3.8 Best Practice: Communicating Your Needs
What We’re Hearing
Strong communication is the key to a positive partnership. When communication is fraught, it can lead to breakdown in other areas of site management.
Owners are faced with aligning themselves internally to manage the site. At the same time, operators and third parties are often challenged by the complex nature of communications within governments, having a hard time reaching contacts spread across multiple departments.
Sites can also become isolated from the community fabric from a lack of communication with sites under the same ownership.
Best Practices
Set your partnership up for strong communication by designating a clear point of contact for each party in the partnership agreement. The contact may need to change as the partnership evolves and roles become more defined. Be respectful of each party’s communication style and capacity to communicate – cultural factors or limited human resources may influence response timelines. Don’t underestimate the importance of informal relationship building and getting to know the people on the “other side.”
Best Practices for Owners
Best Practices for Operators and Third Parties
Try This – Operators and Third Parties
Keep in touch with the site owner – actively highlight the successes of your work in informal ways, such as sharing projects and achievements with City councillors or officials or by tagging the owner in social media posts (where appropriate). It is important to keep the owner and associated stakeholders in the loop about the value of the site to the community.
