Commerce Commission — Allanah Kalafatelis
Finalist: Best Plain English Technical Communicator 2012
Judges' comment
These pages meet their goal — they strike the right balance of accurately describing the law and explaining it simply for a wide, lay audience. So this was not an easy task.
Media statement
The Commerce Commission is delighted to again be a finalist in the Plain English Awards.
A key part of the Commerce Commission’s strategy is to increase understanding of the benefits of competition, the benefits of sound regulation, and to help consumers make informed decisions. We can only achieve these aims if we communicate in language our stakeholders understand. Adopting the plain English approach has been a significant step towards better communication.
The Commission has embarked on a rapid culture change programme. In the first year this included training all staff to write in plain English and introducing a performance objective on using plain English for all staff. In the second year of the programme we finalised a new Style Guide for our documents and added more training on subjects such as collaborative writing, and editing and proofreading. We are now producing best practice example documents to add to the guidance offered to staff.
Most importantly, we are now publishing a range of documents that are clearer and easier to read. While we still have room for improvement, plain English has become embedded in our culture. We all provide an important check on each other – to ‘plain English’ something has become a verb at the Commission.
Since being awarded a 'Brainstrain' award two years ago we have worked hard to turn around our writing style. We have made this investment in the capability of our staff as recognition that better communication about what we do, how we do it and why we do it is critical to our success as an organisation.
The fact sheets entered in this category covered a range of topics, reflecting the Commission’s role and work. Each fact sheet is a collaborative effort, usually bringing together technical expertise from lawyers, economists and investigators with a writer from the Communications team. It is fitting that this award recognises a collaborative effort, as an organisation cannot truly become a plain English organisation if just a few people follow the approach. We thank the WriteMark Plain English awards for recognising the ‘turnaround’ we have made.
Brent Alderton
CEO
2012 Awards winners and finalists