within a short period of time. One was for an unexplained sudden infant death and the other for the death of a mother and her children. My team had to provide media training with key spokespeople, develop communications for different audiences and agree timings and responsibilities with everyone involved. It was heart-wrenching and difficult given the tragic circumstances.
After the 2015 elections, Stoke-on-Trent became a three-way coalition administration. We’ve seen senior director changes and the communications function has been reviewed twice. Change has been the only constant. I truly believe that building relationships with colleagues and other public sector and commercial organisations has got me through.
During this time of widespread budget cuts, gone are the days of resting on your laurels. Communications functions have to be at the forefront of change and we have to keep up with how people live and consume information. It’s clear from the last two years that if we don’t modernise, and quickly, we will become extinct. We have to prove our worth, and evaluating everything we do is critical to this. Whether it’s the number of visitors to an event, how many foster carers have been recruited or how many people no longer contact us unnecessarily, we need to be clear on the difference we make.
I am passionate about my job, which means I sometimes take on too much. I have had to learn the hard way that no matter how many hours I work, there will never be enough hours in the day. By overstretching myself, I don’t help myself, my family, my team or my organisation. I still don’t quite have the balance right yet, but I’m beginning to recognise when it’s time to stop.
- This is an edited version of a blog first published on Comms2Point0
This series aims to give a voice to the staff behind the public services that are hit by mounting cuts and rising demand, and so often denigrated by the press, politicians and public. If you would like to write an article for the series, contact tamsin.rutter@theguardian.com.
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