Building a resilient public communication

Developing a culture of anticipation and reflexivity within an organisation can be likened to sport training: it is a gradual journey, alternating between theory and practice, to strengthen its capacity to face the uncertainty and complexity that the future holds.

Faced with the many challenges ahead, the communication directorate of the French Department of Loire-Atlantique has experienced a “season of futures” with us. This exploration, which took place over eight months, was guided by four main objectives:

1. Equipping itself with the means to anticipate changes in departmental communication rather than being subjected to them;
2. Gradually adjusting actions and plans according to what may happen in the next 5 to 10 years;
3. Ensuring that the organisation is ready to face future shocks;
4. Collectively sharing a culture of anticipation.

To achieve this, the season of futures combined:

• A phase of scenario-building for the futures of communication and its relationship with citizens-residents-users, exploring a range of unexpected situations, opportunities, and controversies inspired by forward-looking research.
• The facilitation of four anticipation workshops that utilised these scenarios to stimulate reflection and imagination among the different teams of the Directorate.
• A phase of synthesising those contributions from the workshops to identify action pathways that could inform upcoming initiatives or strategic roadmaps.

Four themes and an equal number of design fiction scenarios shaped this season, which focused on the future:

• The Crickets of the public image: The local government employs intelligent earpieces, whispering to its staff and citizen-mercenaries, to safeguard its public image.
• The Department as a trusted third party for local information: The regional authority coordinates with local media for a joint fight against information fatigue.
• The Prism of Others: The communications service welcomes a new type of agent, responsible for giving a voice to the flora and fauna within public action.
• From 100 filters to no filter!: The Loire-Atlantique Department rejects the hyper-personalisation of online content, favouring a field-based approach to repair its fragmented society.

Each scenario was debated and enriched during the workshops, allowing participants to imagine new challenges, professions, services, and tools that might emerge in this unique future. Throughout, participants identified what should – or should not – be retained from the explored situations.

At the end of the season, our studio synthesised the contributions from the workshops, identifying operational and strategic action pathways to start preparing today for tomorrow’s surprises. Among these were:

• The introduction of role-playing exercises, in a “red team” style, within the Directorate, to anticipate reputation attacks on the authority, exacerbated by automation (deepfakes, astroturfing, etc.);
• The use of non-human personae to design communication tools for users, taking into account the perspectives of local flora and fauna;
• Applying a “care-driven” approach to public information, aimed at reducing information fatigue;
• Co-constructing an ethical framework for the personalisation of public communication, whether it is based on AI or not.

These insights illuminated both the training needs of staff, potential evolutions in the editorial line, and the implementation of new information tools and communication processes. Steering clear of quick-fix and definitive solutions, the “season of futures” is intended to continuously inspire upcoming roadmaps and foster new discussions on the vision for the Loire-Atlantique Department’s communication strategy.