Communication runs through all change work – in how issues are framed, how people are engaged, and how understanding develops across groups with different starting points.
It is not just about campaigns or messages, but an ongoing practice that operates across channels, audiences, and contexts – from written and digital content through to face-to-face dialogue and collaborative processes.
In complex, multi-actor settings, communication takes on particular importance. It shapes how people make sense of problems, how trust develops between groups, and whether shared direction can emerge. Effective communication in these settings recognises that understanding is built through exchange, not transferred through messaging. This means attending to framing, audience, timing, and the relationships in which communication takes place.
The resources below offer frameworks and practical guidance for designing communication that supports understanding, encourages dialogue, and connects with the wider work of behaviour change, learning, and collaboration.
Framing, meaning-making, and narrative
These resources focus on how communication shapes understanding – through framing, narrative, and the ways people interpret complex issues.
How communication shapes natural resource management
This 2024 paper by Anke Fischer and colleagues explores how communication influences natural resource management and sustainability transformations. It highlights five conceptual lenses to examine environmental communication as a process of meaning-making shaped by power, structure, and agency. The collection of articles provides practical and academic insights into the role of communication in fostering sustainability.
Improving lives by changing how we talk about complex issues
The Workshop is a unique research organization in Aotearoa New Zealand, founded by Jess Berentson-Shaw and Marianne Elliott. They specialize in public narrative research and communication strategies that deepen understanding of complex issues through storytelling. Their guides cover various topics from climate change to well-being, and include resources such as a message guide and checklist for communicating about COVID-19.
New rules: new game – Communications tactics for climate change
Futerra’s early reports on climate communication bring together principles and tactics for influencing attitudes and behaviour, drawing on psychological, sociological, and marketing research. Developed as part of the evidence base for the UK Government’s climate communication strategy, they remain widely referenced for their clear, practical guidance. While grounded in a more campaign-focused approach, they offer useful starting points for thinking about how communication can support behaviour change.
Designing communication for engagement and behaviour change
These resources focus on how communication can be designed to support engagement and influence behaviour in real-world settings.
The Response Playbook: A behavioural insights checklist for designing effective communications
This playbook, developed by Amy Jones and colleagues (2020), introduces the RESPONSE checklist – an 8-step framework for creating impactful communications using behavioral insights. It covers crucial aspects such as understanding the audience, defining goals, choosing messengers, identifying barriers, applying nudges, and evaluating outcomes. The guide offers practical tips and case studies to help public sector staff design cost-effective communications that drive positive behavior change.
Innovative climate change communication – Team Minus 6 percent
This 2008 paper reviews various communication efforts aimed at raising public awareness about climate change. It identifies six key strategies that can enhance engagement and promote action among audiences.
Talking the walk: A communication manual for partnership practitioners
This toolbook by Sue McManus, Ros Tennyson and colleagues at The Partnering Initiative takes a practical look at the realities of communicating in and about partnerships. It treats communication as a continuum – from initial partnering conversations through to ongoing internal and external engagement – and includes case studies, short reflections, and nine practical tools. Topics include richer conversations, hearing unheard voices, intercultural communication, the use of images, communication planning, and assessing effectiveness. Particularly valuable for its focus on internal communication within partner organisations, which practitioners often find more challenging than communication between partners.
Communication for change connects with several other areas on this site. The Behaviour change resources page covers frameworks for understanding what drives behaviour. Risk communication and engagement focuses specifically on communicating about hazards and uncertainty. Deliberation and dialogue explores how two-way exchange supports shared understanding. And Social marketing covers campaign and programme design for behaviour and norm change.