Use words to get things done

Adaptation is the thing we need to get done

We're talking about a social change touching every aspect of our lives, not just infrastructure or technology. In fact, without the social stuff in place—shared attitudes, norms, goals, and openness to the new—it won't be possible to adopt those new technologies and systems, no matter how good they are.

So how do we inform and motivate people to actively participate in that change ... rather than just undergo it? How do we find out what we need to know in order to get to our desired future—ideally, a sustainable one? How do we build trust for co-operative action?

Believe it or not, that's a communication problem. Not marketing communications and not knowledge transfer—at least not always. This is communication that reduces uncertainty, shares knowledge and builds trust, and gives people agency as the momentum of change builds.

Desirable
futures

Appetite, capability
and current states

Strategies
and plans

Working
together

Desirable
futures

Many possible futures are ahead of us but what would be a desirable one? What would that desirable future look like for a government? And what would it look like for people whose lives will change? How can we come to a shared understanding, so we can work together to achieve it?

Describe future scenarios in rich and relevant detail so that policy makers, stakeholders and communities can think creatively and make informed decisions
Describe the value you want to create, protect and restore in ways that complement economic approaches to value
Describe the risks and opportunities that stand between you and your objectives, so that you can manage them effectively and creatively.

Appetite, capability
and current states

Change always involves risks. It also opens up opportunities. The people who are part of the change—whether they're driving it or supporting it—need to know what they're up for and what they're capable of

What, really, is your appetite for risk? Get a shared understanding of that and state it so you can make decisions
Describe your organisation or community's tolerances and the tolerances of the social and other systems you operate in
Describe your current context in rich, relevant detail so that everyone understands the environment and system they want to change

Strategies
and plans

A strategy for adaptation is a strategy for social change—for changing what people think and do, both at scale and locally. We need to use the insights from behaviour science but focus on behaviours that drive social change—transformative adaptation rather than reaction.

Define objectives consistent with your desired future scenario
Describe risks and opportunities in terms that are definite, precise and genuinely inform decisions about what actions to take
Take a place-based, common ground-creating approach to change, while keeping an eye on state-significant risks and government objectives
Integrate the instruments of behaviour change, so that policy and communication work together effectively to achieve outcomes

Working
together

Communication is a way to reduce uncertainty by sharing knowledge, building trust and driving purposeful collective action

Use an empirically-grounded model of communication to work out the most effective way to communicate
Communicate in ways that inform and motivate people to act for the shared goal
Identify the risks and opportunities that communication can help you to manage
Translate subject matter expertise so it's useful for policy specialists and frontline work

Lynette Smith is an accomplished writer whose words have impact. Her ideas and creativity are matched by a sound understanding of what science is and what scientists do. She also has an ability to engage with clients and help them determine fresh and effective approaches to their objectives.
Paul Holper, Director at Scientell

Lyn is the first person I would call if I needed to unpack a complex problem or scenario. She is incredibly skilled at interrogating assumptions and decisions, whilst communicating in an accessible and compassionate way. I’m so grateful I was able to learn from Lyn’s innovative approach to tackling big projects.
Cat Strawa, Senior Research Officer at Australian Institute for Family Studies

Lynette Smith worked with us on a number of projects to mould the complex science of rainfall extremes and climate change into language that could be understood by stakeholders in the water industry. For our major report, she helped us make our language 'active', worked with us on concepts that needed to be unpacked for our audience, and also helped us structure the findings of the current literature in a way that was accessible to our target readers.
Pandora Hope, Principal Research Scientist at the Bureau of Meteorology

Our clients

Our clients

Use words to get things done

October 12, 2021

Last year I worked with a client on how we could guide people to make good decisions in situations of uncertainty. One of the things they told me was that their clients found it very difficult to describe the possible states of affairs they did and didn’t want. At the time we were talking specifically…

Making decisions is hard

August 5, 2021

Perhaps we need to talk more about what it’s like to do that? I’m talking decisions about what to do when it’s just not obvious what is the best thing to do. Really, that’s what a decision is. After all, when things are certain, there’s nothing to make a decision about. It’s only when there…

“Getting beyond the edges of our knowledge”

August 3, 2020

This text has been circling in a holding pattern for almost the whole time of the COVID-19 crisis. In those months there have been so much that makes me think—yes, this is why: political leaders showing what they really think about the people they purport to lead, the emergence of conspiracy theories relating to the…

Thought leadership in times of change

April 7, 2020

Thought leadership is about leading people to new thoughts and new ways of doing things. It means taking a position and building relationships of trust. It’s also about sharing knowledge generously. Communication is often thought of as simply packaging up information in a nice, digestible form. It is much more powerful than that, shaping what…

Dealing with risk in the environment

January 6, 2020

Why it’s difficult, here in Australia, to translate research findings into commercial products and services? Risk aversion has to be part of the answer to that question. Research can be uncertain in its output and commercialising innovation is risky. There has to be firm ground somewhere to offset that—and a culture that supports people with…

Effective communication depends on cooperation

January 6, 2020

So many of our big issues need cooperation but instead we use the language of opposition. Rather than being harmless, I think it damages our ability to work together to get the outcomes we need and want. When facts are contested and the stakes are high what we get, more often than not, is opposition.…

Contact us

Lynette Smith
lynsmith@gramma.com.au
+61 (0) 412 388 025