From workshops to frameworks, Vikki Maver’s Communication Skills Academy is redefining how organisations invest in their people. Find out what it took to get there, in this week’s Founder Friday.
A no often means not yet. Timing matters. Many clients come back when priorities shift or the need becomes clearer.
This week, for Founder Friday, we sat down with Vikki Maver, founder of Communication Skills Academy, to talk about two businesses, two decades, and what it really takes to build something built to last.
In 2024, Vikki Maver founded Communication Skills Academy (CSA), Australia’s only dedicated communication skills training business. With more than 20 specialist courses and programs, CSA arms teams with the skills and confidence to communicate clearly and with impact in the workplace.
CSA reflects a belief Vikki holds firmly: good work depends on good communication.
“Communication underpins the success of every workplace – from productivity and performance to credibility and culture,” Vikki says. “When communication breaks down, the effects are felt everywhere.”
Although CSA officially came to life two years ago, its roots date back to 2003, when Vikki founded her first business, Refresh Marketing (RM), Australia’s longest-running copywriting agency. Backed by qualifications in marketing and psychology, Vikki found her sweet spot early in her career: using words to connect with people, build belief and shape behaviours.
After years of writing copy and content for brands at RM, Vikki noticed a familiar gap inside her clients’ workplaces: while external communications were carefully crafted, internal writing was often left to chance. Emails, reports and stakeholder documents carried real weight, yet few people have ever been taught how to write effectively at work.
So, in 2008, she began running writing skills workshops inside organisations, training teams to become stronger, clearer writers themselves. Over time, this work expanded steadily across clients and industries. By 2024, Vikki recognised that the training arm had long earned its right to stand on its own. That decision marked the start of CSA.
From the outset though, CSA was never intended to focus solely on writing. “What became obvious was that organisations who take their team’s business writing seriously understand something bigger,” Vikki says. “They see communication as a core investment in their people and the workplace they’re building.”
It’s why CSA now offers courses in everything from presenting and storytelling to negotiating and influencing, each delivered by a specialist facilitator with proven expertise in their field.
Building beyond the founder
Vikki was clear from day one that CSA could not grow if it relied solely on her. While her expertise underpins the business, long-term scale requires a different model.
One of the earliest decisions was to bring in subject matter experts to deliver depth across communication disciplines.
“It was never going to be me delivering everything,” Vikki says. “It was about bringing together people who are genuinely excellent at what they teach.”
That thinking also informed the decision to appoint a General Manager with the capability to operate as a second writing skills trainer. For Vikki, stepping back from being the default delivery lead was essential. Even in an area where she was deeply experienced, growth required shared leadership and trust in others to deliver at the same standard.
Another significant shift came in how the business approached growth itself. Unlike her copywriting agency, which largely grew through referrals and repeat clients, CSA operates in an environment where organisations are more cautious and deliberate about their investment. Decisions typically involve larger budgets, more senior stakeholders and longer approval cycles.
To meet that reality, Vikki invested in learning the fundamentals of strategic business development from an external expert. The core lesson: growth needed a structured, proactive approach to building relationships and generating work.
Finally and most recently, Vikki made the decision to bring in an internal marketing team to build the CSA brand. While marketing remains her professional happy place, she recognised the limits of trying to balance training, business development and marketing simultaneously.
“I can’t be everywhere at once,” she says. “The marketing team drives the strategy, which allows me to focus on the work where my experience has the greatest impact.”
Together, these decisions reflect a consistent philosophy: growth is not about doing more personally, but about building the in-house capability that allows the business to move forward sustainably.
CSA was built around focus. Unlike other corporate training providers that cover a broad mix of productivity, technical skills and systems training, CSA stays firmly in its lane. Everything it does centres on communication capability. Each facilitator is an expert in their area, responsible for maintaining depth and rigour in what they train.
“Our model works because each specialist is accountable for staying at the top of their field,” Vikki says.
Increasingly, CSA’s work also sits at a strategic level. In 2025, Vikki and her team developed a Communication Capability Framework to help organisations understand how communication is functioning across their people and teams. The framework enables CSA to identify capability gaps within clients’ workplaces, prioritise development areas and design training plans aligned to business objectives.
Vikki believes this kind of deeper work reflects where the market is heading.
“More organisations are looking for clarity before content,” she says. “They want to understand what capability they actually need, not just book another course.”
Another unexpected but welcome outcome of the Communication Capability Framework project has been the identification of gaps within CSA’s own course offering. In response, Vikki actively seeks out specialist trainers who can address those gaps.
“I’m always scanning the market for exceptional trainers in communication areas we don’t yet cover,” Vikki says. “But finding the right expertise takes time and I’m prepared to wait.”
Lessons from the start-up trenches
To build something scalable, you can’t hold on too tightly,
Building CSA has required a different mindset to the one Vikki developed through her first business. Her copywriting agency, RM, grew organically over time. Hiring decisions were cautious, expansion was incremental and profitability was steady. CSA, by contrast, continues to demand significant capital investment, pushing Vikki into unfamiliar territory. “That’s been an adjustment,” she says. “Looking at the numbers month to month is more confronting when you’re building ahead of the curve.”
One decision that eased that transition was building CSA around people she already trusted. Team members and facilitators were drawn from long-standing professional relationships. “The trust was already there,” she says. “Bringing in people I knew made it easier to move faster and with confidence.”
At the same time, CSA has forced a deeper level of self-awareness. As a business centred on communication capability, Vikki is conscious of the need to practise what the business teaches. Clear expectations, direct conversations and thoughtful feedback are not optional internally when communication is the product.
Another ongoing lesson has been learning to step back, which has reinforced a broader truth about leadership. “To build something scalable, you can’t hold on too tightly,” she says. “You need to trust the people around you and let go.”
Advice worth keeping
After more than two decades in business, Vikki’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is practical and clear-eyed.
The first priority is people. Finding the right people to build your business with you matters more than speed or scale. Skills can be developed, but trust, judgement and shared standards are harder to retrofit later.
Branding is another priority Vikki encourages founders to take seriously from the outset. “Your brand and your website are your window to the world,” she says. “They carry the responsibility of representing your business when you’re not in the room, which is why cutting corners or doing it on the cheap almost always shows.”
Vikki is also a strong advocate for generosity. For many years, she has shared her expertise and given advice freely, always eager to help organisations make sense of their options before committing budget or direction.
“Giving value and sharing knowledge upfront builds trust, both quickly and over time,” she says. “My aim is to help businesses make good decisions and avoid costly mistakes. Sometimes that leads to work, sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, helping first and building goodwill matter most.”
She takes the same long-term view when it comes to rejection. In her experience, a ‘no’ is not necessarily ‘never’.
“A no often means not yet,” she explains. “Timing matters. Many clients come back when priorities shift or the need becomes clearer.”
Rather than viewing rejection as a verdict, Vikki treats it as information. Often, a decision has little to do with the quality of the work on offer. The focus, she says, is to stay professional and avoid taking decisions personally.
“If you miss out on an opportunity, try to understand why,” she says. “Sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with you. And when it does, it’s a hard lesson that can help you improve your offer and your process.”
For Vikki, entrepreneurship is a long game. Progress comes from consistency, judgement and a willingness to keep giving value, even when outcomes are not immediate.
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