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Australian Government, Behavioural science, Blog post, Communications professional, Leadership, Team performance
2024 is the year of changing the world – one meeting at a time.
Many departments have values of ‘inclusion’ and ‘collaboration’ and ‘innovation’. And to make this happen they have meetings. And lots of them. Everyone is invited, and we all meet. And talk. And then get up, move to another room, meet and talk. Rinse repeat. We look at each other and say ‘my day is back-to-back meetings! When will I get time to do my actual work?’. Is this really inclusion? And is it really collaboration? Does it lead to any innovative action? And if nothing else, is it at all efficient and effective in getting results, especially in a context of doing more with less? Meetings. We love to hate…
5 Top Principles for Behaviour Change
I have a post-it note stuck to my monitor that’s been there for a few years now. I scribbled it down when I saw an early version of it on someone’s linkedIn post and I’ve added a few words since…
The #1 way to make your communications team more efficient
In communications, we never have enough resources, time, or capacity to deliver everything that is asked of us or to meet our own expectations. It means we need to be efficient in how we operate. To be efficient, we need.…
Dismantling the Pink Ghetto in communications
This wasn’t the blog post I had planned for this week. In fact, you could say it practically wrote itself (and no I don’t mean AI – this is very much all me). It all started with a really touching International…
A year in communications
Stepping into Elm Communications at the start of 2023 as an intern, I was a nervous university student eager for industry experience. When you undertake an internship in your final year of university, teachers often tell you it is a…
No strategy, no tactics
In 2024, there is a new communications rule. No strategy, no tactics.
2023: We are wrapping it up
Is it just me, or does every year seem to go faster and faster? Here we are again at the end of a year, wondering where the last 12 months had gone. It feels like every year is a massive…
Why your APS census results should mean something
It happens every year. The APS Employee Census results are in. You spend three or four weeks pouring over the results. Dissecting the good and the bad. Debating the internal communications approach. Someone writes the action plan. And… nothing. Silence. The…
- Australian Government, Canberra, Communications professional, Facilitation, Leadership, Team performance
Why being nice doesn’t equal great culture
I was talking to a friend last week about who is finding work particularly challenging at the moment. Everyone she works with is lovely, nice, and great to spend the day with. But the work keeps piling up, and some…
Creating team connection each week
During the “pandemic years”, there was much discussion about connecting teams in a hybrid environment. While we have moved back to business as usual, I think we can admit how we work has changed. Many teams have ‘work from the…
Unlocking team performance, innovation and inclusion with psychological safety.
Psychological safety might sound like a mouthful, but it’s a critical aspect of a healthy organisational culture that fosters innovation, inclusion, and performance. If you haven’t heard about it, you’re not alone. If you are anything like me, once you…