Build reputation, trust, influence and ability to drive behaviour change
Do your residents know what you stand for? Are they aware of all the good things you are doing? Are they involved and engaged? And are you able to drive the type of behaviour change needed to drive down the cost of services?
We can quickly identify opportunities to strengthen communication competences by working with your team to put in place an improvement roadmap.
As a leading communications agency focusing on the public sector since 2003, Westco has helped more than 40 public sector bodies, including Government departments and councils, significantly strengthen the connection with the communities that they serve.
Our consultants have worked at Director level and are uniquely positioned to understand your challenges and opportunities.
Westco provided us with an excellent service and are good value for money. They get it and are savvy around key organisational issues. They delivered communication improvements and efficiencies across our council.
Cllr Barry Lewis, Leader of Derbyshire County Council
Effective communications and engagement is the cornerstone of any emergency response. The tragedy in the Keyham community of Plymouth was quite unprecedented and Westco’s Ellie Firth, along with the rest of the Plymouth communications team, did an amazing job. They delivered in spades and in a way that has been so sensitive to the needs of the community but also to other stakeholders.
Tracey Lee, Chief Executive of Plymouth City Council
Additional Support
We know it can be difficult to find good quality interim staff. At Westco Works we can place people in your organisation. From experienced Directors and Heads of Communications to operational staff; our people bring immediate and effective support where needed.
We have been placing people in organisations for more than 20 years thanks to our extensive networks which includes Directors and Heads of Communications from central & local government as well heads of media, marketing, comms and media officers from the public and private sector.
What makes us different from other recruitment agencies is that we actively work with placements throughout their time at an organisation to provide ongoing training, sharing of best practice and free consultancy advice.
Our bespoke training programme helps Cabinet Members and Senior Officers to communicate more effectively.
We offer: Media training: We deliver media training to national, regional and local politicians as well as senior officials. Our trainers are former senior journalists, editors and producers who uniquely also have experience of working in the public sector for example supporting the crisis response to the Grenfell Fire.
Social media training: Our social media training is led by UK digital expert Tiffany St James, formerly the UK Government’s Head of Public Participation and voted one of the top 25 female digital experts in the last 25 years. She will support your top team to become a more confident and effective digital communicator.
Team building: Our workshop helps Cabinet members and senior officers: understand how their thinking impacts their behaviours (both in normal circumstances and when under stress) as well as highlighting how best they can work together as a team – and, critically, trust each other. This speeds up the team building process and enables them to get to high performing much quicker.
Good internal communications helps to retain and recruit staff, save money and increase productivity. Our experienced consultants will: Review internal communications channels against best practice Desk top review of the council’s staff vision and values, strategies etc Capability and capacity review We will also look at change communications, two-way engagement and leadership communications
This will support the development of a clear narrative to engage and inspire staff, set IC objectives and rationalise and strengthen internal/stakeholder communication channels
From basic training to a refresher course, we offer bespoke media training for individuals or small groups. This includes an introduction to the media, what makes a good story, how to connect with the media, building a rapport and the rules of a good interview.
This is followed by practical learning where a camera man will be deployed for role play to ensure that the environment mimics a real-life situation.Interviews are then assessed with constructive tips and feedback.
Our experienced trainers have worked in the media and in Corporate communications so not only understand how the media works but also the challenges and opportunities that arise in local government.
