Issues management
SCA assesses policy, regulatory and reputational issues and establishes a review process with the organisation. The issues management assignment describes the register, responsibilities and outputs.
Corporate affairs
Corporate affairs works best as part of how an organisation decides, not as a service called in once the decision is made. The function reads the political and social environment, advises the leadership before positions are set, and then plans and delivers the engagement and communications that follow. That is how an organisation protects its reputation and its ability to keep operating, and how it tells its own story rather than leaving others to tell it.
Stakeholder perceptions research
Research with the government, industry and regulatory stakeholders who matter most, to show how the organisation is seen and where a reputation or a relationship is weaker than the organisation thinks. SCA turns the findings into the engagement plan and the core messages.
Core messages
One set of agreed messages for the organisation’s positions, cleared once and used both when the organisation speaks first and when it answers. SCA drafts them, keeps them current and gives them a single owner.
Briefings, speech notes, correspondence and submissions
SCA writes for executives and boards in the organisation’s voice: briefing notes that give the decision and the reason first, speech notes built on the core messages, correspondence that answers what was asked, and submissions that follow the consultation’s own questions.
Incident and crisis communications preparedness
An audit of the crisis communications plans and templates against the incidents that the organisation could face. SCA closes the gaps, tests the plans with the people who would use them, and briefs and rehearses the spokespeople as part of the preparation.
Media and internal communications
Media statements, and an internal communications plan that tells an organisation’s own people its strategy, its positions and how it is performing, before the public hears them. SCA writes the statements and issues them to media, drafts the plan, and runs the two together.
Assignments within this service family
- Core messages and corporate narrative
Within core messages - Government relations
Within briefings, speech notes, correspondence and submissions - Internal communications
Within media and internal communications - Issues management and crisis preparedness
Within issues management; incident and crisis communications preparedness - Media communications
Within media and internal communications - Reputation and stakeholder perceptions
Within stakeholder perceptions research
The first conversation establishes the decision, the work already under way and the information available. The client provides the relevant proposal, evidence and approval contacts. A written scope and quote identify the deliverables, review stages, responsibilities and timing before work starts.
Start with what
you need to decide
SCA defines the engagement or corporate affairs work the decision ahead needs. The first conversation establishes the issue, timing and information available.