Simple, clear messaging This is what has been what has been so successful in New Zealand’’s pandemic so far. This is partly because the goal we were aiming for was clear – and that was elimination. And the Alert Level system was the process through which we got to that outcome. It was a complete […]
One of the difficulties of lockdown is staying focused on the collective goal and avoiding stay-at-home fatigue. This occurs after a period of restriction, when we start to get cabin fever and feel tempted to break the rules, even if the virus hasn’t changed and the risk remains the same. During the initial lockdowns, one […]
We are well into our first day back at Alert Level 4 as an entire nation, and I’m watching the 1pm update as new cases are announced and the genomic sequencing points to the variant originating in NSW, Australia. If you’re feeling anxious, it’s important to understand what stokes your anxiety and what calms it. […]
Over the last few days I’ve had the privilege of traveling down south to Twizel and Timaru for a couple of meetings. This was a postponed trip from a couple of weeks ago, when we had both bad weather in the area I was traveling to, and a possible outbreak of the coronavirus in Wellington […]
It’s tricky trying to do what you love and also make a living. And although I’m busy doing what I love, the ‘making a living’ thing is proving to be a quite the challenge to crack. I’ve discovered that I love writing. Not academic writing: I can do it, but I wouldn’t describe my relationship […]
Let’s imagine that we have a vaccination campaign that has gone really well in New Zealand, with a high proportion of the population receiving the Pfizer / BioNTech jab. As more people get vaccinated, community protection also increases. Let’s also imagine that, globally, numbers of cases of Covid-19 have fallen dramatically, but pandemic coronavirus variants […]
In conditions of uncertainty, or when we are not entirely sure how to act or what to think, we look to others for cues on what we should be doing. This is where we all need to act as leaders. To practise physical distancing, to wear a mask if we can. To wash our hands. […]
I remember back to when I first started pushing back in Central Government on NZ on the idea that the Canterbury Earthquake recovery would be done in 2 years. This was the conversation that was happening in rooms in which I was being asked to provide advice, and appearing in documents too. One of the […]
Low risk doesn’t mean no risk. This is the coronavirus comms challenge now. Anger directed against what is essentially a highly mobile, adaptive and close to inanimate object whose sole purpose of being is to replicate itself quickly and widely doesn’t really make sense. So we direct our ire towards the unwitting hosts of the […]
I REMEMBER CLEARLY saying to Sarah, my wife, in March 2020: “This is going to last a long time. My intention is to stick to the pillars of Structure and Empathy to guide the response and communication of it. I’m going to need your help. If I stray too far from that, can I please […]