Internal Communication | Project
Cabinet Office
23 Mar, 2021 · 3 -minute read

Supported by 24 agencies and public bodies, and based primarily in London, the Cabinet Office is the corporate headquarters for the UK Government.

As a department that supports the Prime Minister and ensures the effective running of government in partnership with HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office takes the lead in certain areas of critical policy designed to strengthen the United Kingdom at home and abroad.

Although the Cabinet Office's 7,000 people are heavily involved in a wide range of Government initiatives, it can be difficult for the individual to fully realize the scale of everything the organization does.

In order to boost wholesale employee understanding, there was a clear need for knowledge sharing throughout the department — and, when it came to holding conversations about the full breadth of Cabinet Office activity, an increase in line manager confidence was identified as a core area for improvement.
1 Challenge

To address this challenge, a unified Cabinet Office purpose was developed and a people engagement action plan was put into place.

To help deliver this, we created a manager toolkit to guide the right people through a structured conversation around the end-to-end departmental remit. The pack included a facilitator’s guide that equipped managers with hints and tips to run the sessions, copies of the action plan and a poster-sized conversation map which teams could put on the table and use to take notes.

As well as helping line managers articulate the newly developed purpose, the conversation map was designed to be pinned to the wall, then regularly revisited and reviewed – a working document for Cabinet Office teams to live by.
2 Solution

The conversation map was designed to be a working document for Cabinet Office teams to live by.

Since the initiative launched, we have worked with the Cabinet Office team to update the manager’s toolkit to reflect various departmental developments.

During this period, the collateral has been hugely successful and was proved to raise understanding of the purpose from 46% to 76%.

We plan to work with the team again this year to revisit the project and give it a new look and feel, with a clear focus on updating toolkit functionality to reflect the needs of home workers and dispersed teams as we continue to navigate the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It’s always a real pleasure working with the Gallagher team – they’re very responsive, creative and always deliver on time and on budget." - Paul Mayes - Deputy Director, Cabinet Office Internal Communications and Civil Service Communications
3 Outome