An interview with Samanatha Sutherland Share This week I turned the tables on Samantha Sutherland. More used to being behind the microphone and interviewing influential women, I wanted to get to know Samantha and what she can teach those of us working in government about navigating the workforce, managing change, and organisational culture. Samantha Sutherland has had a super interesting career. For those that thought I was brave leaving the public service to start Elm, you should talk to Samantha. She was a high-flying executive working for big four accounting firms and energy retailers before launching her first business focused…
Working women, change and organisational culture
July 15, 2019
One a week for a year
When I started Elm Communications 12 months ago, I thought I would write a few articles to let people know I was up and running. Then I thought I’ll do one a week for six months as part of my…
Building trust in your team
Have you ever worked in a team that doesn’t trust each other? A team without trust isn’t really a team. It’s just a group of individuals who work together. It means you will never be as effective or able to…
Communications planning – the key to not getting lost
Let’s say you’re on holiday and you are trying to get to a museum. You know the name of it but not what it looks like, or what street it is on. You don’t know what is inside or whether…
Working with difficult people
(aka how to not kill your colleagues) We all have them. The people you dread going to a meeting with. That guy who you would rather poke your eyes out with a fork than discuss his project. The woman who…
Happy first birthday Elm Communications
It’s been one year. One whole year, since I started Elm Communications. What a ride! Twelve months ago, I didn’t really know what to expect. I didn’t know where to start. I definitely didn’t know if I would get any…
Stop engaging those that yell the loudest
Increasingly in government communications teams, we are delivering stakeholder engagement. This isn’t new, we have always had a role in engaging with the media, Minister’s offices and creating content for the general public. More recently, our skills in analysis, strategy…
Things to remember when communicating Government change
Yesterday, we saw the first round of changes from the returning Morrison Government. For those that missed it, the Prime Minister announced his Ministery and some fairly big changes to the structure of the public service. Before starting Elm Communications,…
How Labor lost the unloseable election
In an election that was supposed to be a shoo-in for Labor many were shocked on Saturday night when the coalition won a ”miracle victory”. Like many I spent yesterday reading about what went wrong and how the polls had…
What I learnt from my trip to Cuba
One of my passions is traveling. I have been to almost 70 countries. It’s an addiction, I start planning my next holiday while I am on my current one. I love the thrill of discovery, seeing new things, learning about…
How has the digital world changed?
If you are my age (or older) you remember a world pre-internet. At times it still amazes me how far we have come since I started my career in communications. The other day I was thinking back to what it…