It is a strange thing but clearly a sign of our times is “the photo shoot”. On the right is the end product of this particular shoot. Why have a photo shoot? So that the local media can get an eye-catching picture to accompany a few lines of information to fill the pages that have to be filled on a daily or weekly basis. A week later most of us will have forgotten it, for our lives are filled with busyness and trivia, as we see it, and you may only have my attention for fleeting moments. And that is a shame because interesting stuff happens on our doorstep but it appears in news bites that wring all interest out of it. Let me see if I can show you what happens and then suggest another way.

To see the end product of all of this you, can find the bare bones on our news page that tells of Rochford District Council’s achievement in terms of being great employers and trainers. To see that simply CLICK HERE.

Yes, the photo shoot in question was to publicise the Council’s achievement in obtaining Gold status by ‘Investors in People’.  This is the equivalent, I suspect, of winning a gold at the Chelsea Flower Show! It means they have been very good at management of people.

We don’t normally attend these photo shoots because the RDC publicity department are usually very good in sending out press releases complete with a photo, but we had been invited and it was a nice morning so your editor with our photographer, Will Taylor, turned up to witness and join in the proceedings. We soon learned that, to be a leader of a Council or its Chief Executive, you have to be long suffering when dealing with the media! I suppose it made a more interesting shot to have the plaque taken off the reception wall, so it was worth the effort! Bless the media!

I began to feel that there was a story within a story when one of the photographers from a well known paper asked for the three men to stand on the edge of the pavement in front of the RDC sign. This meant that she and colleagues stood in the middle of South Street to take their shots, with traffic being directed around them. Will, I noted, stood on the opposite pavement, obviously feeling that taking his life in his hands was not part of the deal!  I concurred. The press may be paid for this but....

Just so you don’t think we are the new marketing wing of RDC, we would say that in the past at least, IIP hasn’t always had a wonderful name in the eyes of some. In the South East one set of employees of an organisation that was awarded IIP status, maintained the quality of product had gone down and treatment of people had deteriorated badly with new management that had obtained the IIP status. To balance that, we would hastily add that that is not the feeling we have picked up in all our recent interviews with people on the various sides of RDC! Terry Cutmore’s comment in the news bulletin appears to say it well.and everyone with whom we have had contact, as we said, from all sides of the Council, appear a very contented bunch (yes you do!) but then IIP isn’t just about making people happy although that should be a spin-off.

But here’s the point! Here at Rochford Life we are utterly convinced that people are interested in people  and how things work, and not just facts and figures, and they are happy to sit down and read a longer piece sometimes. So yes, I’m thrilled for the Council that they’ve achieved this, but who was involved, what was the process, what were the hoops they had to leap through or the large number of standards they had to achieve to get gold? How has it actually made a difference to the running of the Council?  These are the interesting things we’d like to know and I know we may be odd in  showing interest but there we are!  Yes, I also know that “those other media outlets” don’t want to waste space on stuff that their readers don’t want to read about, but we believe there are people out there who might be interested and we’re willing to give time and space to it! We’re actually committed to showing an interest in the Council AND in any other organisation, shop, business of who knows what that makes up the life of Rochford. This morning was a fun exercise and we admire the Council for their efforts, but it was disappointing in it’s brevity. Yes, and I accept it was my own fault for not lining up the three men and asking them, but they are busy..... and you can only take ‘long-suffering so far.


Investors in People? http://www.investorsinpeople.co.uk  and from that site:

Well it’s a start!


To return to the top of page, please CLICK HERE

Very soon, they who earn their living by standing in the middle of the road,  disappeared at high speed to their next appointment. Rochford life doesn’t work at such a pace, not having to earn a crust from this. Will gently requested some photos in the back garden and the remaining players adjourned to safer and more tranquil places. Our three subjects remained long suffering and, as true professionals, held their smiles and we were grateful. It was only as this was happening that I realised that we were accompanied quietly by those who make these things happen. In the far left of the picture above are Patrick John, the Council’s Corporate Communications Officer and Vanessa Conroy, also of Communications, while awaiting her turn with her camera was Danielle Ward who takes photographs for the Council.