The Message From Greg Dyke At The National Housing Federation Conference

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Communication builds more than houses

"Communicate, communicate, communicate" was the message from Greg Dyke, one of the keynote speakers at this year's National Housing Federation Conference in Birmingham.

The former Director General of the BBC wound up this year's Conference with a speech on management tips, something the BBC may regret not being able to tap into as they lurch from banana skin to banana skin, intriguingly including the naming of the Blue Peter cat!

Returning to the need to communicate the rising star of Gordon Brown's new cabinet, Yvette Cooper, has certainly been communicating more than most recently and for the first time in many years, housing has a Minister with the communication skills and budding profile to effectively communicate its important key messages.

Communication challenge

The single biggest communication challenge facing housing right now is not raising the profile of housing, as it has been in the past, but to persuade the South East not to turn against the Government over plans to build three million homes by 2020. Housing Associations face the double challenge of delivering on increased building programmes as well as persuading local people that their lifestyles will not be significantly damaged by Local Authorities and Housing Associations "concreting over the countryside" with little concern for those who feel threatened by this housing boom.

This is a real communication challenge and has probably taken over as the number one communication issue for Housing Associations from all the old chestnuts such as anti-social behaviour, delays in repairs and the poor standard of housing perceived by many public sector tenants.

You need to explain to a lot of people exactly what you propose doing and why you are doing it. There needs to be an informed debate, not Daily Mail campaigns to save Middle England from a fate worse than death.

For this you need spokespeople with the communication skills to deliver your key messages, as well as the interview skills to handle the inevitable, tough questions that arise from this debate.

Media Friendly has just delivered a raft of training on these specific housing issues to Housing Associations in England as well as the housing departments of those councils who still retain their housing stock.

We are one of the UK's leading public sector training providers, with ten years experience of working with housing associations and local authorities.

We will not shirk the issues you face. We want to help you face them head on not bury your head in the sand and hope that local newspaper reporter will politely go away.

We deliver all our Communications training courses through a former BBC Local Government Correspondent with years of experience in helping you turn things around.