Question

Communicating and Influencing: When communicating to others, how have you ensured your communication is clear, well-structured and tailored to your audience? Tell us about a time you have done this and the impact it had as an immigration officer

Answer 1

Situation
In my role as an immigration officer I was asked to lead the rollout of a new family-case triage process that affected several audiences: frontline officers who would use the new forms and scripts, legal representatives and NGOs who advise applicants, social services who provide safeguarding, and applicants themselves (many of whom had limited English).

Task
My task was to make sure everyone understood the new process, their responsibilities and the practical steps, to avoid delays, reduce adjournments and ensure vulnerable people received the right support.

Action
I used a structured, audience-tailored approach:

- Mapped the audiences and their needs. Frontline officers needed step-by-step procedure and quick-reference aids; NGOs and lawyers required the policy rationale and legal thresholds; applicants needed plain-language explanations in multiple languages and reassurance about safeguarding and confidentiality.
- Produced materials at three levels:
- A one-page “flow chart” for officers showing each decision point, timeframes and required documentation.
- A detailed guidance note for legal/partner organisations explaining the legal basis, evidence standards and escalation routes.
- A plain-language leaflet for applicants, translated into the main languages we encountered, with pictograms and contact details for support services.
- Ran two short, practical briefings for staff with live walk-throughs and role-play of common scenarios, and an information session for partner organisations where we allowed time for questions and clarifications.
- Built check-back into the process: at the end of every applicant interview officers used a short teach-back (asking the applicant to summarise the next steps) and issued the translated leaflet and a written summary of the decision/pathway.
- Set up a single point of contact (email and phone) for partners to raise queries during the first 6 weeks to quickly resolve ambiguities and refine materials.

Result / Impact
- Frontline officers reported greater confidence and fewer procedural errors because they had a clear step-by-step tool to follow.
- Partner organisations and lawyers told us the detailed guidance reduced unnecessary challenges and improved consistency in what applicants were asked to provide.
- Applicants understood the process better (we saw fewer adjournments and fewer cases where an interview had to be repeated because the applicant had misunderstood a question).
- The single point of contact allowed us to quickly update the guidance where practical issues emerged, which prevented wider confusion.

Overall this approach — clear structure, audience-specific materials, use of plain language and teach-back, and proactive partner engagement — reduced misunderstandings, sped up case handling and improved confidence among staff and stakeholders.

If helpful, I can share a template of the one-page flow chart and the teach-back script I used.