Avenues for Communication Teresa Jolley, DEFT153 Ltd LG Technical Advisors Group Presidential Workshop 22 nd May 2015

Background Passion for bringing groups together and breaking down communication barriers – Mouchel – National Highways and Transport Highways benchmarking club – Part-time MA in Online Journalism – teresajolley.com – Director, DEFT153 Ltd

The Challenge for Engineers How do we get the message across to the exchequer on how much money we need, in an open, transparent and believable way? How do we impart to service users the level of service they can expect, for the amount they are prepared to pay?

The challenge for Road Users How do we influence the decisions our local councils are making on how our money is spent? How do we get our local council to listen to and accommodate our needs?

Communication “The more you immerse yourself in understanding and empathising with others challenges rather than your own, the more empowered you’ll feel” Make time to listen to your audiences Immerse yourself in their perspectives Then, work out a way to combine your skills and knowledge with theirs to meet in the middle

Things you can do Finding and engaging with your audience – Identify leaders / representatives that inspire you – Use social media to learn more about them – Start interacting with them on shared areas of interest – Be open and genuine in your desire to learn more – Explore opportunities to help them overcome a problem – Have fun, follow your heart and get creative

And watch for.... Creating technical barriers or reasons why not Not adapting the way you write/speak to appeal to different audiences needs Not engaging with others collaboratively in pursuit of shared solution Assuming you know all the answers (!)

Using Personas What is it like to be your audience? What are their ‘pain points’? What do they really need? What is in the interest of the greater good? How can you best apply your skills and knowledge to help solve their problems? How can you convey your messages simply and understandably?

Get creative.... Text / Quotes - learn journalistic skills/contribute Images / Graphics – a picture tells 1000 words Data visualisations (Financial and technical data) (teresajolley.com) Asset Management data (Yotta)teresajolley.comYotta Video (Sea of Change film)Sea of Change film Audio (Highways Asset Management)Highways Asset Management Social media Blogs. e.g., The Ranty Highwayman, Reigate.ukThe Ranty HighwaymanReigate.uk

To wrap up... Move focus from acquiring technical knowledge, to how you can use it to help others Use your asset and customer data to inform your strategic business planning and operational activities Free practical, interactive workshop exploring this 11 th June 2015 at Future Highways conference. Jason Russell, Phil Atkinson, Yotta and London Borough of Southwark.Future Highways conferenceYotta