GovComms: The Future of Government Communication

In the GovComms chair this week is the Director of Communication with Cushman & Wakefield, Ben Roberts. Ben is an experienced strategic communication expert with comprehensive experience in the Australian Public Service and in the Australian Defence Industry.

A Navy veteran, Ben has spent the last several years in senior communication roles in the Defence industry and prior to that he was a senior speechwriter in the public service where he wrote for Ministers, agency heads, the Senior Executive Service, ambassadors, and more. He was also a political adviser many years ago.

Ben talks about how he began his career in communications with host, CEO, and founder of contentgroup, David Pembroke.

The pair also discuss how best to communicate with ministers offices. Who to befriend, and how best to leave your mark.

The two discuss some of the best advice to help government communicators engage effectively with citizens, to help build community, and to help restore trust in government. Some of this advice includes your communication being frequent and sincere, clear and concise and understanding context.

Discussed in this episode:

• The importance of context
• The future of communications
• Why you should utilise your LinkedIn

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In this episodes of GovComms we are lucky to be joined by the author of the book How to Train Your Political Animal; A Power Handbook for Changing Yourself and Your World.

Melinda Maddock is a Tasmanian based Author and Strategist whos involvement in political discussions and social justice cases stem from her primary school days where she first organised a sit - in on the playground.

Following the bombing of Libya by the US, Melinda generated a petition that garnered more than 75,000 signatures and presented it to former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

To see image: https://blog.govcommsinstitute.com/podcast/ep138-how-to-train-your-political-animal

Within this episode, David also discusses with Melinda her newly released novel "How to Train Your Political Animal; A power handbook for changing yourself and your world". The pair break down what motivated Melinda to write the book as well as some of the books key takeaways:

1. "Politics is not a dirty word. Some people are afraid of it. They think other people are better at it than they are. They think they don't wanna be involved in it. So, the message is when you don't participate, you're leaving the decisions to people who may be more self-interested than you. "
2. "The best way to influence change is to listen." 
3. "The other lesson is don't sleep walk. So, stay awake, pay attention, especially to the power dynamics that are going on around you"
4. Practise curiosity over judgement 

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In this episode of GovComms we discuss all things Change 2022. Change is an annual event that is tailored to individuals who are focused on achieving measurable change that benefits people, communities, and the planet. 

During the 2-day conference, you will learn from people with a track record of delivering positive health, environment and social change. You will network, collaborate with and learn from a wide range of people offering their own experience in delivering policy, practice and behaviour change.

Date: 20th and 21st October

Venue details: Building S05, 2.04, South Bank campus, Griffith University, 226 Grey Street, South Bank QLD 4101

Ticket pricing:

1. General registration ($499)
2. Student, Griffith Staff, AASM Member registration ($399)
3. Livestream registration ($100)

(All pricing (excluding livestream package) is inclusive of access to two workshops, catering and access to the networking event)

Change 2022 features:

• A line-up of over 20 speakers who will be sharing their change stories in TED-style talks
• Open mic sessions for up to 20 delegates to share their stories and/or get any questions answered
• Your choice of 2 workshops to take an even deeper dive into the world of change
• A Network Evening event to connect with fellow change agents from around the globe

Who should attend? 

Directors, Founders, Entrepreneurs, Managers, and Officers that are dedicated to pursuing behaviour change in:

• Government (Federal, State and Local)
• Not-for-profit, Non-profit, NGO, Charity
• Social enterprise, Social business
• Academia
• Commercial industry

To register for this event: https://www.griffith.edu.au/griffith-business-school/social-marketing-griffith/change-conference

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In a new series for GovComms we will be going along for the ride to follow the journey of the University of Adelaide's latest multi-year, multi-phase research project, which is called Collective Engagement for Social Purpose.

For this new series, we will regularly be joined by Dr. Taylor Willmott and Professor Jodie Conduit, who are from the university's business school.

In this weeks episode, we catch up with Jodie and Taylor to discuss some their key findings so far.

As a recap, the project emerged as a culmination of several projects and research across several sectors. However, all projects and research had in common one thing... how organisations could better engage with their stakeholders to drive improvements in both their products and the service offering's. This latest research comes from the position that stakeholders aren't passive recipients, that they are people that you want to engage with to make change, to work better with them, and to really drive that enhancement in everything that you do.

David, Jodie and Taylor discuss factors that can help create that sense of sharedness ("if that's a word" - David). Alignment for all parties is one aspect the others being transparency and clarity.

• For the NHS paper mentioned in this episode head to: https://blog.govcommsinstitute.com/podcast/what-we-found-collective-engagement-for-a-social-purpose
• For more information about this research: https://business.adelaide.edu.au/collective-engagement-for-social-purpose
• If you have any questions about this episode or would like to get involved in this research please reach out to Dr. Taylor Willmott via: [email protected]

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

The final four principles are discussed in part two of our conversation with Evan Ekin - Smyth, Director of Media and Digital Engagement at the AEC. Evan also discusses some of the strategies the AEC uses to stay ahead and on top of the narrative in this episode. 

Also discussed by Evan and David is the Social Media Operation's Group or SMOG, the labour hire staff that provided assistance to the core team during the election in responding to social media inquiries. He then explains more about the operation, which has three tiers: SMOG Queens, SMOG Kings, and as David labels it, the SMOG Emperor.

Finally, The pair discuss why it was so vital that the AEC meet regularly with social media organisation's.

Discussed in this episode:

1. Reputation Management
2. The inner operations of the AEC
3. Media and Communications Training

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

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) played an important role in keeping the recent Federal Election in Australia on track.

Our latest two-part series features Evan Ekin-Smyth, director of media and digital engagement at the AEC. Starting at the beginning, host David Pembroke, CEO of contentgroup, walks with Evan through the early stages of his career.

