Latest / Modern Gov Matters / From Survival Mode to Strategic Growth with Kara Roberson
Transcript
- Sarah Loyd: Welcome to Modern Gov Matters. I'm Sarah Loyd. This podcast is for people who work in government communications and civic engagement, especially at the local level. We're here to talk about what's actually working and what's clearly not. No fluff, no generic success stories, just honest conversations with people in the trenches. Modern Gov Matters is presented by CivAll, powered by Social News Desk. Today, I'm talking with Kara Roberson, strategic communications officer for the city of Wentzville, Missouri. Kara describes her role this way: I'm passionate about public service and at its core, my job is about connection. My goal is to translate what local government does into clear, information so our community feels included, stays in the loop, and understands how to stay informed and engaged. Kara was named 3CMA's 2022 Communicator of the Year and has more than 20 years in the public sector. But what I really want to talk about today is how her three-person team went from survival mode to strategic powerhouse. Kara, thanks so much for being with us today. Kara Roberson: Hi, I'm really excited. Sarah Loyd: can you tell us a little bit about Wentzville for folks who don't know? Kara Roberson: Sure, so Wentzville is a suburb of St. Louis and have about 50,000 residents now, grows pretty rapidly. We were the fastest growing city for a couple of decades. I think that's kind of ⁓ slowed a bit, but we still kind of take that claim to fame. We ⁓ are kind of westernmost edge, so we tend to have a little bit that westward expansion mode where people are still wanting to move out a little bit further away and still feel like they're kind of out on the outskirts. It's a great place to be, lots of economic development activity happening, lots of room for growth still. We're at about, like I said, 50,000, but with plans to be closer to 80 at some point, so we've still got some room to grow. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, definitely some room to grow. And you described your day-to-day to me as a mix of everything, some days strategic, some days very much in the moment troubleshooting. And so what does that actually look like for you? Kara Roberson: Well, I think just to kind of back up from that a minute, one of the things that I love about my job is how well it mirrors what I learned to do, what I went to school for. So I actually have an integrated marketing communications degree and that touched on all of these things from website to video to writing to editing to putting out fires and PR and all that good thing. But I think really, so that's what I love is that like I'm never bored. There's never time to be bored, but I'm also never bored because we in such a digital and there's always something new to touch and be part of. It's really sometimes to be as proactive as we would like to be. So I love live in that strategic space more if I could. That's like in my top Clifton strengths. So think maybe my one is strategic, but I don't get to in that space very often. We often have to be more reactive and putting out fires is certainly part of the job. But I think it's good. It's a good balance. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, that's great. And you mentioned to me before the podcast that your residents are kind of shifting toward wanting visual transparency. They want you to show them, not just tell them. And you're in the Show Me State, of course. So what is that changing? What is that changing about your work day to day? Kara Roberson: Right? I think so for us, it's kind of had a little bit of that shift from print to digital, although we also operate in a that very much still likes to hold their ⁓ information. So they like newsletters. They're not letting go of those things at time and time again. When we look at community surveys and things like that, they still want that. ⁓ But from a visual standpoint, we have to be able to ⁓ show them things in digital spaces where they are every day, whether that's through a reel or through ⁓ some type of infographic or ⁓ just a social media post in general. They really wanna see their tax dollars in action and they want to understand that a little bit more. So we've opted for things like behind the scenes or ⁓ today we're shooting a video with the mayor that is about like he switches roles. he'll switch roles with a person in our community development department to kind of give people like a ⁓ ⁓ done that two or three times with other departments just to kind of, ⁓ gives him a lot of perspective but it also just gives our Sarah Loyd: That's so cool. Kara Roberson: a little bit more in depth what's going on. ⁓ Sarah Loyd: Yeah, absolutely. And you guys do a ton with reels. Can you talk to me a little bit about kind of shift that took place that that kind of brought that on and had as part of your overall strategy? Kara Roberson: So we were not really strong in video for a long time, but part of that was because I started in this department as a part-time person. was just me part-time for several years, and then we brought on one. ⁓ went full-time, and then we brought on another full-time. ⁓ we were able to bring on that third full-time person, we really were able to be a bit more strategic with, ⁓ need digital happening here, social media happening here. We also need to be, we need a video presence. ⁓ knew that was something we needed to be on, but we really ⁓ didn't know much that was going to kind of take over some of our strategy because it just performed so well. So we're just in, I think we just kind of hit the sweet spot where ⁓ engagement on things like reels and we're not on TikTok, but that type of formatting ⁓ just become so much what people want to consume. ⁓ so that has helped us be. ⁓ Sarah Loyd: Yeah. Kara Roberson: able to kind of tell our story in the space where they are already. That's not to, you know, discount the 27 other different ways that we offer to communicate, that we've just kind of saw how well that did and said, okay, let's just take a jump with that. And we've really leaned into our ⁓ strategy for reels. ⁓ Sarah Loyd: you Yeah, and I know I follow you guys on Facebook, even though I'm down in Texas, but I see your content all the time. It's definitely being surfaced. speaking of Facebook, let's talk about one of your biggest frustrations, which is the rapid spread of misinformation in unregulated community Facebook groups. What does that battle against misinformation look like for you guys? Kara Roberson: think a lot of times it just looks like people just not knowing the full story. so sometimes we'll take that personally, like we haven't told the story correctly or in the right ways or use the right avenue. And so we really utilize that information, that misinformation that's happening to kind of shift gears and maybe push information out ⁓ to help fill in those gaps. of the things we do with social media is we don't respond on our own content unless it's actually inaccurate or we're trying to provide contact information or just answer a legitimate question. we really don't ⁓ anything in those ⁓ groups. We just kind of observe. ⁓ that's kind of twofold. First, we would be doing that constantly. If we were in there, we'd have to be, especially when we're in. different seasons of the year where things are more heightened or there's more political things going on, we would have to kind of be in there constantly and we don't want to do that. That's a detriment to ourselves and our mental health for sure, but also just time. But we also don't want to feel, we don't want our residents to feel like there's a big brother aspect. ⁓ we just utilize it as a way to kind of keep our pulse on what's happening. We know. ⁓ Sarah Loyd: Right, that's a full-time job. Yeah. Kara Roberson: what's going on, we're aware of whatever conversations are taking place so that if we need to react, we can, or if we need to just keep our teams and directors or the mayor informed of the conversations, we can also do that. So it's just, it's a little bit of push and pull because sometimes we'd like to be like, ⁓ no, that's totally wrong. But we also know that's not our place, but that we do have other avenues to try to tell our story or information that is right. ⁓ Sarah Loyd: you Yeah, spread that correct information. Yeah, and that's great that you guys use that kind of social listening technique to inform maybe future communications and make sure that you're covering your bases as far as what the information actually is. And maybe it's just a lack of information out there. So over the last year, ⁓ mentioned that you guys transitioned your three-person team into kind of an internal agency model. where each person is a dedicated account manager for specific departments. Can you tell me what prompted that shift? Kara Roberson: So it was little bit of what I spoke to earlier with that adding that third person. we had that third person in and knew we wanted her goals and her strategy to be, we also needed to figure out how that played with the rest of the team. ⁓ And what were noticing is that there were a lot of times when a department, for instance, would just reach out to all three of us. ⁓ Well, that's great. we all know what's going on, and that's good. But at the same time, I don't know if somebody else is responding or if somebody else is taking the lead on that. We use a project management software to track a lot of that as well, but one of the things we wanted to do was to just be a bit more personal and this allows us to kind of build those relationships. So we identified, basically identified groups that we were already working with, And of you can reach out to any and all of us, we want you to that point person that can get to know you better. ⁓ so we've ⁓ set up one-on-one meetings with those groups to kind of help them throughout the year to see like ahead and figure out what going to our help on. But also it just gives us that really like, approach so that we can learn more about those departments and then we can better help them to spread their message and get the message out there. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, and I love that because it really gives maybe some underserved departments a seat at the table that they might not have had otherwise as far as access to communications and being able to get their message out. So that's a really cool model. For small teams who are listening, how do you guys make this work? Kara Roberson: with our small team, ⁓ and realize that we're probably bigger than some because I have been there where we were just the one or two person team. But ⁓ the agency approach has allowed really ⁓ structure our days a little bit better. know what we're focusing on. We know ⁓ we're then also responsible for helping put newsletters ⁓ and other content together that each person working on. ⁓ So we can take, Mine's a bad example because I do internal services, but Abbie can be focused really heavily on slab replacement because she's working with that engineering team and she'll know exactly what needs to then be carried out into a newsletter or something else that somebody else is working on because she she's in tune to what is important to that department and what we might need to elevate or prioritize. So I think that's what it does for us. It helps us kind of pinpoint those priorities and then also where those pain points are so that we know like what we might