Less Chatter, More Matter: The Communications Podcast

Are we comfortable using AI because it's useful, but are our audiences actually comfortable with it too?

AI is making it easier than ever to create content, develop strategies and automate everyday tasks. But convenience doesn't automatically translate into audience trust.

In this episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast, we're diving head first into the findings from our research into people's comfort levels with AI, drawing on a survey of 124 respondents across 15 countries, alongside existing research into AI adoption and use.

You'll discover four key findings: why people are more comfortable with AI supporting lower-risk tasks than handling personal processes such as recruitment and performance management; why age isn't necessarily a barrier to AI adoption; how AI tools could support people with disability and neurodivergence; and why identifying AI-generated content may be harder than we think.

We also explore what these findings mean for professional communicators, and how to make sure it doesn't undermine the trust of your audience.

Listen in for practical, research-informed insights to help you use AI thoughtfully, without losing sight of the people you're communicating with.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• The Cuttlefish research
• 90 minute Strategy Power Session
• Public workshops and training
• Less Chatter, More Matter - Mel’s book
• Template packs
• Change Isn't Hard! - Mel's book
• Sign up here to the fortnightly mail out of free resources!

Say hi!
Follow me on LinkedIn
Find out what I'm up to Instagram
Check out my website
Ask a question

Everyone talks about workplace culture, but what does it actually mean, and how do you make it better?

In this episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast, we chat with Shane Michael Hatton, keynote speaker and best-selling author of Let's Talk Culture, about what workplace culture really is, why organisations often try to fix it at the wrong level, and how leaders can build a healthier culture by design.

Drawing on research involving more than 1,000 Australian people leaders, Shane explains why culture is about more than values statements and engagement surveys. We explore the importance of psychological safety, the unspoken expectations that influence how people behave, and why trying to train your way out of a culture problem doesn't always work.

Shane also explains why communication professionals have a critical role to play in bringing culture to life through shared language, storytelling and the everyday phrases that help teams understand what good looks like. So, listen in now!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Shane's website
• Shane's LinkedIn
• 90 minute Strategy Power Session
• Public workshops and training
• Less Chatter, More Matter - Mel’s book
• Template packs
• Change Isn't Hard! - Mel's book
• Sign up here to the fortnightly mail out of free resources!

Say hi!
Follow me on LinkedIn
Find out what I'm up to Instagram
Check out my website
Ask a question

Social media can be a brilliant way to build trust, connect with communities and manage your reputation. It can also become a very public mess very quickly.

In this episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast, we chat with social media and online community strategist Felicity Cull about what happens when trolls, bots, backlash and angry commenters turn up in your comments.

Felicity has experienced online crises first-hand. On her second day at Foxtel, a streaming glitch meant a new season of Game of Thrones didn’t air and she walked into 16,000 negative comments. She later led social media response to COVID-19 for the Victorian Health Department.

Together, Mel and Felicity unpack what social media teams actually need to know about moderation, including why ignoring negative comments can create legal and reputational risk, how to use the free moderation tools already available on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, when to ban someone and when to turn off comments, and how to recognise potential bot activity.

Plus, Felicity shares her three practical tips for protecting your brand, your reputation and your own sanity when the keyboard warriors arrive... as social media is no longer just a marketing problem, but a comms, PR and reputational management issue.

Listen in to hear more!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Pesel & Carr - Felicity
• Felicity’s LinkedIn
• 90 minute Strategy Power Session
• Public workshops and training
• Less Chatter, More Matter - Mel’s book
• Template packs
• Change Isn't Hard! - Mel's book
• Sign up here to the fortnightly mail out of free resources!

Say hi!
Follow me on LinkedIn
Find out what I'm up to Instagram
Check out my website
Ask a question

Performance reviews and goal-setting can feel like a box-ticking exercise, but they can also be a valuable opportunity for communications professionals to demonstrate the impact they have on the business. 

In this episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast, we give you six practical ways to approach your performance review so it works harder for you, your team and your organisation.

We'll start with connecting your goals to strategic business priorities and measuring impact rather than outputs (very important), to identifying capability gaps, building your reputation with senior leaders and thinking about the bigger career goal you're working towards. 

More simply: this episode is about making the value of communications much easier to see.

More often than not, it feels like the bane of our existence attempting to quantify exactly what it is we do when KPIs aren't a real measure of communicating... so, how do we set realistic performance measures and goals? Find out and listen in!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• 90 minute Strategy Power Session
• Public workshops and training
• Less Chatter, More Matter - Mel’s book
• Template packs
• Change Isn't Hard! - Mel's book
• Sign up here to the fortnightly mail out of free resources!

Say hi!
Follow me on LinkedIn
Find out what I'm up to Instagram
Check out my website
Ask a question

AI might be changing how we work, but it hasn’t made human expertise redundant.

In this episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast, we chat with Kate Toon, award-winning business mentor, digital marketing coach, author, speaker and owner of Umina Beach Book Nook, about AI, marketing, communications, selling and the things that remain distinctly human.

Kate shares her perspective on how generative AI is changing the marketing and copywriting landscape, why she believes professionals need to embrace the technology rather than fight it, and why having access to a powerful tool doesn’t automatically mean you know how to use it well.

Together, they explore the value of experience, judgement, discernment and relationships, along with some practical advice for getting started with AI without becoming completely reliant on it. 

...and, because this is Less Chatter, More Matter, there’s also a discussion about bookshops, writing books without AI, crime novels, communication lessons learned from having a dry sense of humour, and why Kate would happily ban most meetings with more than three people.

A practical and very human conversation about AI, expertise and what happens when the tools get better at doing the work. So, get listening now! 

