NETHERLANDS | Lessons learned during the Poldershop on communications

"We are dealing with people,” this is what Rosemary Agnew, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, emphasized in one of the group discussions during the Poldershop on communication. An essential statement as we aim to reach out and help people. Not only citizens but also help the civil servants improve the services to the public.

The Poldershop on communications took place on 12 and 13 November in The Hague. The format of a Poldershop offers all participants the opportunity to share knowledge and experience, but also to ask questions and learn in an informal and open setting.

The Poldershop was organized as part of the exchange of experiences in the IOI European Region. There were 25 participants. Prior to the meeting, participants had been asked what they would like to discuss during the Poldershop. These questions were then divided into a number of topics and were used to inspire the meeting.

New insights

There were, as always during a Poldershop, interesting new insights. For example, not all offices have a communications department, but rely on one communications person. Also there were different views on what the mission and vision of an institution was. Some had developed their own, while others referred to  the ombudsman law. 

Social Media

Social media was a recurring topic. Most offices use Twitter. As it is an effective way of informing a selected audience. This was followed by Facebook. Although there was a general opinion that Facebook was now more of an older people's thing.  The latest challenge was using Instagram to reach out to younger people. The European Ombudsman is making an effort with this medium at the moment.

Cartoons and movies

Using images, cartoons and movies in general were found to be good instruments for reaching a larger audience. Interesting was the fact that clear language has a wide interest. Many offices realise that legal language is not useful if you want to be effective or be in contact with other people than higher educated white people.

Choosing instrument

One important conclusion was that you always have to consider which instrument you can use best for the task at hand. Social media is never an goal in itself but should serve a purpose. So if the institution wants to reach out to certain target groups, the social media or any media for that matter, should be the right instrument to attain that goal.

The participants were very keen to hear about the communications strategies of each institution and the social media strategy. Many such useful documents would be very useful to be shared. The participants have asked if it is possible to set up a page for communications on the site of the IOI European Region. On this page material such as the strategy papers can be shared. But it could also serve as a discussion forum for communication specialists. The IOI secretariat in Vienna was very interested in this suggestion and is exploring the possibilities at the moment.

It was a successful meeting with very enthusiastic participants. It was the last Poldershop for this year, next year we will continue with another Poldershop. Of course if anybody would like to use the concept for their own Poldershop, you are of course free to do so.

Source: Office of the National Ombudsman, The Netherlands