Working in the ethical communication space helps us to attract a group of clients with shared values and aligned objectives.
Recently we’ve had a couple of opportunities to introduce some of our clients to each other in the interests of knowledge sharing and as a pathway for them to collaborate on projects.
Safeguarding Children works to provide training and guidance to organisations so that policies and procedures are in place to keep children and young people are safe from neglect and abuse. OSACO Group works to ensure organisations have the practical, on-the-ground systems and processes in place to keep people safe from a range of damaging human behaviour including abuse, harassment, and bullying.
Bringing Willow Duffy, CEO of Safeguarding Children and Jaydene Buckley, Managing Director of OSACO Group together was powerful to witness. Working in such a space can be lonely at times and it must be easy to lose hope that lasting change can be achieved, given how challenging their work can be. Both leaders told us how inspiring it was for them to meet each other and to hear about the work that each other’s organisations are doing and that their passion and dedication is shared.
Safeguarding Children and OSACO Group are now looking at ways to work together and to inform their contacts about the other organisation as opportunities arise. If you are interested in learning more about either organisation we recommend taking a look at their websites. Both provide training options (online and in person).
We also recently had the opportunity to introduce OSACO Group to one of our longstanding clients, Pic’s Peanut Butter. This was because Pic’s Peanut Butter has been working proactively on its workplace culture for several years in a way that OSACO considers to be a shining example of best practice. OSACO were keen to find out more about Pic’s approach to addressing its internal culture and how it has impacted on the success of their business.
After hearing Pic’s Peanut Butter CEO Stuart McIntosh talking very enthusiastically about the culture review process and the impact it has had, OSACO Group’s Managing Director Jaydene Buckley said that she will be spreading the word as a way of inspiring other businesses and organisations to undertake similar work with their teams.
“Working proactively to ask your team how they are, how they feel about the workplace, and if there are serious issues to address is vital, but is so rarely done well or done at all,” says Jaydene. “If we want to prevent issues developing this is exactly the kind or work we all need to be doing. I commend Pic’s for doing it and WaltersPR for suggesting it and delivering it well for the past five years.”
In 2014 WaltersPR first suggested carrying out a culture review with the entire Pic’s team which has formed the basis for its workplace culture efforts ever since. We have personally interviewed every member of the Pic’s team at least once and sometimes twice a year (undertaking the exercise for a total of eight times since 2015) asking a range of questions about internal communication, their views about the workplace, specific questions about particular workplace projects and initiatives, and we ask them to let us know if there are any serious issues at Pic’s that need to be highlighted and addressed. When we started the project there were 12 staff. Now with more than 50 people to interview it’s a large piece of work and represents a strong commitment from Pic’s to its staff and their wellbeing.
The discussions with each member of the team are confidential and we have been privileged to have full and frank conversations with the team over the years.
Based on the team’s comments we provide a detailed report with recommendations and track progress on those recommendations so that we can provide feedback back to the team about what has been done. It has been incredibly powerful to see the difference this process has made at Pic’s. Owner Pic Picot talks about what the project means to him in this video.
Pic’s Peanut Butter CEO Stuart McIntosh has this to say about the work that WaltersPR has done with the team at Pic’s: “The success of the initiative is based on the use of an independent third party (WaltersPR) to conduct the interview backed by the commitment to confidentiality – these two factors ensure that management receive honest feedback which we can use to implement change initiatives which are valued by all employees.”
The aim of organisations like OSACO Group and Safeguarding Children is to prevent harm but more often than not they find themselves called upon to assist when harm has already occurred. By doing work such as an annual culture review all businesses and organisations can play their part to keep their people safe and thriving and to provide opportunities for them to speak up about issues that need addressing.
Contact me if you would like to learn more about doing a culture review for your business or organisation.
Being a WaltersPR client means joining a family of likeminded, values-based businesses. We only work with businesses and organisations with which we share values and who are interested in transparent, ethical communication. This makes our work more powerful and effective because we stand behind the clients we represent and the objectives they are striving to achieve. We believe this shows in our writing, storytelling, engagement and marketing activities. It’s authentic work for people we trust and believe in, which is what makes it compelling.
