We keep banging on about the how social media is changing the traditional relationship between organisations and individuals – and with quite a reason – because it’s true!
Increasingly people – citizens, employees, customers – are wanting to have have their say / be listened too / participate / make a difference. We live in a culture where participation is expected.
The impact that this has on citizen / organisation relations is important as citizens expect to be more involved in how their services are run. Gordon Brown referenced this in his recent “Smarter Government” initiative announcement, where he said that we’ve now reached the era of “Third generation government” where public services will be “more personal and interactive services” which will be “shaped by citizens through a dialogue” and where “users have the right to feedback and shape the way that service is delivered”.
When we look at “public participation” in the context of Fire Service delivery then it’s quite an interesting one, especially as budgets tightens as strategic decisions need to be made in reference to resource allocation. The classic scenario is linked to wanting to relocate a fire station, or move funding from one type of Fire resource (e.g. Fire engines) to another resource (e.g. Fire fighters). Beyond these more extreme decisions, there is also the case for getting feedback and ideas from the public as to how to improve various aspects of service delivery – ideas of how to do things differently, which may be completely innovative or simple incremental improvements.
Anyway, these are some of the thoughts / challenges / ideas we’ve been engaging in with our work with the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) over the last few years – ideas we’re constantly looking to build on . . .
