Senior communications thinking and hands-on help for people doing work that matters
You do. We’ll help you tell.
do.tell brings senior communications thinking and practical help when you need more experience but don't necessarily need another full-time person.
I work alongside you, close enough to understand what's going on and to be useful wherever you are in the work. I'll ask questions, test thinking and tell you when I think there's a better way. I can support the people you already have, step into a gap, or take the lead when that's what the job needs.
And I'm not there just to advise from the sidelines. I can stay with the work and get it done. I know good communications isn't about making noise. It's about knowing what will help, and doing it well.
Here’s how we can help
Fractional comms support
Senior comms when
you need it
You need experienced communications capability, but perhaps not another full-time person.
I can work alongside your chief executive or leadership team, support and mentor the communications people you already have, step in while there's a gap, or provide ongoing fractional communications leadership.
And because I get close, I can look beyond the immediate job at how your communications are working as a whole — what's useful, what's getting in the way and what could work better.
Projects, change and engagement
You’ve got something happening
You've got a project, change or decision on your hands and you need people to understand what's happening and why. There may be staff, customers, communities, partners, funders, government or others who need to be involved along the way.
I can get alongside the work, help think through the communications and engagement, and stay around to deliver it.
Reputation and issues management
You need help with something sensitive
Something difficult has happened. Something sensitive is coming. A journalist has called. Or you can see an issue developing and would rather deal with it before somebody else defines it for you.
I bring the perspective of someone who has spent years both asking the difficult questions and helping organisations answer them.
Sometimes that means communicating. Sometimes it means fixing something first.
Your story
You want your work better understood
You're doing good work. But that doesn't necessarily mean people get it.
I can help get clear about what you actually do, what matters about it and how to explain it — then make sure that understanding carries through the places people encounter you.
After all, your story isn't just what you say, it's also how you communicate every day.
Yes, a media interview matters. So does the letter you send hundreds of people every month.
A major announcement matters. So does whether your staff know what's going on before they read about it somewhere else.
Your strategy matters. So does whether somebody can find the right information on your website, intranet or customer collateral.
Good communications needs to happen in all of these places. That's why I look at the whole picture: the big moments, the everyday communications and the systems and habits connecting them.
Sometimes the useful work is highly visible. Sometimes it's fixing something everyone has become so used to that nobody notices it anymore.
It all tells people something about your organisation. Every communication counts.
Think yours could be working better? Drop me a line and we’ll have a look.→
The important stuff isn't always
the obvious stuff.
I’m Stu Oldham.
I spent more than 20 years as a journalist, editor and newsroom leader, asking questions, working out what mattered and helping people make sense of complicated things.
Then I moved to the other, much more fun side of the conversation.
Most recently, I led communications for one of New Zealand's largest community and affordable housing providers. I built its communications function from the ground up, working across the organisation from the chief executive and executive team to the people delivering services and working directly with communities.
That meant the big stuff, the difficult issues, media attention, organisational and legislative change, major development programmes, reputation, stakeholder and community engagement.
It also meant the everyday stuff that keeps an organisation communicating well: internal information, website work, publications, service communications, executive material, organisational messages and helping people across the business communicate more clearly.
It all means I’ve seen the good that comes when communications is close to the work and what gets missed when it isn't. That's the experience do.tell brings to your communications somethings.
Relax, I’ve done this before.
There's no standard package and no need to commit to more communications support than you need.
You might need do.tell for a project. For a difficult afternoon. For a few months while something changes. For a regular day each week or a few days each month. Or as the senior communications person you don't need to employ full-time.
You don't need a communications brief. You don't even need to be certain communications is the answer. You just need to know you need help with something.
Tell me what's going on. We'll work out whether me and my network can help.→
What you need, when you need it.
Need help with your something?
Send me a quick note and I’ll get back to you as-soon-as