EP#41: Frontiers of policy communications

Olga Stankova is Special Assistant to the Director of the International Monetary Fund’s Communications Department. She currently leads technical assistance and conducts research on economic policy communications, and manages outreach on the Fund’s strategy and policy work.

Previously, she was responsible for communications on the World Economic Outlook and the Global Financial Stability Report. Prior to that, she was Senior Press Officer for all of the countries of the Former Soviet Union, along with several countries in Europe and the Middle East. She also worked at the European Central Bank during the global financial crisis.

Olga previously served as Director of Marketing with Russian investment bank Troika Dialog and as Chief of the Banking and Investment Division of the United States Agency for International Development in Moscow.

She has recently released her latest work: Frontiers of Economic Policy Communications, which highlights the emerging importance of effective communication to successful policy making and implementation.

Discussed in this episode:

• Olga’s early career in communications
• The importance of communications in a crisis
• The IMF’s approach to outreach
• A typical day in the IMF’s communications team: the communications cycle
• The modern marketplace and ‘digital citizens’
• Addressing cultural differences in communications
• Changing technologies: the opportunities and challenges
• Getting communicators a larger seat at the policy table
• Why cutting through the noise will only get more difficult
• A look at Olga’s report: the need for cross-department collaborations