Staff morale improves without cheesy crackers

You quoted comments by former Acting Communication Director Pamela Taylor about internal communication at the Design Council (DW Diary, 1 March). Pamela quoted some results from a staff survey taken after a fairly bloody time of mass redundancies and cultural change. Unsurprisingly, staff morale had plummeted, but the depths to which it plummeted were some of the worst that anyone (including Smythe Dorward Lambert) had seen.

That was early last year. A major programme was introduced involving all of the Design Council’s staff and supported by Smythe Dorward Lambert. The last members of the new director team were appointed in August, and the November staff survey showed astonishing improvements.

Among a wide range of internal communication mechanisms we do have informal staff lunches (no cheesy crackers, though). These mechanisms have helped to transform staff morale and to improve our effectiveness.

The Design Council and its staff are totally committed to helping UK businesses to use design more effectively so that they can be more competitive, and to helping the public sector use design to improve the quality of all our lives. All the staff are working harder than ever to make this happen.

Sorry that’s not such a good story for you, even if it’s excellent news for the UK.

Paul Crake

Communication director

The Design Council

London SWl