Telstra’s response to the Queensland and Victorian floods of 2010/2011 is the focus of a new book produced by CQUniversity professional communication student Sandra Mobbs...

(book cover): Boots and all: Summer 2010/2011

More than 150 Telstra employees involved in the flood operations from throughout Australia were on hand to receive a copy of Boots and all: Summer 2010/2011 at the book’s national launch, celebrated in Brisbane recently.

Sandra, who has been studying an associate degree in journalism by distance education, produced the book as her assessment for the course Communication Project, which allows students to undertake a media project or work placement. 

“I had been approached to get involved with compiling a book, but the opportunity to do it for university assessment meant the idea gained support from my immediate supervisor, and I was able to take on the book project as well as my normal role,” she said.

The result is a 200-page book that records over 100 personal experiences of Telstra field operators who were required to provide assistance during the Queensland and Victorian floods between December 2010 and April 2011. 

For Sandra, the biggest challenge was simply extracting the stories, but she solved this by setting up a bit of competition between the field teams, and establishing three ways stories could be told in the book.

Left to Right Head of Program, Professional Communication, Kate Ames, CQUniversity student and Telstra employee Sandra Mobbs and Sandra's husband Trevor

“We found the guys were really happy to tell stories about others, but more reluctant to talk about what they had done. So there are three types of stories in the book – the personal story, the ‘as told by’ story that might be about someone else, and then the interview, which was where I interviewed them about their experiences,” she said.

“All the photos in the book were provided by the guys on the ground, except the one satellite image of Cyclone Yasi.”

“I specifically wanted to keep the authentic voices of the employees in the book,” she said.

Telstra’s Executive Director Service Delivery, Telstra Operations, Phill Sporton was the commissioner of the book, having been behind two previous Telstra publications. The first recorded a day in the life of a communications technician and the second recorded the efforts of Telstra field operators in the days after Victoria’s ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires to rebuild communications.

“That book was really well received, as it touched a lot of employees and resonated in a very real way. We wanted to again find a way to demonstrate our genuinely heart-felt thanks to the men and women who went beyond their normal role in extraordinary circumstances during and after the floods,” he said.

“I was involved in the Black Saturday response, and walking around with the guys, it was clear to me that our guys are called upon to do far more than just build and fix phone lines,” he said.

“In an emergency, people need to know that the people they love are safe, and I am so immensely proud of what our field teams did to ensure that could occur,” he said.

“This book celebrates things we did in more than a day’s work, and demonstrates the great things our people do in the course of their job. It fills in the corporate picture, because it’s about what you don’t see.”

Boots and all: Summer 2010/2011 includes stories about encounters with snakes, chickens who surf, employees breaking into infrastructure to retrieve equipment, and employees banding together to help the communities in which they live.

For CQUniversity lecturer and Head of the Professional Communication programs Kate Ames, the book is great example of what can be achieved when students are able to combine their workplace knowledge and expertise with an academic project.

“We provide the framework, and help students map out what and how they’re going to do something that’s going to stretch them and take them out of their comfort zone.

“It’s just so incredibly satisfying to see something like this book produced as a result, and in this particular case, it has also been really satisfying see it embraced from an organisational perspective,” she said.

“Sandra has done an amazing job, and has been very self-directed in her approach. This book actually brings together the main elements of public relations and journalism that are the focus of our professional communication degree, and it is a genuinely outstanding example of corporate storytelling.”

In addition to producing the book, Sandra will provide an academic reflection on the process, which included setting up a website to collate the stories.

In all, 2500 copies of the book have been printed. They will be distributed to all employees who were involved in the flood recovery operations, as well as selected customers.