Overcome Opposition, Gain Community Consent
On Thursday, March 27, Michelle Clark, director of creative services, and Account Managers Kari Hilyer and Katie Little participated in a teleseminar presented by James E. Lukaszewski. Lukaszewski, chairman and president of The Lukaszewski Group Inc. are management consultants in communications.
The PRSA-sponsored teleseminar highlighted ways to gain and maintain public consent through direct communication tactics.
According to Lukaszewski, you MUST first gain trust from the community, which in turn, will lead to gaining community consent. People don’t like surprises or the feeling of being misled. The following are Lukaszewski’s five elements of trust:
1.Advance information.
2.Bring the community into the decision-making process
3.Communicate face-to-face.
4.Demonstrate that community ideas have impact.
5.Speak in community-level language.
Although these elements of trust are essential and will help you gain community consent, there are many variances of truth out there. Truth is based more on an individual’s perception rather than facts and data. While you may be presenting “terrific” supporting data, you may not be able to convince everybody of your good intentions. Lukaszewski believes you have to convince 51 percent of those who matter so focus your efforts on those audiences.
Additionally, Lukaszewski says to practice showing empathy, being apologetic, even for the small things, and being transparent.
When trying to build community trust and consent, Lukaszewski recommends anticipating conflicts and being ready to take the blame and work through it with your critics.
But in the end, he says, you deserve what the community is willing to give you.
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