- Blog post, Communication, Communications professional, internal communications, Leadership, Team performance
From Boomers to Gen Z: Rethinking employee communications
Internal communication has never been harder. For the first time in history, we have up to five generations working side-by-side. At the same time, hybrid work, digital collaboration tools, AI and information overload are fundamentally changing how employees consume information…
- Australian Government, Blog post, Communication, Communications professional, Leadership, Professional development
Building capacity isn’t always about more people
For years, communications teams solved capability problems the same way: hire someone new. New channel? Recruit a specialist.Someone resigns? Replace the role.New project? Add more capacity. But in the current government environment, that approach is becoming harder to justify and,…
- 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…
Keeping up is a professional responsibility
Hands up if you have a communications or marketing degree. 🙋 And hands up if you’ve not done any further study since entering the profession, beyond the mandatory organisational e-training. 🙋 Hands up if you go to a conference every…
Developing the next generation of communicators
One of the quieter questions behind the excitement about AI in communications is this: What happens to early-career professionals when many of the fundamentals they need to learn are now automated? For decades, communications followed an informal apprenticeship model. Early…
- Australian Government, Blog post, Communication, Communications professional, internal communications, Professional development
Rethinking internal communications for a hybrid world
Distributed workplaces are no longer a temporary adjustment. For many organisations, hybrid work is now the default. People work from home, across multiple offices, and on different schedules. Initially, we thought it was a temporary change, but now it has…
The different perceptions of professional communications
One of Elm’s core service offerings is an operational review. We work with communications teams to identify what’s getting in the way of them doing their best work and what would help them perform more strategically, consistently and sustainably. To…
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…
- Australian Government, Blog post, Business information, Communications professional, Leadership, Professional development
Lessons from Japan: Patiently getting better outcomes
Last week, I travelled to Japan to meet with the Japanese government and stakeholders for a project I am working on. I haven’t worked in Japan before, but I know the business culture is very different from the laid-back and…
The prebunking playbook for communicators
Every communications professional knows the sinking feeling. You’ve spent weeks crafting clear, evidence-based messaging about a new policy or initiative, only to watch it get twisted into something unrecognisable on social media. By the time you’ve prepared a response, the…
