Helena Cain

Sometimes communication is that person at the barbecue with the big hat and a drink in hand. Strategic communication is the person who knows the names of everyone there.

If incompetence, laziness, arrogance or disinterest are why people hide mistakes, the solution may be in coaching and performance management.

Helena Cain recently took her own user journey through the UK bureaucracy. Here she rates the trip and the service delivery she experienced.

It’s APS middle managers who are expected to help their teams understand what work-from-home means on a daily basis. It’s tricky business.

In the APS, trust really does need to go beyond consistency and predictability. Focus on building integrity, and trust will follow.

Helena Cain considers how everyday language and casual conversations support or undermine the APS employee value proposition.

We had to live August in slow motion to find the headspace to deal with the onslaught and fit everything in, Matrix-style.

Two-thirds of Aussies don’t take their full annual leave entitlement. Give yourself and your team permission and encouragement to get away.

Despite the myths and negativity around consulting, it’s a very rewarding profession, and a very useful service if you use it well.

Mandating ‘core hours’ of being in the office may give managers a sense of control but it lacks so many critical elements of good management.

How do you reach the intended win-win in a merger of departments, divisions, groups, branches or sections? Helena Cain has a way.

Helena Cain talked to young men in Australia to find out what they think about International Women’s Day and the equity debate.

Are you the ambitious one, the frustrated one, the comfortable one; or the uniter, the manager, or the leader? Whichever one you are, make the best of it.

Australia — a bit unstructured, irreverent, freer, and a backdrop of ancient wisdom — should make policy in line with our own character.

It’s your impact, not your busyness, that matters. It’s how you show up for others; how disciplined you can be in holding yourself to account.