Cuttlefish Communication

Website Contact the business

Cuttlefish Communication Experts in communication - training, strategy & planning. Are you a team leader or a business owner? Does your team need to improve their communications?

Do your leaders need some help improving team engagement? Maybe you have a strategy or a significant project you need to roll out and you're not sure how to communicate it most effectively? We might be your new best friend! We run workshops and training sessions on all things communications - storytelling, authentic communication, effective writing, change communication ... all tailored specifically to your needs. If you've got a problem we might be able to help you solve, let's chat! In the meantime, check out the range of free comms resources on our website.

08/10/2026

What happens in social media comments can become a legal, reputational and psychological minefield.

So when you’re dealing with trolls, pile-ons, misinformation and increasingly sophisticated bots, “just ignore it” isn’t exactly a strategy.

In this episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast, we’re joined by social media and online community strategist Felicity Cull, who has seen a few things in her career.

We talk about when how to manage social media in this day and age, alongside how it’s become less of a marketing issue… and more of a reputation management, PR and comms problem to solve.

Listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.heymelcomms.training/190 🎧

Your social media’s comments section is a part of your organisation’s public presence. People are watching how you respo...
07/10/2026

Your social media’s comments section is a part of your organisation’s public presence.

People are watching how you respond to criticism, how you treat your community and what behaviour you allow on your channels.

Which is why social media moderation has become a part of PR and reputation management.

Not to mention there are also practical issues that organisations need to consider, from potential legal exposure and misinformation to bots, coordinated activity and the wellbeing of the people doing the moderation.

The bigger point is: once people start responding to an organisation on social media, the organisation is participating in a public conversation, and that conversation is part of its reputation.

Our latest blog gives you the social media moderation run down: 👉 https://heymelcomms.training/blog/socials-mod-pr
[Image description: A light yellow background of three Instagram looking social posts. You can only see the entirety of one in the middle, from the cuttlefish.comms handle and it's Mel presenting to a class of people with open laptops. Under it is the title: "What is social media moderation and why it's become a part of PR (and reputation management"). On the top of the image is the black Cuttlefish logo and a cursor.]

So I thought, what if I combined my experience of working in the fitness industry with my experience in communication?An...
06/10/2026

So I thought, what if I combined my experience of working in the fitness industry with my experience in communication?

And this is the result!

I'm offering a new specialist training for gym owners and managers. Why? Because ...
- I know many people start managing gyms for the first time without any prior leadership experience
- In general, first-time leaders are not giving formal training or mentoring to help them succeed
- Having worked in the fitness industry for 15 years - and co-owning a gym for 7 of those years - I've seen how poor communication can really damage a brand, and lead to really awful experiences for members, clients, and staff alike.

So if you know any gym owners who might be interested in booking in a workshop, for them and / or their team members, I will love you forever if you can share this with them!

More info here: https://cuttlefish.group/gym-manager-communication-skills

[Image description: white circle with black headline text that reads: New training! Communication Skills for Gym Owners & Managers. Attract & retain more members & talented staff.]

The last cast member to introduce from our Leadership Communication Styles spectrum is ... Micromanaging Mike.Mike is a ...
05/10/2026

The last cast member to introduce from our Leadership Communication Styles spectrum is ... Micromanaging Mike.

Mike is a pain in the butt.

He demands detailed reports on everything everyone is doing, and wants to review and approve everything. And when he does, he often makes meaningless changes for the sake of making changes.

Mike can take over the work of his team altogether, because he thinks he'll do it better or he thinks nobody can meet his standards.

He has impossibly high expectations but also fails to communicate those to his team. He's also not open to delegation ... which only makes his life harder!

Have you worked with a Mike? How did you handle it?

[Image description: cartoon figure of a man with his hands on his hips and looking cross]

So this is a bit exciting ... we have our first graduates from the Certified Change Communication Professional program! ...
04/10/2026

So this is a bit exciting ... we have our first graduates from the Certified Change Communication Professional program! Give it up for Alicia Price, Kate Cullen, and Adelle Yates!

I developed the program in partnership with the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence to give communication professionals an avenue to hone their skills in a specialist area.

Certification isn't a 'tick and flick' exercise. It involves:
- Previous experience in change communication or change management, whether as a comms professional, change manager, team leader, project manager, etc.
- Participation in three live 90-minute teaching modules
- Submission of a written assessment, demonstrating application of the learning and a self-reflection.

