Commerce Commission
Finalist: Best Plain English Document — Public Sector / Non-Government Organisation 2012
Electricity and the Commerce Commission's role
Judges' comment
Referring to the Commerce Commission as ‘we’ allowed you to create natural, active sentences. The informality was appropriate. You achieved a conversational style and made your organisation seem human and approachable.
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.
The fact sheet Electricity and the Commerce Commission’s role was developed to help consumers understand what the Commission can do and cannot do in relation to the electricity sector. We get a lot of complaints about the sector, falling potentially under several different areas of legislation. The fact sheet has been an important tool for our Contact Centre staff, who receive complaints, and for the people they are dealing with.
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. We thank the WriteMark Plain English Awards for recognising the ‘turnaround’ we have made.
Brent Alderton
CEO