need to be analyzing looking forward or what we might need to come back to later in the year because this particular thing is going to be a problem Sarah Loyd: told me that if you were over, you'd build strategic roadmap and formalize your workflows much sooner, even when you were part-time. And then you said, I spent so much energy just trying to keep my head above water that it felt like I didn't have the luxury of being strategic, but I've since realized that the real hurdle wasn't a lack of time. was a lack of structure. So can you talk to me a little bit about that? Kara Roberson: Yeah, I think it goes back to that idea that you have to make time, you don't have time to do these things. So I always felt like I didn't have time to be strategic because I was doing so much more in the moment, so many things that had to be checked off and taken care of. there was no time to really think through these things. But really now that I'm where I am now and now that there are three of us and now that I live in a space where in my role I can be more strategic because I'm not in the weeds as much as the rest of the team is. I think I'm like, ⁓ should have just made the time. I should have just stopped what I was doing to make the time to be more strategic. Because even if in that moment I had been able to do more of a project management approach or even, I couldn't have done agency style because I'm the only client rep, but I could have approached things differently to really help those teams figure out or those departments kind of figure out where the ebb and flow was. I think I just could have been, again, ⁓ I'm ⁓ really a proponent of being more proactive than reactive and I just think took me a minute to figure out that ⁓ could be more proactive. I just needed to kind of ⁓ a different approach and really take the time to concentrate on that. ⁓ Sarah Loyd: Yeah. And sometimes when you're drowning, just feels like I don't have time, investing that time can really alleviate the problem and make things easier down the road. Yeah. Kara Roberson: Yep. Exactly. Yeah. And if you can find other ways and other tools and other things to kind of take that for you, I think that's why I really enjoyed finding a project management tool or finding a social media management tool, because then I could kind of, part was just easier. It wasn't as heavy of a lift ⁓ I can be like, okay, that piece is done and now I can operate in a more proactive ⁓ Sarah Loyd: Yeah. For folks listening, can you talk a little bit about the tools that are making your life easier right now? Kara Roberson: Well, certainly Monday.com, which is what we use for project management. We've been through a couple different ones, but now we actually use that citywide. So everyone is on ⁓ Monday.com and it helps us really make sure that we are all on the same page. It helps from a time management, but just also just like a. Sarah Loyd: Mm-hmm. Kara Roberson: you can visually see what's going on. can assign tasks to my team. I can assign tasks to our interns. And just having that ability to kind of have conversations in that space too so that having to have a meeting. I'm not having a chat and I'm not having a separate email. It's all living in one spot. So I think really helps the flow work a lot better. And then ⁓ also News Desk for sure really helps Abbie to help us ⁓ make sure that has time for other things and not just spending all of her time on social and all of her time on scheduling, especially as we move into all of the ADA changes and things that are rolling out, having the ⁓ to just add tags right there and not have to do some of the other workflow things that we were doing that were taking up more time. We use a great website ⁓ right that's WordPress based, ⁓ which really like we a little ⁓ unsure about at first, we don't do everything ourselves. We rely on our teams to populate their own ⁓ information because we look at them as being the subject matter experts. But because of this ⁓ setup in WordPress is really, ⁓ really easy for them. don't have to be tech You don't have to know websites. We can just make it. ⁓ Sarah Loyd: Mm-hmm. Kara Roberson: easy across the board. So I think those are probably three top tools that help us be more efficient and effective in what we're doing so that again we have time to do some of other things. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, that's great. And you mentioned your interns and you also shared a really beautiful moment with me before the podcast. ⁓ can you tell me about your high school intern who just got hired onto the city full time? Kara Roberson: Yeah, so we actually have participated in a high school intern with the St. Charles County which is the county that Wentzville's in, but all of the St. Charles County ⁓ high schools. ⁓ And so we've had probably upwards 10 interns over the six or seven years that we've been participating. they've all been great in their own ways. We actually try really hard to kind of take as many as we can because it's just something that we really feel passionate about ⁓ from not from necessarily even a communication standpoint or like getting things off of our plates. It's really more about introducing them to local government and that's just something that's really important to me and it's something that's really important to my department. So we had an intern a couple of years ago. She was a high school intern through this program. She was our communications intern and then she went to a local university and came back to our parks team as a paid college intern and now she has since been hired full time in January as their marketing and communications coordinator. So it's really great and she told us kind of in between this process, I think she was still in college that she really had not even thought about local government and now that was really important to her. Like she wanted to be able to get back into that and find a way and so we're really not only excited that she's back in local government but that she's in Wentzville. