Repeat, repeat and repeat again: How Angus Taylor must communicate now
Angus Taylor has won the leadership of the Liberal Party from Sussan Ley. Now, as communications expert Peter Wilkinson writes, he must establish his personal beliefs in the public mind and hammer the message home.
New Liberals leader Angus Taylor on Facebook
Few Australians know Angus Taylor, the new Federal Liberal Party leader. So, what should he say, now that he leads the party?
It’s hard for a leader to respond to situations predictably unless their behaviour is underpinned by a personal philosophy. Failure to do so leaves followers scratching their heads – “Why did she/he do that?”
In media training with our company clients, we talk about three sets of messages:
- The incident message – the crisis or issue we are dealing with
- The company message – the philosophy that guides the company
- The personal message – the set of beliefs/behaviours that defines the leaders for others to follow
We advise new CEOs to take time to suss the environment before committing to details on a change in strategy or plan. A CEO can wait a few months for that. In Taylor’s case, policy detail must come, but it too can wait.
What you must talk about in your early tenure are personal beliefs and behaviours, and the company philosophy. If they are clear in your mind.
I think Angus Taylor must announce what values and principles he stands for – and what the Liberals represent – and hammer those messages from the beginning.
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He came out early with a values-and-principles statement on Facebook the day before the leadership vote in the Liberal party room, and admitted that the Liberal Party had “lost its way”. But was there enough detail?
The fact that he put his flag in the ground is the important part – it’s what leaders do.
In the current environment there are two underpinning philosophies that appear to be important for the Liberals and Australia:
- A need for social harmony, unity, and a mutual respect for our differences
- Social equity, for example enabling young Australians to buy a house
Both of these issues play to the traditional Liberal Party view of the world. Allowing younger generations to grow into successful and prosperous adults is a Liberal cornerstone and Taylor might have a better way to do this than taxing Baby Boomers.
Likewise, he has an opportunity to craft a social unity message that brings together Liberal values and his own personal philosophy – it could be more powerful than tying those ideas into a convoluted legislative process around “hate speech” laws.
The author Peter Wilkinson
It is clear from his Facebook statement, however broad it was, that Taylor subscribes to former prime minister Robert Menzies’ philosophies, also espoused by John Howard, that are anchored in individual liberty, the family unit, private enterprise, and limited government. Menzies and Howard repeated these values many times in their speeches and interviews.
Sussan Ley supporters might argue she did all the above, including a headland speech at the National Press Club. Not sufficient, I say. Remember the messaging rule: repetition = penetration = impact.
Repetition is the foundation of all messaging – it’s a tactic we drill into our clients. If Sussan Ley didn’t do this enough, has Angus Taylor learnt the lesson?
His handicap is that almost every publication I read this morning had commentators predicting that he doesn’t have what it takes. That’s quite a communications challenge to overcome.
Peter Wilkinson is chair of Wilkinson Butler and a crisis communications expert.
