Best practice communications in the public sector

We love to celebrate award-winning work by IABC members, and this event was no exception, giving members the opportunity to hear about impressive projects from three leading public sector communicators and to find out what it’s really like to work for the government.

As the IABC Gold Quill awards for 2022 open for new entries, it was the perfect time to celebrate some of the award winners for 2021. 

We hosted three leading communications professionals, who kindly shared insights into their winning projects, while also talking candidly about public service life.

We met Allison Lee, Executive Director for Public Affairs & Marketing at Transport for NSW; Jen Black, Associate Director of Strategic Communication for the NSW Public Service Commission; and Sarah Burns, Associate Director of Corporate Communications at Transport for NSW.

One of the key projects for the Transport for NSW communications team was the delivery of a coordinated transport-sector response to the pandemic. For those members living in NSW and using public transport, the 1.5 million green dot stickers guiding travellers on where to sit were hard to miss. But this was just one small component of the comprehensive COVIDSafe Transport Plan. Allison Lee’s team prepared a communications strategy that mapped every aspect of the customer’s journey, ensuring all health and safety messages were up-to-date, easy to understand, succinct and visible. The campaign used real employees from Transport for NSW, who were at the heart of the communication strategy. 

The Public Service Commission won an Award of Merit in the special and experiential events category for its NSW Premier's Awards Livestream. This annual event needed reinvigorating at a time when it could only be held virtually. Jen Black’s team undertook wide research to assess the business need and measure the outcomes, and adopted innovative human centre designed tools that guaranteed a huge turn-out and some of the best feedback on record. 

Sarah Burns presented the project for which she won two internal communications Gold Quill awards. The "I'm Transport" initiative aimed to embed a shared vision and a positive culture of collaboration and recognition across the Department. Her team identified key personas for each of their thousands of internal stakeholders, and built a thorough communications strategy tailored to the specific needs of these characters. With regular storytelling, a wide range of channels and positive leadership support, the reaction and response was impressive. 

Finally, we heard insights about working for the public sector, and the differences between a government role in communications and a private one.  There was general agreement that while government activities are subject to high scrutiny and can take longer to travel through layers of review, they are equally impressive in terms of impact and outcomes for stakeholders. 

Importantly, the guest speakers acknowledged that the influence of the communications teams in the public sector had strengthened, in part due to the increased recognition of the value of good communications during the pandemic, but also due to the impressive outcomes the teams had achieved, and the trusted counsel they provided to the executive leaders. 

At a time when research suggests 40% of people are considering changing their job in the next six months, it’s good to know there are some best practice communications teams at the heart of the NSW government worth checking out. Where communicators are valued and heard, and where their roles help make a positive impact for the local communities in which they live and work, it’s no surprise that they’re winning the top awards in the profession!