Two words of advice for those battling to save our cathedral
When you hear the bearded British stonemason excited about the things he’s discovered in rubble-filled walls of Christ Church Cathedral, you can’t help but share his passion.
If you hear his boss, who’s worked on many of Europe’s most iconic buildings, talk about how the stonework on our Cathedral is up there with the very best in the world, you get a sense this building is worth saving.
When you see the beautifully etched pieces of the Rose Window that have been carefully salvaged from the rubble beneath where it once stood, you might long to help see them pieced back together in their rightful place. You might even dig into your wallet to do so.
There are so many awesome stories and moments the reinstatement of what was once an iconic building for our city should share to generate excitement, engage hearts and minds and unite the city behind the project.
However, the project’s approach to communications and engagement means most remain untold and the project’s deeply toxic past has not been put to bed.
We can see that now, with news the project may be mothballed, predictably, being met with negativity from many quarters. Cries of ‘not my rates’, ‘that Canadian Bishop’ and ‘make the Church pay’ are dividing the city once again. It didn't have to be this way.
In a previous life, I volunteered on the government-appointed Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Trust. Our job was to raise funds for and tell the story of the reinstatement. I later realised that getting the project to adopt a proactive communications strategy was always going to be an uphill battle and my spare time would be better spent where I could add value.
This project was never a simple construction project. It needed a proactive communications and engagement approach from the outset - more than any other post-quake development in the city because funding was always our biggest risk. To mitigate that, we needed the people and politicians behind us.
You can have the best engineering and all the consents in the world but, without widespread support, the project would never run smoothly.
You don’t get people to support you by telling them to do so. You earn support - brick by brick (or stone by stone in this case) through showing people the good work you’re doing, the plethora of talent in your team and the vision they’re bringing to life.
That means you must understand the value of authentic storytelling to build reputation.
Rolling out compelling story after compelling story across a variety of channels, maximising their reach and letting people hear and see the bushy Scotsman and his mates on the ground, rather than polished, media-trained performers.
You must be humble, grateful and treat everyone around you with respect. You show the world you’re working hard to raise money and give everyone the opportunity to contribute. You adopt the quirky … a vending machine selling pieces of stone that would otherwise be thrown away or a viewing platform visitors can pay to go up.
You treat the city’s media and leaders with respect and keep them informed. You don’t ignore them until your major daily newspaper is running stories about the complete lack of updates on the project, and city councillors are commenting on social media about how in the dark they are.
You are open and engage with business groups, kindergartens, schools, tourists and community groups.
Eventually you will find the number of people uniting behind you will grow, sentiment will shift and you’ll have a more vocal group of supporters. The best thing about that people power? It inspires the criticallyimportant high net worth individuals to donate and provides political insulation for the leaders you need to divert funds your way.
So my words of advice to those behind the project now? Communicate and engage.
Even in the event you overcome this current hurdle and bank $30 million by August (and I hope you do) – there will be other obstacles in the future.
You are far more likely to overcome them, if you grow the team of supporters behind you.
Ōtautahi-based communications consultant Jo Scott previously volunteered for the Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Trust.