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, that's great. great that you could kind of kindle that enthusiasm in her and introduce her to something that she didn't even know maybe was an option before. So that's really cool. What you say ⁓ that about the work that you guys are doing beyond just communications? ⁓ Kara Roberson: ⁓ I think just back to that, like the local government piece and the public service piece, those are things that we bring up in conversations a lot. I think it's something that you can learn, but I also think it's something that you just kind of come by naturally or you don't. I kid and say that ⁓ ⁓ tried not to be in public service because my whole family was ⁓ state, local or county public in Texas, in fact. And I was like, no, thanks, I'm good. ⁓ But then my mom was like, ⁓ you should apply for this one job. So here we are 18 years later or so and ⁓ only doing government. Sarah Loyd: you Kara Roberson: So I think it's just like we just want to make sure that this profession is recognized and elevated as much as it can be ⁓ that people recognize that ⁓ not just like we're not just getting you to pay your utility bill. There's so much ⁓ happening behind the scenes and so these are things that we try to bring up in lots of conversations like these and at conferences and different things that this is. It's so much more than just communications. It's about making a difference in people's lives and having those tangible things is just kind of a win for everybody. It's so much more than just communications. It's about making a difference in people's lives and having those tangible things is just kind of a win for everybody. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, absolutely. All right, so before we go, it's time for some rapid fire questions. What's your favorite local spot in Wentzville? Kara Roberson: Duke's barbecue by far. It's delicious. Sarah Loyd: ⁓ love barbecue. You're gonna make me hungry. What's the most underrated part of your community? Kara Roberson: I think probably our parks and trails system, although they're getting a lot of love these days, we've got a ⁓ master plan going into place. We've bought some additional park land. I think that sometimes people forget that they're out there because, ⁓ know, our lives are busy, but we're trying to make those more ⁓ and give some reason to get outside and enjoy the weather that surely we're going to have soon. ⁓ Sarah Loyd: Yeah, spring is on the way for sure. right. ⁓ Wentzville had a theme song, what would it be? Kara Roberson: we are the crossroads of the nation and ⁓ we're positioned for logistics in terms of people getting to us by highway and we've got railway and all of those good things. So we really lean into that crossroads connection a bit. So I think yeah that would be our theme song, "Connecting at the Crossroads." ⁓ Sarah Loyd: Yeah. And what's your advice for someone just starting out in government communications? Kara Roberson: think just as much information you can from as many people as you can. Get involved in groups like 3CMA and TAMIO and other groups that are out there that are positioned to help you succeed and find yourself a mentor. think that learned just much from my mentee as I have from my mentor. But I think ⁓ yeah, connect with and ⁓ you'll learn a lot. you'll learn that your city is not crazy. I I think that's what it really helps you understand. Sarah Loyd: I always notice that so much like I go to 3CMA or GSMCON or anything like that. There's always the sense of, my gosh, you are experiencing thing that I'm experiencing. I'm not alone. I'm not crazy. ⁓ Kara Roberson: Yeah. Exactly what you need. You need that community so that you know you're not alone. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, absolutely. So finally, why is local government the most impactful place for a communicator to work? Kara Roberson: I think it's because you see those immediate benefit to the community. You see them have a light bulb moment or you see them understand that we have this service or we offer this free program or there's all these amenities that maybe they don't know about. think ⁓ ⁓ a new resident perspective, which we get to encounter quite a bit because we are a growing city. ⁓ I think it's just really encouraging to see how people connect with their community and learn so much about the different services that we provide. We are not full service. We don't have our own electric or library or any of that, which a lot of cities that I've worked for and others do. But I think we still get to make a direct impact even if we are just helping your water flow or making sure your toilet flushes. So just being behind the scenes and helping people understand how all that operates, I think it's fulfilling. Sarah Loyd: And last but not least, where can people follow you, follow your work, follow what's going on in Wentzville? Kara Roberson: We are @wentzvillemo on almost outlet, ⁓ Instagram and Facebook sure. ⁓ And then certainly with us on LinkedIn as well. ⁓ Sarah Loyd: All right, that's Kara Roberson from the city of Wentzville, Missouri. you so much for being so honest with us, Kara. ⁓ And if today's resonated with you, please share this episode with your friends colleagues. I've been your host, Sarah Loyd, and this is Modern Gov Matters, presented by CivAll, powered by Social News Desk. You can check out more episodes at moderngovmatters.com and we'll see you with a new episode in a couple of weeks.