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It is worth noting that the words community and communications have the same Latin root - communitas - meaning shared. Community relations is the practice of communicating with the community to establish and maintain mutually good relationships. Good community relations is about being a good corporate citizen. A good neighbour. A wise neighbour.
The American banking tradition is different from Australia's. It is essentially a sharing tradition and US banks are mindful of their reliance on the community. As a result, they take community relations very seriously. For example, initiatives taken by members of the California Bankers' Association:
These initiatives are all practical and community-oriented. They breathe life into the notion of sharing with the community. They are inclusive. They establish a fine platform for effective issues management.
Community relations works best where the organisation identifies itself with the broader community and sees itself as part of that community. To aspire to be part of a community is to aspire to be recognised by it and invited to join it. You must be invited in because it is not possible to invite yourself.
Community relations as the art of becoming an insider in the community. This implies the emplacement of three important stepping stones:
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dialogue - establishing two-way communication.
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integrity - being what you say you are.
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credibility - you are believable and believed.
The primary goal of community relations is to gain understanding and support for what you are doing - so maintaining and improving your position in the marketplace, your closeness to customers and your freedom to operate.
If an organisation is managed poorly - if it doesn't have good relations with its employees, if it doesn't produce quality products or services, if it doesn't establish close linkages with its customers - then it is hardly likely to be in a position where it can deal reasonably with the broader community.
Good community relations is an expression of the culture of an organisation. This means that it begins inside the organisation. It starts with positive internal management which treats employees like employees ought to treat other people. With courtesy, consideration and respect. We do not want to turn away the community, so we do not want to turn off our employees.
There are three levels at which community relations activities are important to an organisation:
1. Every organisation has a continual need for stability and improvement. This need can be satisfied by using community relations as a marketing and communications tool. This takes organisations beyond a mainstream relationship with customers and into a different relationship with the community. McDonald's children's charity icon, Ronald McDonald, sells corporate image and concern, not hamburgers. KFC's Kidney Kids do not have to buy finger lickin' chicken to qualify for their annual holiday.
2. At times of rapid change, there is a need for community reinforcement and support. This is where community relations can be used as an issues management tool. This was the case in the work of the Independent Panel on Intractable Waste. The community was asked to come to terms with the issue of disposing of Australia's stockpile of toxic waste. It was asked to put to one side the "not in my backyard" syndrome which was effectively denying a solution to the problem. To achieve this shift, the Panel consulted exhaustively with the community. Not one major interest group was left out of the process. It was the politics of inclusion. And it worked.
3. At times of great public controversy, there is a need to ease community hostility. This is where community relations can be used as a crisis management tool. Before a draconian mini-budget in 1992, then Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett bought prime time on commercial television to calm community fears. He addressed the community directly, rather than relying on the media to do it for him. He succeeded.
In each of these cases - routine marketing, issues management and crisis management - a direct approach to the community assisted an organisation achieve its goals.
Effective community relations can provide substantial rewards in terms of:
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creating excellent marketing opportunities.
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providing a reservoir of good will for the future.
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reinforcing relationships with employees.
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building a leadership position for an organisation.
Being seen as a leader itself pays off in meaningful, measurable ways. Research evidence from the US shows the positive impacts of being evaluated as a leader include:
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being able to charge more (the quality premium has been calculated to be worth about 10%).
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faster growth than followers.
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improved market share.
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a return on sales averaging 10% plus compared with 1% for companies evaluated as poor service providers.
Community relations problems
Community relations problems can be generated by an assortment of causes: ranging from long-term unresolved issues to short-term unpredicted crises.
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The adoption of a profit focus at the expense of value considerations can cause problems.
When the major banks adopted a policy of foreclosing on customers - and especially farmers - without giving them a reasonable opportunity to trade their way out of trouble, it caused a breach with the customer base. The banks gained for themselves a notoriety in the marketplace and the community, from which they have still not recovered.
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Any rapid change in policy or services without adequate research, consultation or explanation is asking for trouble.
The original attempted introduction of a GST by the Coalition defied public opinion and political gravity. While then leader John Hewson let the community know what the Coalition was planning, he did not take the precaution of engaging in meaningful consultation or explanation, nor did he allow the community the time necessary to reach an understanding and acceptance for such a radical proposition.
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The imposition of a facility or service perceived as detrimental to the community will certainly meet with opposition.
A freeway through the suburb disrupts community cohesion. A tollway is yet another cost to people already under financial pressure. An adjacent gaol represents a perceived threat to personal safety. A nearby nuclear reactor, a threat to health. A waste dump, a threat to the environment. A halfway house, an attack on the image of the neighbourhood. And all of these, of course, threaten to undermine property values.
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Curtailment or dilution of services will always activate a hostile response.
People like the thought of having a mailbox nearby or a bus stop round the corner even though they may rarely use them.
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There are usually problems if the organisation does not match or if it maladapts to social and economic changes.
These days even conservative public sector organisations are taking on some of the attributes of the commercial world. But there are some activities the community baulks at. The NSW Education Department found this out when some schools tried to forge links with fast food and soft drink companies. The community felt this was going too far and shouted down the relationship.
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Organisations must also guard against any diminution in skills or technology that may undermine service quality.
By the end of the 1970s, the ABC had devalued an excellent training tradition by the simple expedient of shunting failed line managers into the training area. This caused a deterioration in quality right across the board creating problems for the organisation that extend to this day.
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