ISSUES MANAGEMENT

Remember what we said about the volcano. There's no better way to think about issues management.

Every organization or company has challenging issues that form a bubbling brew. These issues exist in many areas - legal, human resources, employee relations, advertising, financial, corporate ethics, marketing, and more. In some cases, everyone knows what they are. But many times, only a few recognize them, and they often don't know how to handle them.

We do. The Echols Group conducts issues assessments, which are in-depth evaluations of business and organizational issues with particular analysis of public perceptions and likely media impacts. Generally, the objectives are

To identify and fully evaluate critical communications and visibility factors.
To determine the effectiveness and efficiencies of these factors.
To accurately gauge perceptions of internal and external groups.
To produce a communications and visibility strategy.

We do a content analysis of how an organization tells its story, whether it's through a monthly magazine or a daily email. We investigate how others tell your story. We talk to your staff, your fans and the reporters who cover your business. And we crunch all the information with the goal of creating Key Message Platforms and visibility strategies that will keep those issues where they belong - below the surface. Hopefully for good.

Here's How to Fix It

Determine the scope. Scale is a key element in most crises. The bigger it is, the more you need to separate it into manageable parts. You know, eating the elephant one bite at a time. An important note here: if lives are in danger or confirmed deaths have occurred, your primary responses should center on empathy, sympathy, emotion and thoughtfulness. More about them, less about you. At least for now.