Managing expectations and maintaining customer satisfaction is always more challenging for local government, so how we communicate with our customers is crucial.

Communicating and engaging with the public to convey our priorities and pressures is a matter for all staff.  As ambassadors for our brand, they represent who and what we are when they are working with key stakeholders and customers.

Our focus remains on maintaining exceptional levels of customer service despite reductions in central government grant.  Gone are the days when ‘public sector plc' had banks of ‘spin doctors' or press and publicity teams and when any move to grow this area attracted scrutiny and adverse comment from taxpayer lobby groups, politicians and a cynical media.

We need to parry the typically Friday afternoon Department for Communities and Local Government pronouncements on everything from senior officer pay and structure, bin collections and budget-setting in order to balance the messages in an elegant and slender manner without attracting ‘cost of council public relations' headlines.

In times of transition, staff need to be able to influence corporate decisions and know what is going on. Sharing information and listening are key to getting good results.

In Teignbridge, we have undergone a management restructure which allowed us to refocus on driving internal communications by engaging organisational ‘twinklies' - loyal officers with integrity, expertise, an ear to the ground and peer credibility from key council business areas, all with a commitment to improving the work we do and with a passion for customer-friendly communications.
   
The news group was formed with a specific remit: to improve cross-organisational working, build trust between colleagues and services and improve internal communication.

Giving ‘twinklies' a starring role at the heart of strategic communications strengthens the messages we share with internal and external customers, stakeholders and politicians in the form of positive feature ideas for sector publications, press releases and ‘news sharing' – building reputation and helping rethink access to services in order to continue meeting the needs of our customers with less resources in an environment that can be hostile.

Nicola Bulbeck is chief executive of Teignbridge DC