Corporate report

Corporate communications 5-year strategy (agenda item 6)

Published 22 December 2023

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland
• Publication for Wales

Forestry Commission corporate communications 5-year strategy (paper 11/23)

Purpose

Request guidance and views on the Forestry Commission Corporate Communications 5-year strategy, especially on strategic areas, Year 1 objectives and introduction of a new Organisational Impact Programme Board.

Background

1. The publication of the Forestry Commission Strategy ‘Thriving for the future’ and Business Plan has given us a firm foundation to build a communications strategy which will provide the context for Forest Services, Forest Research and Forestry England’s communications strategies, supporting them and Forestry Commission as a whole to achieve their goals.

2. The purpose of the communications strategy is to support achievement of the goals and priorities in the corporate strategy.

3. The Forestry Commission corporate strategy and corporate plan both look to work towards enabling effective synergy between the parts of Forestry Commission and so this communications and engagement strategy looks to do the same.

4. The Forestry Commission communications landscape is complex and delivery of the new Corporate Strategy will benefit from closer coordination and alignment of the communications teams.

5. We are suggesting this more closely coordinated and joined up working across Forestry Commission communications team is necessary to support implementation of the corporate strategy and plan and to optimise the communications resources available within Forestry Commission.

6. Communications and engagement colleagues from Forest Services, Forest Research, Forestry England, Commissioners’ office and Defra OLC Deputy Director have been consulted on this strategy.

Discussion

Communications and engagement Goals

This strategy supports the corporate strategy with communications and engagement goals of:

Corporate Goals:

a. make Forestry Commission the go to place for all things forestry

b. be recognised as government’s expert on trees, woodland and forestry

c. inspire people to seize the moment to secure the future for trees, the forestry sector and our country.

Support the four Priority areas:

d. Growing engagement

e. Building resilience

f. Unlocking opportunities

g. Expanding horizons

Support the People Strategy areas:

• resourcing and developing: discovering what is possible
• changing the way we work: future thinking now

Strategic areas and Year 1 objectives

The life of this strategy is 5-years to match the corporate strategy. We have identified four strategic areas with associated Year 1 objectives:

1). Organisational impact

Increase Forestry Commission impact in a crowded space illustrating what ‘thriving trees, woods and forests’ means and how this links to tackling society’s biggest challenges.

Year 1: review branding and digital presence

2).Engagement and diversity

Broaden and deepen the range of stakeholders engaged, with clear objectives helping to improve outcomes.

Year 1: Prioritise stakeholders; set engagement objectives; implement Forward Look; develop engagement narratives; develop Commissioner-level engagement; work with partners and stakeholders to diversify our audience reach.

3).Excellence and ways of working

Share insight and knowledge, provide development and great careers, develop ways of working to be resilient into the future.

Year 1: develop ways of working between teams; develop links with GCS; use HR expertise to support staff offer for communications teams.

4).Evaluation

Introduce effective evaluation to measure and evolve the communications and engagement strategy.

Year 1: Develop tracker survey for Forestry Commission corporate communications and reporting document for Executive Board and Commissioners.

Organisational Impact Programme Board

Due to the complex landscape of Forestry Commission communications, the Forestry Commission Corporate Communications team is recommending the establishment of an Organisational Impact Programme Board to develop closer coordination and alignment of communications teams. The Board would lead a number of projects to deliver the Year 1 objectives above.

The first task of the Board would be to agree the Year 1 Projects, but suggested areas are:

• Project 1 – Brand: reviewing brand and digital presence by audience
• Project 2 – Engagement and diversity: review engagement, set objectives, implement ‘Forward Look’, research new stakeholders
• Project 3 – Evaluation: put in place evaluation to track progress against objectives
• Project 4 – Internal engagement: as required to embed Forestry Commission Corporate Strategy and Corporate Plan
• Project 5 – Introduce Communicators’ network to develop cooperation and collaboration across teams

Risk Assessment

Risk – Embedding Corporate Strategy

This strategy has been very much developed to support the Corporate Strategy and Corporate Plan, taking the same approach to setting context for the whole organisation, valuing difference between our parts but looking at how we can work together more effectively. If this premise is not widely accepted across Forestry Commission implementing the communications strategy will be challenging.

Mitigation

Development of a Forestry Commission wide engagement strategy in conjunction with HR to look at any culture change necessary to embed the Corporate Strategy and Corporate Plan.

Risk – Resourcing

Implementing this strategy relies on resource being allocated to it from across existing Forestry Commission teams with one additional post for a Strategic Engagement Lead.

Mitigation

Executive Board support implementation of this strategy with their teams.

Recommendations

Forestry Commission Corporate Communications team recommends the Executive Board approves this approach of identifying strategic areas, Year 1 objectives and an Organisational Impact Programme Board. To be successful we recommend representation and leadership from across Forestry Commission for project delivery, providing effective communications and engagement support to achieve the Goals and Priorities in the Corporate Strategy.

Defra Deputy Head of Communication FC, June 2023