Ask yourself: Do I need to be engaging?
Over the past few years, I have seen a trend: engagement for engagement’s sake, or, as I like to call it, fake engagement. Across many government departments, engagement is required for every significant policy or program, for each grant, or…
The collaboration conundrum. Why does it have to be so hard?
We facilitate workshops and planning days for large and small groups from the public and private sectors. We’ve done many of them over the last few years, and it’s one of my favourite parts of this job because I get…
- Australian Government, Blog post, Communication, Communications professional, Leadership, Professional development
The growing demand for communication services
We are hearing that communication teams are being asked to deliver more than ever. Everyone is being squeezed. Recruitment freezers are popping up across government, and budgets are tight (or non-existent). Teams are increasingly expected to provide expertise across a…
- Australian Government, Communication, Communications professional, Culture, Leadership, Team performance
Clarity in purpose for communication teams
Commnication teams need a clear purpose to enable them to demonstrate the value they create for an organisation
Motivated reasoning and elections – how clever communications can help
Heads up: Political nerd post coming in hot! Years ago when I was thinking about what to focus my psych honours thesis on, I was reading a book called The Political Brain, by Drew Westen. (Strong recommend btw if you…
Great team culture doesn’t require an office
NSW Government’s new directive that public servants should work ‘principally’ from the office is a short sighted and disappointing move, not backed by research. Furthermore, the Premier’s quotes betray his assumptions (biases!) that people who work from home are sitting…
- Australian Government, Communication Strategy, Communications professional, internal communications, Professional development
You CAN measure internal communications
If you have ever worked in internal communications, you know measuring and reporting on your outcomes can be challenging. You know you should, but it’s haaaaarrrrd. The Gallagher State of the Service report found that 84% of internal communicators want…
Year 6: The best and hardest year yet
Every year, I stop to celebrate Elm’s birthday. It’s a milestone—fifty percent of all small businesses don’t make it to five years. We have now exceeded that. It’s a moment to celebrate the hard work and effort my team and…
- Australian Government, Behavioural science, Blog post, Communications professional, Team performance
Diversity of thinking in your team
This week, I sat down with Elm’s newest team member Amy. When I say new, she has been with us for six months, but we agreed that time has flown by, and it feels like we haven’t had a real…
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.…
