Trust is built on the ground, long before it reaches a headline

When I joined the Auckland storm recovery programme, several months after the 2023 floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, the region was still coming to grips with just how bad the impacts were.

It grew into a programme worth more than $2 billion, spanning thousands of public projects and whānau facing hard decisions about their future. It was never the kind of programme anyone was going to be over the moon about. Even if we did help thousands of people, we couldn't help everyone, the way they wanted, and some didn't want our help at all. It made for a genuinely challenging communications task.

Building everything from scratch and learning at an insane pace, we naturally made plenty of mistakes along the way. And as part of our office closure, we've shared them openly, to help whoever is next.

As a comms person, one lesson in particular has stayed with me....

Our people were our most important channel.

We started with communities who had plenty of reasons not to trust us. The council has been upfront about that. People felt let down, were worried about what came next, and wanted action yesterday. No communications strategy fixes that alone.

The people who started turning this around were our teams working at the community level, and our navigators (case managers of sorts) walking alongside affected whānau. They opened doors and built relationships by showing up at kitchen tables and community meetings, listening and working on solutions, even when we couldn't give people what they specifically wanted.

Those relationships gave us something communications teams can't manufacture: a timely, honest read on what was happening and what was most important to people. Emerging issues and trends came to us early, giving us a chance to find solutions - and before they became headlines.

These community networks were also invaluable in getting information to locals, and having it land - especially where local newspapers are scarce. Hearing from someone they knew and trusted, whether in person, on local socials, or in a newsletter, made all the difference at a complex and emotional time.

And where we'd built strong relationships, it was a relief to know there were respected locals who would give us a fair go when journalists came calling. When those relationships weakened, the headlines weren't so kind.

Much of their impact is not measured and laid out in comms reporting. But it was hugely valuable to our work.

Our job was to support these relationships

Our communications work had to keep them aligned and ahead of the information. Doubling down on the tools and messaging that was working for them. Going back to the drawing board when things weren't landing. Finding new tools and ways to help them reach and serve their communities. And above all, protecting the trust they were building.

Reputation is built on the ground, long before it ever reaches a headline. The trick for us comms folks is knowing where this work happens, and designing communications around it, rather than assuming it's all ours to carry alone.

First published on LinkedIn - 11 August 2026