Issue Resolution Workshops

CCA conducts one-day issue resolution workshops that enable personnel from throughout an organization to use tools like our Straight Question Model and issue cards to clearly communicate with internal and external audiences on a broad range of issues.

Your organization can use this workshop to address a clear-and-present danger, or to give staff a foundation for ongoing stakeholder communication. In either case, we encourage the participation of key personnel from across all relevant departments. This disburses the new communication tools and skills as widely as possible throughout the organization, and begins to foster a culture of transparency and accuracy in all communications.

We begin the workshop by hunting the “allegators.” These are your organization’s potential reputation pitfalls, as seen by the outside world. Together, the group will identify and document the issues most likely to damage your credibility in the eyes of stakeholders and the public.

Next, we expose participants to CCA’s Straight Question Model. This model prepares the user to lay out an oral argument, in their own words, that is clear, honest, and easy to defend.

We also work with participants to help them master our issue card tool and then guide them in the development of issue cards for the “allegators” identified earlier in the session. Issue cards are a flexible tool that uses keywords – rather than scripted language – to give their user the flexibility to respond using their own personal communication style while still staying on message.

Issue cards also help users see things from a stakeholder’s perspective, and allow them to tailor answers to address a stakeholder’s specific concerns.

Once the groups representing different departments or focus areas complete their issue cards, we road-test them by sharing the cards between groups and having them use the cards under questioning. This also gives the CCA consultant an opportunity to providing extra guidance on the effective use of the cards in a variety of applications.

The completed cards are then combined into a Smart eBook that can be used across departments to help your team communicate about specific issues, while also conveying accurate big-picture information about the organization.