Knowing to improve: how communication can enhance relationships between your company and the local community

Do you already know the importance of communication for a good relationship with all the people who will be involved in your project?

No? Then, let’s imagine the following scenario.

Your company appears in the region without any previous communication plan with the community. Maybe some people know you, but most of them have no idea about your previous projects.

The residents start to wonder about the movement of people and machinery. However, at no time does any representative reach them with real information about the purpose of the enterprise.

The lack of information reigns, and the community is left to its own imagination and to the rumors that appear in the popular ” word of mouth”.

Soon, you will lose control of the situation and need to deal with all sorts of uprisings and protests. Many of them don’t even do justice to your kind of business.

And all this, just because you didn’t believe in the strength that a job of communication well done can have in a community.

Communication and information: the two essential routes

Now that you have an overview of how communication, or the lack of it, can be defining a successful project or a great failure, let’s follow the two visions that matters in this process.

Your company’s vision of the community

Obviously, when choosing the area to implement your project, you must have carried out social and environmental studies and diagnoses to know it better.

If you have hired a good socio-environmental consulting service, you should already be aware of all the possible ways that your project may impact the area. And of all the solutions that can be applied to minimize any negative effects in the region.

In other words, to make your choice, you have gone after knowledge and information. Only this way, you could feel tranquility and security to move forward with the project.

The vision of the community about your company

Just like you, the community looks forward to more information and communication about your project. It wants to know how the new venture will work, what the benefits will be and the damage it may cause.

The community also wants to have peace of mind and security in relation to your project.

Therefore, do not neglect the need to inform and establish direct communication. It can be the difference between a good relationship with the community and a lasting battle that may define an unwanted and unplanned trajectory in your business, besides the question of how long this dispute may take.

An example of successful communication with the community

In 2013, we carried out the Southeast Port Social Communication Program.

Our goal was to bring information about the project through the development and execution of communication strategies and actions that would build a positive and dialogic relationship between the community and the entrepreneur.

The structuring and implementation of activities of an informative, social, educational and communicational nature allowed us to reach the various audiences and opinion makers in the cities of Itaguaí and Mangaratiba.

Our actions were essential for the population to understand, accept and gain confidence in the enterprise. Check out some of them:

• We mapped and interviewed strategic actors among leaders, directors of public schools, representatives of municipal and community councils and public power.
• We promoted communication seminars for the enterprise’s employees.
• We produce graphic pieces to support the program’s actions.
• We carry out guided visits with the external public.
• We organize meetings with fishing entities, and implement “Communication at Sea” with the population and competent agencies to debate the activities of dredging and collapse of the access channel.

Communication with the community can be the differential for a good relationship

Now that you have understood the power of communication and the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the community, we have a final question:

How is the communication between your company and the community where it operates?

If you don’t know, have doubts, or understand how it works, but would like to improve it, look for one of our consultants!

Synergia Consultoria Socioambiental has the best communication solutions to improve the relationship between your company and the community. We work in actions aimed at planning, carrying out and managing social, urban and environmental projects for the public and private sectors.

Learn more about our solutions for knowledge management and conflict mediation through communication with the community.