Rebuilding Trust in Public Health Through Effective Communications

January 31, 2023 | Robert Johnson

Trust is a cornerstone of public health practice. Unfortunately, the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has more than chipped away at that foundation, leaving many public health jurisdictions weakened in their ability to do their daily work.

Is it possible to overcome this trust deficit through effective communication? What steps should state and territorial health officials (S/THOs) take to begin rebuilding trust with audiences who need public health departments to continue to protect their water, food, and environment? Will anything work? And if so, how long does it take to recover from the damage to public health’s reputation during the pandemic?

S/THOs can re-establish trust through communication, but it will take time. Here are some things S/THOs should consider when developing a strategy to improve trust between health departments and their audiences.

Assess the Damage

Sometimes a situation feels worse than it is. Living and working in the eye of a storm for so long can warp one’s view of reality. Watching endless news accounts or reading social media feedback can do that too. Before making any plans, S/THOs should find out where they stand by commissioning a public opinion survey, if feasible. Such a poll would become public record, so a trusted third party outside of government can also run it. The results can inform what, if anything, health officials should do to address concerns.

Take the Long View

It takes much longer to build trust than it does to destroy it. Thus, this is a long process. S/THOs and their teams should be prepared for a marathon when considering how to begin this campaign. Understand that key departmental messengers will need to contribute to this strategy every day for many months or longer, before expecting to see any real results.

Get Down to Basics

A trust-building communications campaign should not be complicated. Simple plans are the easiest to carry out; keep them basic and focused on core strengths.

Determine a plan of action. The campaign might include a mix of relationship building activities, more frequent communications with the media, or even developing more communications channels. This does not include social media platforms, which are shared because corporations control them. Whatever the solution, make sure that it includes key leaders within the organization and those outside the agency. Here are a few possible approaches to include in the plan:

• Schedule personal visits with key partners. Let these groups and organizations help shoulder the burden. Determine how they can be most helpful and ask them to do it. Once working through the list, start over. Never stop doing this. Over time, the results will be encouraging.
• Turn up the volume on external communications. Plan to talk about more of the department’s work and do it in more creative ways. Resist the urge to rely solely on news releases and social media platforms, which S/THOs do not control. Build lists of trusted community influencers and create tactical approaches that get the information to them. Use video, audio, and other online formats to engage niche groups. Expect anyone to hear, see, or read public messaging. Also, don’t panic if the news media doesn’t cover the work. Keep the news and content flowing. Tell people about it until they notice.
• Divide the department’s communications team into two units. Ask one team to handle incoming news media inquiries while the other implements a proactive communications strategy. This method will ensure S/THOs can tell their department’s stories in their own way—and in their voice.
• Build workforce morale. S/THOs should make sure to continue to connect with agency employees. If there isn’t much, consider writing an appreciation effort into the agency workplan. It’s important for the staff to know that their perseverance will help the agency throughout the trust-building campaign. This won’t stop the undeserved comments and criticisms. But staff must continue to do good work because that’s what audiences should hear in the drive to bring them closer.

Resist Changing the Department’s Logo

When faced with a reputation crisis, organizations, including government agencies, are often tempted to change their logo, website, mission statement, or other public representations in search of a fresh start.

The problem is that a marketing facelift won’t do anything but draw more criticism for S/THO’s, political leaders, and the agency. That’s because the crisis is not one of marketing symbols. Instead, it is a crisis of confidence that unfortunately took root and grew while health officials were trying to save lives.

No revamped logo or color palette can help. Only a determined and sustained effort to build support for one person, one organization and one audience at a time can restore the confidence needed to effectively protect the public’s health.

Run Your Campaign

When we are criticized, we feel like we need to stop what we are doing to respond to the critics. But honestly, work in any public agency is prone to never-ending critiques of policies and programs. Indeed, it is impossible to satisfy everyone no matter how hard one works, and that’s why negative feedback should not bring forward-leaning initiatives to a screeching halt.

Many decent political candidates face the same endless stream of negative comments and pushback from opponents. In those instances, we remind them to run their campaign rather than allow others to dictate how they will spend their days – and nights. The same advice applies to S/THOs and their public health department.

Just as we suggest organizing the communications team into two unofficial divisions to avoid losing control of messaging, S/THOs should consider having other components within the agency operate the same way. If assigning different members of the communications or government relations staff to handle negative or positive feedback separately isn’t feasible, then at least decide with them how much time, as a percentage of each workday, should be spent responding to complaints versus driving the agenda.

Lobbing constant criticism at government agencies is a common opposition tactic designed to slow progress. If S/THOs are organized to run their campaign, those efforts will have less impact, and attempts to restore organizational reputation will be less impacted by opponents’ attacks.

Listen, Adjust, Repeat

While talking with key audiences about public health work, don’t forget to listen to their feedback. This is especially important whether engaging current partners or those S/THOs might enlist as partners.

Whether the information they share is from a poll or an informal coffee break, these insights can help S/THOs adjust their approach and get to the finish line sooner.

Incorporate this feedback and repeat outreach steps with all audiences. This continuous improvement approach to a public relations program will help build the influence and credibility to succeed on the policy front.

Final Thoughts

There is nothing simple about rebuilding trust in a community. Sometimes it’s possible. Other times it is not. Regardless, the process is slow going because it relies on personal contact and a pattern of consistent performance over time. It is often tough to maintain such a campaign because it truly takes a lot of work. But as a public official, S/THOs must attempt to grow credibility with people and communities. Otherwise, the agency will struggle to get the support it needs to adequately perform its duties, and everyone suffers when that becomes the norm.