Anglo Coal Australia 

Project Type: Communication Audit.

Timeframe: March 2006 - November 2006.

Project Description: Internal Communication Audit to identify opportunities for productivity improvements across all Australian Coal mines and Brisbane Corporate office.

What the client said:

The purpose of appointing STA to undertake an internal communication audit was to pinpoint how Anglo Coal’s internal communication strategy could act as a key plank in improving operational efficiencies within the organisation during a period of significant cultural change, and growth.

I wanted to know which communications initiatives were working, which weren’t, what opportunities existed to improve our messages and delivery systems, and how the mines could better share information.

The audit involved travelling to seven open cut and underground mines and saw STA working with all levels of employees ranging from mine work crews, to executive team members and the CEO.

The information that was gathered demonstrated STA’s skill in relating to all levels of staff, and ability in enabling staff to speak openly and honestly.

The STA audit methodology was down to earth and straight forward, ensuring STA developed a strong understanding of our business, the pressure points and the issues. This in turn ensured practical recommendations that would assist the company in a very busy and production focused work environment.

“I have no hesitation in recommending STA to undertake this work for other organisations.”

Rio Tinto Alcan

Project Type: Communication Audit.

Timeframe: September 2007 – December 2007.

Project Description: Internal Communication Audit to identify opportunities for productivity improvements at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Weipa Bauxite mine.

What the client said:

Rio Tinto Alcan appointed STA Communication in September 2007 to pinpoint priority areas for our Weipa Bauxite Mine employee communication strategy for 2008/09.

We needed to better understand the communication needs of our 800 employees across a vast workplace covering many different physical locations - a power station, a ship loader, two separate operating mine centres, a plant, and maintenance workshops.

The communication challenges we face, including the sheer physical size of our workplace, coupled with inconsistent access to technology, and a complex range of communication capability in our staff, meant we needed assistance to get a snapshot of communication needs on site.

This was achieved via an internal communication audit which involved liaison with a cross section of employees ranging from mine operators to our site mine general manager.

The audit methodology encompassed gathering primary and secondary data through a comprehensive desk audit of our communication channels, policies, and procedures, administering a face-to-face questionnaire, and telephone interviews.

STA provided RTA with findings in the form of numerical rankings and detailed employee opinions and perceptions on pre-determined topics, realistic recommendations, key themes, predictors of internal communication satisfaction, and rankings of the 10 most important elements of communication at our site.

The audit has given us a great way forward to improve communication on site, and we are now in the midst of bringing the findings into our strategies.

“Thanks again for the great work that you did with the report and the research. It was excellent. I really appreciate it.”