It’s been a hot one this past month and you are all probably feeling it (not just the actual temperature). I was chatting to someone about the current hosepipe ban situation and it got me thinking about how joined up the communication is.
Some water companies are doing and others aren’t, although most seem to be arriving there now but at different times. This seems to have caused some confusion with people, around whether there is or there isn’t where they live.
This is a fact, however big or small the impact is. The interconnections are there for both positive and negative gain.
The cogs are turning, I have some questions….
1. Why wouldn’t we just do it across the whole UK system? Surely the collective capacity of our reservoirs is the thing to work with, isn’t it?
2. If I live in a region that has one and I can live my life without a hosepipe, why don’t we have these in place for more of the time to conserve water?
3. Why don’t water leaders come together to deliver key messages and drive collective policy? If we want the population to change its attitude towards water usage wouldn’t a joined up approach be better than figuring it out regionally?
This led me off to think about other sectors where business leaders communicate about the business they are leading and rarely do so together as they are often in direct competition. But there is no competition here, is there?
Surely, leaders across the sector, not just the water companies and government too, could do more to bring a collective message on the important issues around water, whether that’s hosepipes, pollution or something else. I have seen water leaders together at conferences, conversing, on panels, fielding questions but all seem to revert to talking about their own individual efforts in one pocket of the UK.
How can the water sector talk more as a collective and how can government and regulation drive more of this behaviour?
I’m sure there are some examples of joint messages, but i’m struggling to remember any examples. I’m sure someone will tell me.
I would love to ‘hear’ a more joined up approach.