This is a copy of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on the council's intranet.  The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the Head of Communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

I’m writing this from another train today – but this one is taking me to work, rather than a conference.

I found last week’s trip to Stockport really interesting.  It was all about leadership.  We heard from council leaders, communication professionals, academics and those who actually recruit communications people.

The particular highlights for me were:

1.  The emphasis in future should be ‘conversation, conversation, conversation’ rather than the ‘communicate, communicate, communicate’ that some industry experts suggest is how we should be focussed.

2.  That passion is probably equally – if not more – important than your qualifications if you want a job in communications.  We were told that you need to ooze excitement if you are to make an impression.  The recruiters also said that for a gig in local government you really need to appreciate politicians too!

There was also a prediction from a leading communications expert called Joe Simpson that 2010 was likely to be a ‘tough year for communications’ with reduced budgets and more scrutiny.  That’s not new news though really and besides, I think as communications professionals we have a duty to prove that we can do more for less and be expected to demonstrate our ‘worth’.

I’m pleased to say that my presentation went down well and the feedback I was given afterwards was very encouraging.  In particular, the former leader of Edinburgh City Council said some very nice things.

The opportunity to chat to colleagues from other councils was also great.  Being able to compare notes, learn from each other’s experiences and discussing ideas is always very welcome.

It also showed to me that we’re pretty forward thinking in Leeds.

We’re already discussing in detail about how we should be formally linking up with other public sector communications teams in future and we’ve even talked about how a joint communications unit for us, the police and the NHS might work.  With tightening budgets it seems the sensible thing to explore.

Other councils however aren’t yet considering those options.  It’d be great to think that perhaps we could get the first one off the ground.

OK.  Other things to mention.

Firstly, a prediction that the Leeds City Council communications team will have consistently high ‘marks’ in future and be held up as an example of brilliance.

I say this because of word which has reached me from the Audit Commission.

As you will likely know, it is the organisation which keeps an eye on our performance and judges how well we’re doing as a council.

It has been thinking about ways of better measuring how effective council communication teams are and has come up with the staggeringly brilliant idea of deciding this based on the number of press releases a council issues.

Yes, press releases.

So, from now on, I will be cracking the whip over my press operatives and won’t let them home until they’ve written and issued at least 10 press releases each a day, even if it works their dainty little fingers to the bone.

I myself will chip in and knock out a few as well.

I reckon that will mean we’ll get 375 releases out a week or 19,500 a year!

We’re going to be the best communications team in the universe!  Maybe I should put in for an award now.

Of course, this is just ridiculous and it worries me that an organisation like the Audit Commission thinks that you can properly assess communications performance based on the number of press releases issued.  If ever there was a way of ‘rigging it’ then this would be it.

The good news is (or bad, depending on your outlook) is that the commission has backtracked and has said that it is now considering ‘other ways of benchmarking’.

Finally, there’s more evidence to suggest that newspapers have lost their former positions of dominance.  A poll of 1000 opinion leaders has found that radio now has more influence than any other media over corporate reputation.

TV was second, print third and online fourth.  The poll – by the public affairs consultancy TLG - suggests the Today programme is the most influential.

I’ve long argued that newspapers are becoming more of an irrelevance each day and this poll goes some way to proving that. 

That’s all for this week - I’m off to turn down an interview request from the Yorkshire Post and offer the leader to John Humphreys instead …