The AEC's Twitter account during the election became a major talking point. The account fought hard against misinformation and disinformation online and the team behind the witty tone were responsible for responding to 150,000 tags on social media through that six week period.

Both episodes in the series cover the 6 key principles Evan and his team used to keep on top of the narrative. Some of the topics covered in part one include:

• The need for speed
• How the AEC produced content in real-time and why
• The importance of being open and regular online

Part two of our conversation with Evan comes out on the 7th of September.

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

"If you did something that wasn't risky and no one even looked at it, what was the point? I don't think it's successful communication. It might be good internally...but if you're actually thinking about who you're communicating with and what you did no one saw and no one interacted with, I don't think that's worth it.' - Tim Price

On this weeks episode of GovComms, host and CEO of contentgroup, David Pembroke, is joined by Tim Price the new digital content and social media manager at the Federal Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. 

David begins by exploring where Tim's career began - working for Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff. Tim explains "when I look back on my career, I was like, "Well, that's really where it all started." Back then, there was no such thing as a digital career. There was no such thing as a career in social media. So I travelled the wave of the constantly changing nature of digital and social media and into government as well."

The pair discuss the challenges of a new narrow cast world and the importance of building a sense of community no matter the type of communications you are executing.

On top of this, the one key takeaway from this episode is the importance of building connections. Tim explains that making connections with individuals throughout your organisation can greatly benefit you when it comes to having a seat at the table from the get-go.

"For people who work across various government departments, you really need to get in on the conversation very early. I think if you are sitting in a space where you just get things at the end and they're all approved and all you're doing is putting that message out, it's very hard to change things at that point. Whereas, if you're brought in early or you worked to build up those relationships where you get brought in early on a project, you can work on those things at the very start. "

In this episode, we also break down:

• Why evidence is so important in strengthening the argument for your strategy.
• The importance of building connections
• What tactics you can use to better grab the attention of your audience.

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"There are so many opportunities to make sure that every element of what we do is actually usable and accessible. And I don't mean just accessible in terms of being able to be accessed by screen readers and that sort of thing, but accessed and understood by the general public generally is a challenge." - Deborah Rice

On this weeks episode of GovComms, Deborah Rice, Content Strategy & Editorial Lead at Office of the eSafety Commissioner, chats with CEO and Founder of contentgroup, David Pembroke about the current climate of eSafety and the importance of creating usable and accessible content.

The pair begin by reflecting on Deborah's time at the ABC and what skills she has transferred to her role at the eSafety Commissioner.

In this episode the pair hone in on the modern best practise of having the subject matter expert, the technologist and the storyteller sit at the table together. Deborah explains that creating accessible, unique content cant be siloed but rather, the process needs to be a collaborative experience amongst various teams.

"What we did is brought together an office wide meeting where we actually look at the content production and design schedule. So we could ensure that everyone in the office knew what we were putting out. And there's also a column there for the marketing team and a column there for the media and communications team. So they've got line of sight right from the beginning on a resource."

This episode also touches on how traditional methods of communication may need to be adapted to reach a wider range of audiences.

"A lot of those things that you use as a communicator to make content warm and friendly and snackable can actually be problematic for low literacy audiences where there's ambiguity or where you are using idioms that might make it very familiar to a large part of your audience, but might actually exclude and in fact, misinform other people within your audience."

Discussed in this episode:

• Creating accessible and usable content
• The current climate of eSafety
• How to engage a broad spectrum of audiences

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

This week we are joined by CEO of the Digital Skills Network (DSO), Patrick Kidd.

Patrick and host, CEO and Founder of contentgroup, David Pembroke, discuss the importance of developing digital skills. The pair first begin by addressing what digital skills are, how to upskill your employees in digital skills and how companies can make better use of their employees digital skills.

"A classic example is core part of this is almost like it's language and awareness. We tend to find that lots of people are automatically not enamoured by the idea of a digital career, not enamoured by the idea of accruing digital skills, and that's so often because of the language that we use which is impenetrable and tends to talk technology that nobody really understands. So, how do we actually move away from using this complex language to talking really simple language?" - Patrick Kidd

David and Patrick continue to discuss how government should be thinking about this skill acquisition. Patrick explains that "there has to be a sort of a tacit recognition of the fact that no matter what job you're doing, the job itself isn't necessarily changing, but the way that the job is being done is changing". According to Patrick, without the full support of leadership, employees may not be able to develop their digital skills as quickly.

Discussed in this episode:

• How government can aid the development of digital skills
• Why developing digital skills can improve efficiency
• What core skills underpin successful interactions with systems

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

In a new series for GovComms we will be going along for the ride to follow the journey of the University of Adelaide's latest multi-year, multi-phase research project, which is called Collective Engagement for Social Purpose.

For this new series, we will regularly be joined by Dr. Taylor Willmott and Professor Jodie Conduit, who are from the university's business school.

The project emerged as a culmination of several projects and research across several sectors. However, all projects and research had in common one thing... how organisations could better engage with their stakeholders to drive improvements in both their products and the service offering's. This latest research comes from the position that stakeholders aren't passive recipients, that they are people that you want to engage with to make change, to work better with them, and to really drive that enhancement in everything that you do.

The project will advance knowledge on how managers, consultants, and leaders can cultivate a shared commitment among a group of individuals or team toward a common cause that benefits the broader community and their environment.

The trio also discuss how Government can play a crucial role in bringing together community initiatives to help drive behaviour change.

• For more information about this research head to: https://business.adelaide.edu.au/collective-engagement-for-social-purpose
• If you have any questions about this episode or would like to get involved in this research please reach out to Dr. Taylor Willmott via: [email protected]

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