Ooohhhh. Jim Lahey, “you had me at hello.”

This month, the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet at the Canadian Privy Council Office (org chart) wrote a short opinion column on the renewal of the communications functional community for Canadian Government Executive.

“… The relatively recent influx of new recruits has brought new ideas and vitality. The presence of more Generation X and Y communicators will facilitate the use of new technologies to engage the Canadian population. As we move to realizing some of the potential of Web 2.0 and the promise of more truly collaborative and open government, the need for technological virtuosity will only grow. At the same time, however, having a generally younger workforce has implications on institutional memory and continuity. This clearly speaks to a need within the community to develop effective knowledge transfer tools as well as robust development mechanisms such as mentoring …”

“… Of course, crossing professional boundaries needs to be broadly encouraged. Effective long-term renewal demands that greater effort be made to “ventilate” the public service and to break out of the bubble within which the institution occasionally functions. In many respects, the most important thing that communicators can bring to the table is a better understanding of, and connection with, Canadians.

At its heart, effective communications is about appreciating how ideas will play in the “real world.” Communicators need to be plugged into the interests and priorities of stakeholders, organizations and the public at large. There is a clear need for greater cross-pollination of ideas that can only be achieved through more effective engagement and mobility between sectors. Communicators must be at the forefront of driving change in this area …”

If you’re in the IS community in the Canadian Public Service, you should read this.

It seems like the tide is turning in Canada, and more senior executives in the public service are expressing an interest in social media of all types.

Being a cautious species, many are experimenting behind the firewall, with Deputy Ministers setting up blogs to speak with their employees, and departments using wikis to revitalize their intranet.

Over the next year or so, this trend will accelerate - and managers will find themselves facing a staffing crunch.

That’s right. I think we all agree that social media demands a flexible skil lset, capable of interpreting organizational priorities, incorporating communications goals and acting as a strategic advisor on engagement and consultation

Social media strategists also need to have a sense of experimentation and an appetite for risk - in tools, tactics and strategy.

That’s not a combination easily found in the public service.

I can see a point - not too far in the future - when communications branches will be identifying the social media strategist as a valuable and high profile position in the branch.

It will be a transitional appointment, where young and upcoming strategists will be given the opportunity to bridge the world of traditional policy development and innovative communications.

It will be a recruiting tool and a staff retention strategy - to prevent the bleeding of otherwise interesting and stimulating staff in the communications branch.

These strategists will have to navigate the world of information technology, strategic communications planning and reassuring senior management - a skill set that will prepare them well for larger horizontal files and wide-ranging projects.

As we begin to see concrete and measurable results from government experiments in social media, these multi-faceted communications strategists will find more doors open to them at more senior levels of the bureaucracy.

The question is, will they want to move on?

You could knock me over with a sheaf of briefing notes. The Communications Community Office (CCO) has released a promotional video on YouTube.

The CCO is a small shop within the Government of Canada charged with encouraging the development of professional communicators across the government. They arrange summer work programs, hold pre-qualifying job competitions, and promote the sharing of knowledge and experience among communicators.

One of their tools is the Student Networking Cafe*, where students currently working in a government department or agency can get a chance to speak to more experienced government communicators in a number of areas, like e-communications, marketing, media relations and strategic communications.

The video is little more than a repurposed promotional video for the Student Networking Cafe, but at least it’s a start.

*I doubt that link will work for you - it’s probably behind the Government of Canada firewall.

Canada’s Public Service Commission prepared a back-of-the-envelope survey of labour mobility last year, and identified the civil service professions that are experiencing the most turnover and volatility. The results were reported in the Ottawa Citizen this morning.

Not surprisingly, the official category for communications specialists and public relations flacks was among the top five (of something ridiculous like 40) classification groups. Communications specialists, economists and human resources specialists seem to be able to write their own ticket in the public service - as long as they have appropriate qualifications and relevant work experience.

This means that there is a fairly fluid system of supply and demand for their services. Communications specialists can move from position to position, and department to department, unlike most other professions, which tend to be more inflexible. (After all, where are those woodlot specialists, marine engineers and toy testers going to go?)

Some of this movement is between Communications Branches, the Deputy Minister’s Office and the Minister’s Office. After all, communications specialists have specific skills as aggregators and analysts of information that are much sought after by these higher offices.

Do we have any statistics about the movement of public servants between the public service and Federal Minister’s Offices? Well, you’re in luck! The PSC just completed an audit of such movements, as undertaken between April 1990 and January 2006.

A total of 157 public servants moved between departments and Minister’s Offices in that time. The PSC decided that 99 of those staffing actions were of little risk - but that the other 58 warranted further investigation. Here are those 58 positions, broken down by movement among classification groups that require a post-secondary degree:

Okay. 19/58 for the IS group. That’s 33% of the movement. Considering that most Minister’s offices have a communications assistant, a press secretary, and a Director of Communications, that’s a strong statement. Strong enough to elicit this comment in the audit:

“Approximately 44% of the public servants included in the audit came from the IS or ES classification groups. These groups are often responsible for aspects of communications or policy advice within an organization. Because of the nature and profile of their duties, public servants in these types of positions or in higher-level positions who work in a minister’s office may present a greater risk (real or perceived) to political impartiality when returning to their home departments.”

It’s often hard to find training and development materials designed for government communicators and available on the web. By that, I mean free. Or low-cost. There are plenty of products and events produced for the public sector, but at quite a cost. $2500 conferences. $250 webinars. $80 photocopied packages of award-winning cases.

The breadth of public relations material and debate available online certainly helps, but these materials often need to be customized to fit the particular qualities of our working environment. Clearly, we’re professional communicators, public relations specialists, and marketers, but our workload often demands competence in a variety of specialized skills.

Corporate social responsibility? Seems awfully familiar to people working on accountability and stewardship files. Community relations? That’s well-trodden ground for municipal flacks working on zoning disputes. Crisis Communications? Try working for a police department, transportation investigation board or the armed forces. Community building? Try talking to some communicators who specialize in public health issues.

That’s why my RSS subscriptions dig into a number of blogs with specialized topics. One group with particular relevance to government PR are community and issues activists: putting all issue-specific quarrels aside (please?), both activists and government communicators honestly want to encourage a two-way conversation on issues important to society.

And, frankly, it seems that these groups and their sponsors are preparing more material and making it available online. Like the latest report from the Communications Leadership Institute.

Discovering the Activation Point, as Green Media Toolshed explains, helps groups find the point where constituents, members and supporters will actually take action in support of an issue. A sample:

• What are you trying to persuade people to do?
• What is the smallest number of people you need to activate to get what
you want?
• How can they be persuaded?
• How many audience segments do they break into?
• Do they bring others with them (i.e., are they a social reference group)?
• How can you test your requested action to make sure it will compel
your audience target?

The report is available after a free registration, and is well worth the download.