GovComms: The Future of Government Communication

To move forward, it is often good to reflect. 

In this GovComms podcast episode we turn the tables on GovComms podcast host David Pembroke to get his take on 2021.  

This podcast deep dives into lessons learnt and challenges faced in the year coming to a close. Nothing is off limits.

In the hosting chair is an old friend of David's, Andrew Bell. The pair begin by talking about David's introduction to communications and why he transitioned from mainstream media to helping government improve their communications.

David stresses the importance of having a story that is consistent and can be connected to over a period of time. He shares that in order "to be effective you need to think very clearly and very carefully about what you are going to say."

As there has been an evident shift in the way people communicate as a result of this pandemic, governments "can see that they need to take advantage of this ability to be able to go direct" say David.

Discussed in this episode

• What was learnt in 2021
• The richness of social platforms
• Where to from here?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Effective communication is like creating the perfect Martini or mocktail according to Phillip Jones.

The Director of Marketing, Fundraising and Communications for St Vincent de Paul for Canberra/Goulburn shares his wealth of consulting experience, which includes being the “Martini Whisperer”, with the GovComms podcast.

GovComms host, CEO and Founder of contentgroup, David Pembroke, has a fun and insightful conversation with Phillip about getting back into the swing of things following two rather isolating years.

The pair discuss how much time should be invested into promoting meaningful and constructive  relationships.

Phillip is a big fan of narrative.  He defines it as one of the most important parts of communication.

He also discusses the importance of face-to-face communication in a world where technology is increasingly part of the way we work.

Discussed in this episode:

• Importance of a narrative
• Why context is vital
• How we can communicate in the new year.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to learn how you can use social media effectively as a government communicator? 

This week’s podcast features Founder of Propel Group, Roger Christie. Growing up in the world of Public Relations, Roger now focuses on everything social media. This podcast in particular investigates the role of social media and its influence on government communications.

Founder and CEO of contentgroup, David Pembroke, asks Roger tips to start conversations in organisations that are notoriously risk-averse when providing responses quickly to events online. Roger then stresses the importance of not tyring to sell social media, but rather see social media as a meeting point.

Continuing the conversation, Roger talks about the importance of understanding the environment in which your organisation is operating to avoid mistakes in a public and permanent forum. In Roger’s words, “Don’t build a fort in a battle”.

Discussed in this episode:

• How to position social media as a way to overcome barriers
• The P-L-A-N Framework
• Role of Individual vs the organisation

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today’s GovComms episode we welcome Ian Andersen, who throughout his 35 years of active service at the European Commission focused on improving communication for Europeans. As discussed with the podcast host David Pembroke, within Ian’s role as Participatory innovation adviser, Ian aimed to create real engagement in co-creation with stakeholders.

This was reflected even in the online format discussions during COVID-19. David and Ian also discuss Ian’s journey as an Interpreter. He explains that intuition, a deep understanding of your mother tongue, and an understanding of conversational language, contribute greatly to the success of an interpreter. As Ian puts it in the episode, “only by really focusing on listening will we get to results that are sustainable”.

Ian sheds light on the importance of getting everyone involved in policy-making discussions. He states that by working in a participatory policy-making framework, the level of openness reduces lobbyists, and is the most productive way of involving stakeholders. Ian states, through this listening process, stakeholders “can collectively arrive at much more refined solutions than they would be able to produce by simply providing a position on white paper.” The pair end the latter part of their discussion with a focus on how to effectively harvest and host conversations.

Discussed in this episode:

• Why communication is leadership made flesh

• How to develop your listening skills

• Hosting and harvesting conversations

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to learn how you can use data to identify, plan, and manage risks?

This episode of the GovComms Podcast features conversation between contentgroup CEO and founder David Pembroke and Adam Rowland from the commonwealth department of health.

Over his career Adam has spent around 15 years in the private sector, working in evidence-based consulting. This has included roles in large consulting firms like Kantar Public and Ipsos, as well as some time spent in running his own company, Better Intelligence.

The pair begin by discussing evidence-based policy making, delving into how this area is growing because of technological development and new digital demand.

David asks what government communicators need to keep in the front of their minds when contributing to effective research; leading to discussion on clear objectives and scope of what you are trying to achieve.

David and Adam end by touching on Adams views of what is required for communication and engagement to grow in terms of teams

Discussed in this episode:

• Assembling a research programme
• Tips for establishing and contributing to effective research
• The growth of communication and engagement

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For today’s release of the GovComms Podcast contentgroup’s CEO and Founder, David Pembroke, speaks with Zoë Routh, author of the 2020 Australian Business book of the year - People Stuff, about all things leadership.

Zoë Routh is the Owner and Director of Inner Compass Australia Pty Ltd. With over 30 years’ experience showing teams struggling with office politics and silos how to work better together, Zoë is a leadership expert in people management.

