Seen, Heard, Backed

Real-world strategies for self, team, and sector advocacy

In case you missed the live presentation (or want to go deeper), here’s a short takeaway from the session — including actionable strategies, reflection prompts, and links to tools I mentioned. Use what works. Adapt what doesn’t. Share it with someone who needs it.

And if you tried something and it worked - let me know!

Tools & Templates

• Track your outcomes: Create a running doc or spreadsheet grouped by skill, project, or strategic theme. Capture outcomes (not effort), including:

  • Time or budget saved

  • Stakeholder feedback

  • Clear value or impact

• Share your outcomes: Canva is your friend. Use free templates for monthly outcome wins, retrospectives, or individual highlights — clean, professional, easy to skim.

• LinkedIn Glow-Up Guide: Your LinkedIn is not your resume (or something to ignore) — it’s your professional narrative whether you like it or not. Start using it like one.

• Use your PPR like a pitch deck: Stop treating your Performance Plan as paperwork. Treat it as a record of wins, growth, and strategic alignment. Evidence, not effort.

• Feedback and Reflection Tools:

  • SBI (Situation–Behaviour–Impact)

  • GROW Coaching Model

  • Project / Team Retrospectives — try ‘Start–Stop–Continue’ or ‘What’s Working / What’s Weird’ or ‘Plus / Minus / Interesting’ - collate then translate into a one-page summary (KPIs + team recommendations - do again, try this instead)

  • Microsoft 365 Whiteboard retrospective templates

  • ALA Frontline Advocacy Evaluation Toolkit - something for everyone

Common Advocacy Traps

• ‘Busy’ isn’t a brand. It’s not the same as impact.*

• Don’t confuse celebration with strategy. A cake is nice. A testimonial, growth or innovation is better.

• Be aware that you might be advocating with vibe, not evidence. Don’t assume intention equals impact.

• Visibility doesn’t happen automatically. Your work isn’t visible just because it’s done.

Your Advocacy = Repeatable, Visible, Impactful

• Think of advocacy as a drumbeat — not a single boom.

• Represent your work with evidence and consistency.

• Strategic communication is not about you - it’s about your audience.

• Reflect. Learn. Apply. Repeat.

Reflective Questions

Here are some reflection questions that might help:

• What outcome are you most proud of - that others might not know yet?

• When was the last time you turned a feeling into a clear, useful piece of feedback?

• What story do you think you (or your team/org) are telling - without saying a word?

Stuff to Explore

(Or Amend / Disregard / Put Under Your Pillow)

• ALIA’s Advocacy Action Planning Workbook

• ALA’s Frontline Advocacy Toolkit - lots of content, sector specific content too

• The Australian Government Style Manual - the clear language section is handy

• Thriving Leaders podcast episode, From Busy to Effective w Dermot Crowley

If there’s something you’d like me to unpack further — from the presentation or this post — let me know. I’ll queue it up.

Thinking of diving into outcomes next: why ‘working hard’ doesn’t always equal recognition, and how to show your work without shouting. What do you think?

*Apparently, ‘busy-but-useful’ is my current brand. I’ll take it.