Benefits of Having a Community Relations Liaison for Departments
As with most group or team projects, responsibilities are divided amongst the members. The research team provides extensive information regarding the topic of interest, creative teams supply insight on designs, logos, and other creative aspects, digital and social media teams create and design an online presence to illustrate the project, but what happens when the project needs to form a relationship with its audience? This is where the community relations team steps in.
Sometimes, no matter how relevant the information is, intended audiences don’t receive the message stemming from the overall project. The importance of a community relations liaison is to bridge the gap between project and audience. Integrated Analysis is a community relations service in Australia that helps infrastructure projects achieve effective and beneficial relationships with the communities in which they operate. While this particular service deals with controversial projects, the methods behind the community liaisons apply for many situations. The project free calls and complaints management is one particular service that is beneficial to establishing a trusting relationship with the community. This 24/7 service provides an opportunity for community members to reach out to the project to make a complaint or request information. This is important because it makes the community members aware that they can be as involved in the project as they want to, and the information isn’t a secret.
Community relations, unlike public relations, is usually limited to the local area. Creating and maintaining a sound relationship with the local community further enhances an organization’s overall program. Although, community relations benefits don’t come automatically, and require some effort. Mentioned in Martin Cohn’s Importance of Community Relations post, many organizations who are quality employers and corporate citizens, fail to realize the rewards of a good community relations liaison. The main mission behind the liaison is to create a strong relationship that builds trust with the community as well as keeps the members informed on what is going on with the project.
Good quality communication is important to all relationships, but it forms a new type of trust when it comes from an organization or company. Community relations liaisons provide the necessary medium between the mission of the project and the audience it affects. In order to be an effective community relations liaison, it is important for you to have good people and communication skills, in addition to the willingness to work with and talk to people. This is a strong tool for any organization or company to utilize, especially when dealing with the public. If you are a people person, or perhaps just talkative, this position may be the perfect fit for you!
“My name is Jamie Messer and I am the Community Relations Director for Appalachian Insights. Although I am a talkative, people person and my job entails speaking to all kinds of people, I actually despise the sound of my own voice. Follow me through our journey on Twitter at @Jamie_WVU.”
