My CGXperience in Review: What PR Intern Hannah Phillips Learned During her CGXperience
When I started my internship with The Communications Group, my primary goal was to leave the internship better than I started. Now, as my CGXperience comes to an end, I can recognize areas in which I have experienced significant growth.
In the CGXperience, interns begin by determining a semester-long project to focus on and build their experience upon, based on the intern’s unique interests. Mine was an issues management plan to help the agency and its clients respond should an unforeseen issue arise.
I was familiar with Seeger’s Best Practices in Crisis Communication, a messaging framework to use when responding to an issue or crisis, and the Issues Life Cycle Model, a visual representation of how an issue develops into a crisis, before starting this project. I was unaware of the process behind an issues management plan, so I researched other plans to gain a greater understanding of what my plan should look like.
Among many award-winning plans, the Chase-Jones Issues Management Model repeatedly appeared. The Chase-Jones Model is a five-step process: (1) issues identification, (2) analysis, (3) strategy, (4) implementation and (5) evaluation.
I tailored each step of the Chase-Jones Model to meet our needs as an agency. The model included issues criteria, scan tests, task force creation, a flow of information chart, a stakeholder analysis, a vulnerability check, potential tactics and an end-of-year review. Then I created decision trees targeting potential issues to guide our team’s responses if a potential issue is ever detected.
During this process, it became evident issues management is not a one-size-fits-all process. Each scenario required a different approach. Ultimately, I left the solutions ambiguous because the details of issues are by nature unpredictable. Therefore, I facilitated a table reading of a mock issue, which will allow Groupers to understand the process if an issue arises.
Not only did this project give me a deeper understanding of issues management – it challenged me to think critically. I dove into the project head-first with little experience and strengthened my problem-solving skills.
Contact ComGroup today to learn how we can build an issues management plan for you.
