Good intentions don’t equal inclusion
A caveat, to begin: in the context of everything happening in the world right now, writing a piece like this can feel small — almost insignificant. But for communicators, it's a conversation we need to keep having.
- Australian Government, Blog post, Communication, Communication Strategy, Communications professional
Stop giving away our power
We have seen a recent trend across government communication functions, and honestly, it gives me rage. Somewhere along the way, amid shrinking budgets, reduced capability and growing workloads, communications became the team that hands out communication strategy templates. The most…
Changing the Language of Change
“Change is hard.”“People don’t like change.”“Our workforce is change fatigued.” These phrases are so familiar they often pass without question. They appear in leadership conversations, strategy papers and APS Census debriefs year after year. But what if the way we…
What’s the difference between a communications strategy and a communications plan?
People often use communications strategy and communications plan interchangeably. I was recently asked to explain the difference, and while it’s a hot topic in communication circles, here’s my take. They serve distinct purposes and play different roles. Understanding the difference…
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…
How to beat the social media algorithms
Post at least once a day. Only post three times a week. Make sure to put links in the caption. Put links in the comments. Post in the afternoon. Post in the morning. Use five hashtags. Use twenty-five hashtags. Short-form…
Taking an audience perspective
How often do you get so caught up in doing the doing and forget who you are doing it for? No matter how long you have worked in communications, we all fall into this trap at one point or another.…
Communicating with diverse audiences
When developing a communications strategy or designing stakeholder engagement, we often talk about segmenting your audience—defining who they are, their demographics, needs, challenges, and pain points. This segmentation is supposed to help us tailor our communication so it resonates more…
- 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…
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…
