For the last few weeks I have been getting my feet under the table at the Cabinet Office at 70 Whitehall where I am beginning a three month secondment to work with the Government Communications Service (GCS).

It’s been fascinating getting to grips with a range of projects, including supporting a communications review of a government department.

On my second day, I attended an event called MCOM Live in the bowels of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on Victoria Street.

The purpose of the event was to help 200 senior government communications professionals better understand the GCS’s Modern Communications Operating Model (MCOM).

Last year during the development of a government report on The Future of Public Service Communication, in which I played a part, Google told the GCS the pace of technology change would never be as slow as is was then – it would only quicken.

In an increasingly networked and digitised world where traditional broadcast methods of communications are no longer sufficient to engage with citizens, the MCOM model provides the essential framework needed to optimise marketing, PR and engagement activities.

MCOM is not just relevant to central government departments – it has become increasingly clear to me it provides the blueprint for any corporate or public body that needs to work in harmony with citizens, customers, staff and other key audiences. It provides a new benchmark for how we must increasingly conduct local government communication and engagement activity.

MCOM is built on four pillars: strategic communications strategic engagement, internal communications; and media & campaigns.

These can provide a critical checklist for every local authority chief executive who needs to optimise their council’s communication and engagement activity.

Internal communications

Internal communications is more of a leadership challenge than one of channel management.

The job is to help managers engage and lead better. I have worked with enough councils across the UK over the last decade to know this is an area where chief executives and senior teams can still do a lot more.

If we all lead and engage our teams better the rest will follow. There must be a clear strategic vision that sets out what the organisation aims to achieve and this must be widely understood.

The organisation must also have real integrity insofar as it is seen to do what it says it will do. There must also be a genuine room for employee voice with staff views valued and made part of the solution wherever possible.

Strategic communications planning

LGcommunications has been preaching this one for years but evidence really is king. Why do so many chief executives, many of whom started out their careers as accountants, lawyers or in some other such evidence based discipline still accept ‘SOS’ communications from their teams? ‘Sending out stuff’ in the absence of research, insight or any real understanding of effectiveness among target audiences has got to be consigned to the dustbin of history.

But there is more to strategic communications than just doing a little bit of research and evaluation. Communications activity needs to be based on rigorous planning and informed by ongoing evaluation, in real time, so we can adjust activity as required and ensure that communications is built around target audience and changing circumstances.

We also need to become better at horizon scanning, so we can better understand the strategic implications of upcoming events and trends, set priorities and plan activity accordingly.

Strategic engagement

In an increasingly networked world the way local authorities work with and marshal the support of a wide group of partners and influential stakeholders is critical to ultimately doing the best for local areas.

A key task of communications is to effectively map these complex networks while supporting the organisation to develop the right relationships.

Our success will ultimately be based on not only knowing who to speak to and when, but by also becoming more effective listeners.

Media and campaigns

Press releases are not dead but in the modern media environment they are merely the core script.

The traditional press office function has evolved beyond simply reacting to enquiries and pushing out stories to the traditional media.

Press officers, if that’s what we still wish to call them, must become adept at creating content and using the full range of tools in the digital box.

Activity must also be planned in a structured fashion, moving from simply sending out stuff, to organising what we do in an evidence based campaigning fashion.

MCOM has been developed by the GCS but is relevant across the public sector. It may need to be nuanced to fit a specific organisations exigencies but I believe its four pillars should now form the benchmark for how every council organises its communication activity and for what chief executives demand form their communications teams.

Cormac Smith is assistant director of communications on secondment to the Cabinet Office and member of the LGcommunications executive committee

For further information or to request a GCS visit to your council to run an MCOM workshop contact: Cormac.smith@cabinetoffice.gov.uk or Chris.kirby@cabinetoffice.gov.uk