CASE STUDY: Diversity in Climate Communication – Shelley Haslett’s Approach

“‘Climate change can be a triggering topic for some people. At times I have brought out a bit of silliness to take the edge off, and to bring people together. I think it’s important to have a flexible approach.”

Shelley Haslett was working with dairy and food company Bega as a Senior Food Technologist when she won the opportunity to deliver the 2024 NAWOx keynote. To help her write and deliver the talk, she also received a Strategic Speaker Coaching Package with me.    

The NAWOx Talks were dreamed up by NAWO CEO Louise Weine together with Sandra McNeil from Amazon. They wanted NAWO members – people who are underrepresented in the traditionally male dominated field of operations – to share their story using the famous TEDx format.    

Shelley applied to speak at NAWOx because she thought the platform, supported by coaching to deliver a keynote, could boost the impact of her work leading Diversity, Equality and Inclusion initiatives at Bega.

In the two years since, Shelley has gone on to lead Bega’s climate reporting program, ensuring the company is ready to meet Australia’s new climate reporting requirements. The role has required Shelley to lean into her communication skills as she translates complex climate concepts for audiences across the whole business, from dairy farmers to the board. 

Strategic Speaker Coaching is a generative process

My style of coaching is intended to impact the speaker and their work long after they leave the stage. Two ways we do this are by going deep into the seed of each speaker’s idea and drawing out the natural stage presence each person already has.  

Go deeper into your idea through a Landscape Scan    

In the first phase of Strategic Speaker Coaching, my Deep Landscape Scan is where we consider your speech from multiple perspectives and timeframes. Here are two elements to the scan as they looked for Shelley.   

1. Memory Bank – moments from the past that influence where you are now    

A Memory Bank is the place you go to access stories that illustrate moments and ideas that are important to you. The process is two-way, so your Memory Bank also helps you to recognise and name what you value.  

One story Shelley chose to include in her keynote from her Memory Bank was the moment she decided to go to university. During a period working on a dairy farm, Shelley was helping a vet to birth a calf. Mid-birth, the vet said, “You know, university could be a possibility for you”. Shelley moved from her regional home to “the city” the next week, started a degree and became a scientist. This story communicated something significant for Shelley that became a theme of her keynote – opening a door for someone can be as simple as an encouraging sentence at the right moment.    

You can see from Shelley’s example that this kind of storytelling isn’t a tactic to convince and influence people. Rather, stories help you communicate what you find important, and can even show an audience feel that we all relate to and impact each other. 

2. Get clear on your purpose before you write a word  

The slightest tweak to the purpose of your talk will change every word and intonation of your speech. Think about the difference between “girls can have any career they want” and “girls are more likely to become lawyers when they are provided with the right support”. So don’t skimp on the step of clarifying your purpose.  

Common habits to look out for which can dilute your purpose and reduce the impact of your speech are:  

• Going small such as a reporting on coral bleaching of one reef, without considering broader implications for ocean health and what it would take to improve the situation.

• Staying vague, like “raise awareness of climate change and its impact”, or  

• Giving a sanitised version – what you think the audience will want or tolerate.   

The trick to getting your purpose coherent is to go deeper into the unfiltered version of what you want to say, what you want for the audience and what you think the audience believes. Then, rather than trying to resolve the tension and name your purpose immediately, hold the differences long enough for the “new” to emerge. Try to resist the temptation to rush this.  

 

“I remember coming in with, ‘This is what I reckon people want to hear’ and you asking me, ‘But what do you really want to say?’ You took it a level deeper.”  

Shelley Haslett

Finding The Stage Presence You Already Have  

My philosophy is that talks are a lot more interesting when we see the person speaking, rather than a polished persona. A composed presenting style can feel professional, but is often an attempt to stay safe and can make you and your message appear more distant. It’s also more tiring for you to speak like this and the audience misses out on the richness that is unique to each person. 

3. Appearing Parts – different aspects of you that have something to say  

Appearing Parts is a method I developed recently to help more experienced speakers draw out a really interesting stage presence – or, actually, stage presences (plural). Most of us have many natural versions of ourselves so, in one talk you might like to give stage time to your corporate accountant self, your inner football coach and perhaps your contemplative yogi. We find these different parts through a set of somatic practices.  

Shelley is a scientist who went to circus school and leads multiple diversity and inclusion initiatives in her spare time. Giving stage time to these different aspects allowed her to showcase the many modes of communication and relating she has developed – and offered the audience some interesting variation.   

Towards the end of her talk, Shelley took up my suggestion to throw her speaking notes on the floor once she had finished with them. She did it with a cheekiness that was very unique to her and the audience loved it.    

 

“That silliness was already in me. Coaching gave me permission to bring it out. It was like, “This is an option if you want it”. 

Shelley drew on her performance background, but she wasn’t performing. She simply allowed a part of her that was already there.   

Shelley is now growing others’ Strategic Communication Skills  

Since NAWOx, Shelley has used her Strategic Speaking skills to grow the capacity of her DEI team.   

“I’ve been able to pass on more depth to my DEI members and to give them a really good platform themselves. Before they speak [about or to…] I ask them what they really want to say and how they want to say it. The team gets so much energy from these opportunities [which leads to…].”  

She is also applying her communication skills to a new role modelling climate change scenarios. Bega’s huge reach as a company means she needs to draw on a whole toolbox of adaptable communication, from collecting data from dairy farmers to supporting a finance team to model future scenarios.     

‘Climate change can be a triggering topic for some people. At times I have brought out a bit of silliness to take the edge off, and to bring people together. I wouldn’t say it’s the approach I prefer – given the seriousness of climate change – but I think it’s important to have a flexible approach.”

Shelley Haslett

Shelley and I remarked that if we had tried to plan a “corporate climate change communication strategy” we probably wouldn’t have considered silliness as a valid strategy. But by having access to a range of communication styles, Shelley could follow her intuition to pull out something unexpected yet appropriate at just the right time.  

Strategic Speaker Coaching goes deeper into what you already have: who you are, the work you do and the world you operate in. By becoming aware of more parts inside and outside of you, there is more availability to communicate with (rather than “at”) your audience, your community or your meeting room – leading to a conversation that doesn’t end when you leave the stage. 

Do you have an important talk that you would like to feel clearer abot? I would love to hear from you. I offer complimentary calls to see if we are a good fit. I have been a Somatic & Strategic Speaker Coach for over 15 years, drawing on a rich background in innovation and strategy, somatics and physical theatre to inform my approach to supporting speakers with important things to say.