Only 28% of civil servants believe senior leaders communicate effectively. That stark finding from the 2023 Civil Service People Survey isn’t just a leadership problem – it’s a daily reality affecting your briefings, stakeholder meetings and career progression.
Through analysing official mandates against daily pressures, six consistent communication gaps emerge. Here’s how to bridge them.
The official mandate: The Civil Service Communication Plan 2024-2027 couldn’t be clearer: it demands a purge of “jargon, acronyms and corporate language” (GCS, 2024). The instruction is to use “clear, simple English in everything we produce.”
The daily reality: Yet policy papers still read like academic journals. Briefings overflow with TLAs (three-letter acronyms). Meetings descend into departmental dialect that would confuse most stakeholders.
Why this gap matters: When the Cabinet Office’s own communication plan identifies jargon as a barrier to public understanding, yet civil servants continue using it internally, we create a double standard. This isn’t just about public communications – it’s about whether colleagues in different departments can understand each other’s work.
The official mandate: GCS Professional Standards require communicators to “use audience insight, analysis, segmentation and behavioural approaches to guide the development of communication strategies, campaigns and messages”.
The daily reality: Too often, the same briefing is delivered unchanged to a technical specialist, a Minister and a public audience. The language, depth, and framing remain identical, despite wildly different needs and contexts.
Why this gap matters: Influencing a Treasury official requires a different language than explaining a policy to affected citizens. Failure to adapt isn’t just inefficient; it actively undermines the intended outcome of the communication.
The official mandate: The Civil Service Behaviours Framework explicitly requires staff to “challenge others appropriately when necessary” and to “communicate in a straightforward, honest and engaging manner”.
The daily reality: Hierarchy often trumps honesty. Junior staff hesitate to question flawed assumptions. Middle managers avoid difficult conversations with underperforming team members. Senior leaders receive sanitised briefings that obscure genuine risks.
Why this gap matters: The Grenfell Tower inquiry, the Post Office Horizon scandal, and countless failed IT projects all feature moments where civil servants failed to challenge appropriately. This isn’t about being difficult; it’s about fulfilling a professional duty.
The official mandate: The authority deficit promotes a “Listen, Understand, Act” model, positioning listening as the critical first phase. Meanwhile, the authority deficit commits to creating “an inclusive listening culture”.
The daily reality: Meetings frequently feature people preparing their response while others speak. Stakeholder consultations sometimes feel like box-ticking exercises rather than genuine engagement. Hybrid working has exacerbated the problem, with remote participants often struggling to be heard.
Why this gap matters: The government’s own evaluation framework recognises that effective communication starts with listening. Yet how many communication training programmes actually develop listening skills? How many performance reviews assess listening ability?
The official mandate: The authority deficit places “Influencing and Impact” at its core. Authority is non-negotiable when influencing Parliament, the media and the public.
The daily reality: The People Survey’s 28% figure suggests a significant. This manifests as hesitant presentations, unconvincing media performances and stakeholders who doubt officials’ conviction in their own policies.
Why this gap matters: Authority isn’t about arrogance, it’s about the calm confidence that comes from clarity of thought and expression. When civil servants lack this, policy implementation suffers, public trust erodes and Ministerial confidence falters.
The official mandate: Official hybrid working guidance has made flexible working a permanent feature of civil service life, requiring new approaches to collaboration and communication.
The daily reality: Many are applying in-person meeting habits to hybrid environments with poor results. The “Zoom fatigue” phenomenon, fractured attention, and the dominance of those physically present create unequal participation and inefficient decision-making.
Why this gap matters: The 2023 People Survey data confirms collaboration is suffering in this new environment. This isn’t a temporary teething problem – it’s a fundamental shift in how work gets done that requires new communication competencies.
Why these gaps matter
These six gaps don’t exist in isolation. They compound:
- Jargon-filled language makes it harder to tailor messages to different audiences.
- Poor listening undermines the psychological safety needed for courageous conversations.
- Hybrid meeting dysfunction exacerbates existing authority imbalances.
- A lack of courageous challenge allows jargon and poor practice to persist.
The result? Projects stall. Policies misfire. Stakeholders disengage. And talented civil servants become frustrated, looking elsewhere for workplaces where communication isn’t a daily obstacle course.
The practical solution: Skills, not theory
Closing these gaps requires treating communication like a practical skill, not a theoretical competency. Think of it as a verbal gymnasium where you:
- Practice translating complexity into clarity.
- Drill audience adaptation techniques.
- Simulate difficult conversations safely.
- Develop active listening under pressure.
- Build authentic authority.
- Master hybrid facilitation.
The bottom line
With scrutiny intensifying and hybrid work here to stay, these six skills have moved from ‘useful’ to ‘essential’. Your next promotion, project sign-off or stakeholder buy-in depends on them.
The frameworks mandate better communication. The data proves it’s needed. The question is whether you’ll invest in the practical skills to deliver it.
Ready to transform how you communicate?
Explore how the Government Campus approved Think on Your Feet® for the Civil Service provides targeted, practical training to master these six essential skills.
- Learn more about Think on Your Feet® for the Civil Service.
- Request a discovery call.
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*Sources: Civil Service People Survey 2023, Civil Service Communication Plan 2024-2027, GCS Professional Standards, Civil Service Behaviours Framework, Cabinet Office Hybrid Working Guidance.