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Kate's website
• Kate's LinkedIn
• 90 minute Strategy Power Session
• Public workshops and training
• Less Chatter, More Matter - Mel’s book
• Template packs
• Change Isn't Hard! - Mel's book
• Sign up here to the fortnightly mail out of free resources!

Say hi!
Follow me on LinkedIn
Find out what I'm up to Instagram
Check out my website
Ask a question

What makes a really good conversation?

Not one where everyone agrees, or one where nobody feels uncomfortable, and definitely not one where everyone politely nods and moves on.

In this episode of Less Chatter, More Matter, we're joined by organisational psychologist, people geek and conversation expert Noa Rein to explore why having good conversations at work is becoming harder and why it's becoming more important.

They unpack what happens when fear, uncertainty, polarisation and pressure cause people to self-censor or avoid disagreement altogether. They also explore the relationship between difficult conversations and psychological safety, and why curiosity is such an important antidote to certainty.

Then, we give you practical advice for leaders and teams, including why we need to practise these conversations before we need them, how to create the right “containers” for difficult discussions, why leaders need to listen without immediately jumping to action, and Noa's simple rule: get back in the room because our inability to have a constructive conversation about a disagreement is the problem.

This episode is a practical and thought-provoking conversation about workplace communication, leadership, psychological safety, curiosity and what it takes to create teams where people can genuinely hear each other. Plus, how polarisation in this day and age can come about simply from external forces causing generational misunderstandings! 

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Noa’s LinkedIn
• Noa’s website
• 90 minute Strategy Power Session
• Public workshops and training
• Less Chatter, More Matter - Mel’s book
• Template packs
• Change Isn't Hard! - Mel's book
• Sign up here to the fortnightly mail out of free resources!

Say hi!
Follow me on LinkedIn
Find out what I'm up to Instagram
Check out my website
Ask a question

When your employees hear the word “brand”, do they think about logos, colours and fonts.... or do they understand the bigger picture?

Your brand is much more than the shiny stuff. It's your values, your voice, your language, your tone and what you want your organisation to be known for. Which is why that brand needs to show up consistently inside your organisation just as much as it does externally.

In this episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast, we explore why brand consistency is so important in internal communications, particularly at a time when trust and employee engagement are under pressure.

We look at three key ideas: why brand is more than visual identity, how inconsistency can erode trust, and why organisations need to find the balance between consistency and rigidity. You’ll also get three practical ways to strengthen brand consistency internally: educate your people, provide useful brand and writing tools, and build brand education into your induction process.

If you're not sure whether this ep is for you... it's worth remembering: your brand doesn't stop at the front door because reputation and trust start from within.

Listen in!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• 90 minute Strategy Power Session
• Public workshops and training
• Less Chatter, More Matter - Mel’s book
• Template packs
• Change Isn't Hard! - Mel's book
• Sign up here to the fortnightly mail out of free resources!

Say hi!
Follow me on LinkedIn
Find out what I'm up to Instagram
Check out my website
Ask a question

In this episode of Less Chatter, More Matter, we explore how to get underneath vague requests for 'better communication' and work out whether communication is really the issue.

We share the questions you can use to diagnose the problem, the data worth looking at before designing an intervention, and the signs that tell you a team may genuinely need communication training for better use of skills.

It's really that simple. We take a look at what the business communication skills are that you and your team actually need for effective communication. So... what're you waiting for? Listen in!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• 90 minute Strategy Power Session
• Public workshops and training
• Less Chatter, More Matter - Mel’s book
• Template packs
• Change Isn't Hard! - Mel's book
• Sign up here to the fortnightly mail out of free resources!

Say hi!
Follow me on LinkedIn
Find out what I'm up to Instagram
Check out my website
Ask a question

Change communication has come a long way... but we are still treating it as simply telling people what’s changing, rather than ensuring they are understanding what we are saying, too. 

In this episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast, we're joined by Dr Jen Frahm, global expert in organisational change and change communication, co-founder of the Agile Change Leadership Institute and author of Change Communication: Less Noise, More Meaning, Change That Lands.

Jen shares insights from three decades working across change, communication and transformation, including the research behind her latest book.

Together, we unpack three distinct roles of change communication: monologic, dialogic and sense-making while exploring what approach is useful, why the three need to be deliberately sequenced, and what happens when the way we communicate doesn’t match people’s expectations.

Then, we bring in neuroscience and what it can teach us about communicating change, including why people often look for the threat before they’re ready to hear about the benefits, why expectation management is becoming increasingly important, and what happens when there’s a vacuum of information.

Plus, we chat AI, business acumen, measuring what actually matters, informal learning, empathy and the power of pausing for 60 seconds before sending yet another communication. So.. needless to say: you'll want to listen in!

Say hi!
Follow me on LinkedIn
Find out what I'm up to Instagram
Check out my website
Ask a question

Employees aren’t actually 'resisting' change, they're giving you feedback.

In this episode of Less Chatter, More Matter, we take a different look at one of the most frustrating parts of change: what happens when people don’t want to get on board.

Rather than treating resistance as something communicators need to overcome, we explore what might be sitting underneath it from uncertainty and lack of control to poor communication, a lack of trust or simply the very human tendency to dislike being told what to do.

Plus, we also chat about how communication can’t magically make every change popular... but it can help you understand what’s getting in the way. In fact, sometimes, the people pushing back are the ones giving you the most valuable information about what needs to change.

Now, what can us communicators do to reduce this resistance? Let's find out.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• 90 minute Strategy Power Session
• Public workshops and training
• Less Chatter, More Matter - Mel’s book
• Template packs
• Change Isn't Hard! - Mel's book
• Sign up here to the fortnightly mail out of free resources!

Say hi!
Follow me on LinkedIn
Find out what I'm up to Instagram
Check out my website
Ask a question