Communicating change Given the cultural tensions reflected above, the importance of accurate, timely and targeted messaging and communication cannot be overstated. All Services indicated that communication and filtering change through to all levels of the organisation was a major challenge. Few people with whom the Audit spoke were aware that the ADF Review’s recommendations were underpinned by the aim of building sustainable Defence capability and operational effectiveness. Others were not aware that the recommendations were largely gender neutral and were designed to benefit the ADF as a whole. However one officer stated: about making the with the times, It’s workplace fairer and…moving along making it more family for people to want to come and [friendly]…and stay.68 The following statements are typical of the feedback the Audit received on the messaging about change and cultural reform: Canberra is very good at producing policy, but then actually pushing it down to the lowest levels is something that we do well.69 don’t since this has begun appears very [My Service’s] sales pitch shallow…It feels like in our organisation, an be ‘send email, mate, she’ll right’. That’s what it feels like.70 I even know that even talked about a communication strategy don’t we’ve for the COSC outcomes.71 I think the problem for me and not sure whether anyone else feels the I’m same is [cultural reform] has not been explained to us well at all…even after sitting there for two hours, with someone rabbiting on, we still have no idea about, what actually trying to achieve.72 what it’s they’re I think we have some resistance out there [from people] in key positions who are not necessarily pro the strategic direction, who therefore filter it and apply their own views or messaging.73
Communicating change Given the cultural tensions reflected above, the importance of accurate, timely and targeted messaging and communication cannot be overstated. All Services indicated that communication and filtering change through to all levels of the organisation was a major challenge. Few people with whom the Audit spoke were aware that the ADF Review’s recommendations were underpinned by the aim of building sustainable Defence capability and operational effectiveness. Others were not aware that the recommendations were largely gender neutral and were designed to benefit the ADF as a whole. However one officer stated: It’s about making the workplace fairer and…moving along with the times, making it more family [friendly]…and for people to want to come and stay.68 The following statements are typical of the feedback the Audit received on the messaging about change and cultural reform: Canberra is very good at producing policy, but then actually pushing it down to the lowest levels is something that we don’t do well.69 [My Service’s] sales pitch since this has begun appears very shallow…It feels like in our organisation, ‘send an email, mate, she’ll be right’. That’s what it feels like.70 I don’t even know that we’ve even talked about a communication strategy for the COSC outcomes.71 I think the problem for me and I’m not sure whether anyone else feels the same is [cultural reform] has not been explained to us well at all…even after sitting there for two hours, with someone rabbiting on, we still have no idea what it’s about, what they’re actually trying to achieve.72 I think we have some resistance out there [from people] in key positions who are not necessarily pro the strategic direction, who therefore filter it and apply their own views or messaging.73
adf-audit-2014.docx