Zoë discusses her introduction to team building and leadership. The pair then move on to talk about the importance of embracing challenges and good times or  ‘embracing the suck’ as Zoë puts it.

 The podcast ends with Zoë sharing tips and tricks to become a great leader. Specifically, she highlights,  instead of being an ‘achiever’ be an ‘amplifier’ type of leader, to build up the capability of those around you.

Discussed in this episode:

• The Power Paradox
• How leadership has changed over the years
• What you can do to make an impact in the Australian Public Service.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With our first ever GovComms Podcast guest from Iceland, contentgroup CEO David Pembroke speaks to Mike Klein, an internal and social communication consultant with an interest in developing the field of communication leadership through his #WeLeadComms initiative.

Based in Iceland, Mike has worked in a broad range of editorial, communication planning and research roles. Having completed his MBA at London Business school, Mike has authored "From Lincoln to LinkedIn, the 55 Minute Guide to Social Communication," a manual for mobilizing peer-to-peer communication in communities and organisations. He also owns "Changing the Terms", which has been recognized as one of Europe's top PR and Communication Blogs by Communication Director Magazine.

The pair begin by discussing the importance of understanding and expanding on your vocabulary.  Stressing that politics and businesses can, and will interpret vocabulary differently.

Mike and David touch on the role of establishing clarity in a meeting from the outset. They also talk about presence and awareness as well as how if you execute with authority and humility, your ‘effectiveness can go through the roof.’

Mike explains #WeLeadComms and how communication leadership is  his focus for the #WeLeadComms Open Conference on September 23rd (Europe and the Americas), October 29 (West Coast) and October 30  (Australia & New Zealand).

To learn more about #WeLeadComms check out their virtual open conference::

Australia and New Zealand: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-conference-on-the-future-of-communication-leadership-pacific-edition-tickets-170427431034

Europe and the Americas : https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/weleadcomms-open-conference-on-communication-leadership-tickets-158893056409?aff=scriptdoctor

The pair end by discussing working remotely and how understanding the organisation you are working with is vital to the level of your effectiveness out of office.

Discussed in this episode:

• Expanding your vocabulary
• How to establish clarity
• The #WeLeadComms initiative and what you can learn from it

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Todays release of the GovComms Podcast features a discussion with Katrina Macdermid, Director of KayJayEm services.

Katrinas unique skillset has provided training and consulting for many agencies including the NSW Police Force, Sydney Metro & NSW Health who have all embraced Katrina's human approach to information technology (IT). Katrina is a contributing author to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) 4 official publication and has written white papers explaining how to incorporate human-centered design into IT service management.

The pair begin by discussing the development of her own innovative approach called human experience agreements. Katrina explains that when negotiating service level agreements with big providers, grabbing contracts from a year to three years before and simply updating them is no longer acceptable, and needs to change in order to prevent ‘watermelon reporting’.

Katrina goes on to state the importance of the customer and employee experience in relation to IT and why service providers need to come along on the journey. Katrina explains how, through service integration and management, she bought service providers along for the journey to see how they could collectively contribute to an organisation’s outcome.

David and Katrina go on to talk about creating personas through human-centered design. She advises communicators to be mindful of who you are communicating to, how they like to be communicated to and who is the decision-maker within their eco-system.

The pair end by discussing the importance of IT and the role those within the field have played throughout COVID-19 to remobilise organisations.

Discussed in this episode:

• The importance of IT within the field of communications
• How to implement and use human-centered design
• What human experience agreements can do for organisations

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of the GovComms Podcast, contentgroup founder and CEO, David Pembroke, speaks to Brigid Glanville, Deputy chief of staff at NSW Government for the office of Hon Bronnie Taylor.

Skilled in Crisis communications and Government relations, and close to over 20 years of experience within the communications industry, Brigid, prior to working in government worked for the ABC reporting on government, business and politics

In this conversation, David and Brigid discuss her shift from reporting on politics to now working in government. Brigid talks about how although she loved her role at ABC, she wanted to develop her knowledge within the world of politics and make policies.

She discusses how skills learnt from her career as a journalist have transferred to her role as chief of staff; such as taking complex content and breaking it down into plain English for the general public to understand, to thinking critically and fast in government.

David and Brigid discuss how our perceptions of government are often incorrect. Such as time frames for passing policies as well as how many layers are involved in doing so. She explains for some, the transition of going from a solo journalist to working in a team environment may be tricky.

To end, Brigid explains that one of the greatest benefits of going from journalism to government is the understanding of consistent and appropriate messaging in times of crisis.

Discussed in this episode:

• The importance of trust in communications.
• How the skills of journalism can be applied to the world of politics
• Why it is so important to challenge and push yourself out of your comfort zone.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.