It was a pleasure to read Alicia's and Kate's assessments, especially their self-reflections.

Our next cohort is being planned for early 2027. If you're interested in participating, let me know.

There's more info here: https://cuttlefish.group/training

Thanks also to Adrian Cropleyand Sia Papageorgiou for trusting me to design and lead this course!

02/10/2026

For communications professionals, performance review season can be a tricky time of year.

How do you demonstrate your value when so much of what you do gets reduced to things like articles written, town halls delivered, change plans completed or campaigns launched?

Well, we’ve got some fixes for you.

In this episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast, we give you six ways to use your performance review and goal-setting process to demonstrate your value, connect your work to business priorities and set goals that actually move things forward.

Listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.heymelcomms.training/189 🎧
[Video imagery description: Mel in front of her microphone talking to the camera.]

As we approach the 'command and control' end of the leadership style spectrum, we're introducing Choosey Chester.Chester...
01/10/2026

As we approach the 'command and control' end of the leadership style spectrum, we're introducing Choosey Chester.

Chester is the type of leader who is inconsistent. He picks and chooses the things he wants to micromanage, but will completely ignore other things.

Emotionally, he's hard to follow ... you never know which version of Chester you're going to get that day.

And because he lacks clarity and consistency in his communication, his team are never really sure what he wants from them.

He can sometimes take a long time to make a decision, or avoid decisions altogether if there's no certainty.

Our Choosey Chesters need to hear the feedback from their team, and understand the negative impact on wellbeing and performance. They also need to be open to coaching and mentoring to help improve their communication skills.

What else could help a Choosey Chester improve their leadership communication? Let me know!

[Image description: cartoon figure of a man wearing a yellow business shirt and tie, and shrugging.]

Performance review time can quickly become a game of numbers.How many articles did you write? How many campaigns did you...
30/09/2026

Performance review time can quickly become a game of numbers.

How many articles did you write? How many campaigns did you deliver? How many town halls did you run? How many communications projects did you complete?

All useful information, but it doesn’t necessarily tell us whether the work actually made a difference. For communications professionals, there’s an increasingly important distinction between measuring what we produced and measuring what changed.

The more useful question is: what changed because of the work?

Our latest blog tells you exactly how to measure it, right here: 👉 https://heymelcomms.training/blog/impact-not-output
[Image description: A black background with an image of an open blank binder. On the page it's opened to, it says in black: "How to measure communications impact, not just outputs" followed by "Campaigns, posts, likes, impacts" in a list, with numbers against them all except for impacts which has "...?". The white Cuttlefish logo is in the bottom left corner.]

Sick of AI posters? Have some plain old mildly hard to read handwriting.You should read our latest newsletter here: htt...
28/09/2026

Sick of AI posters? Have some plain old mildly hard to read handwriting.

You should read our latest newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/heymelcomms/28-9-26

Sign up for the Cuttlefish fortnightly newsletter: https://training.us6.list-manage.com/profile?u=a4e0f5f80596568d857875e0d&id=89b2354fad&e=%5BUNIQID%5D&c=742f306292.
[Image description: A picture of a post it note with the hand written words: "Cuttlefish Communications" underlined. Under it says "Our newest editions of our newsletter is awesome" with a smiley face. Under this says, "You should read it!".]

In our next edition of 'Leadership Communication Styles', we're introducing One-Track Ollie.Unlike Lazy Lucy, Phantom Ph...
28/09/2026

In our next edition of 'Leadership Communication Styles', we're introducing One-Track Ollie.

Unlike Lazy Lucy, Phantom Phil, and Blustering Bill, Ollie has a very clear sense of purpose and drives that with his team.

He's also happy to let the team take the lead on their delegated work.

However...
..he has fixed ideas of how things should be done, but can struggle to articulate that to the team, leading to a lot of re-work and furstration.

He's often not open to other ways of doing things, and forgets that people are not mind readers!

For our Ollies of the world, they need help to:
- learn how to communicate clearly and concisely
- understand the different communication preferences of their people
- find ways to incorporate the ideas of the team into their work.

Ever come across an Ollie? What worked for you?

[Image description: cartoon figure of a man with glasses, pointing at an arrow-shaped sign with the words 'ONE WAY'.]

Address

Brisbane, QLD
4171

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cuttlefish Communication posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Cuttlefish Communication:

Shortcuts

Sponsored

Share