These Summaries are designed to both reveal the depth of Jim’s 40 years of practice, but also to provide a series of lexicon’s to assist practitioners in analyzing and planning their own practice.
Thinking and Acting Strategically
We are experts in developing conclusive, fundamentally sound communication strategies for companies with high-profile problems and issues ranging from activist demonstrations to civil, criminal, or class action lawsuits; from environmental, health, and safety risks to xenotransplantation. What makes us different is our ability to quickly and efficiently focus company management on the key decisions that need to be made and to structure outcome-focused operating and communications responses. We often work with every critical operating function within the organization to get questions answered, issues resolved, decisions made, and actions taken.
The practical result is the immediate, responsive management of serious problems. At the same time, while moving forward, the client organization learns more about resolving its own issues.
Managing Management Involvement
We are pragmatists. Pragmatism is inherent in our approach to senior management. Our job is to tell it like it is, to forecast the unintended consequences of the organization’s actions, and to make important, conclusive, and doable recommendations to help management know what to do next.
Our style facilitates communication between different departments, divisions, and individuals within the organization. The goals are to help managers and supervisors know what to say and when to say it; decide what to do and when to do it; and to recognize when it’s time to say and do nothing.
Typically, we take these first steps to get a situation under control:
- Listen to senior management’s most important concerns.
- Develop an action-based plan of attack.
- Build senior management confidence in the response team and the strategy.
- Focus the team and other consultants on getting it done.
- Reduce management anxiety through practical, doable, and useful recommendations.
- Manage senior management disappointment, irritation, and impatience.
- On-site program implementation; translate strategic assessment and program concepts into implementable steps.
- Work with and train mid-level managers on problem-resolution approaches and strategy.
- Identify and plan exit strategies for departing senior managers.
Coaching and Counseling
We only handle the toughest, touchiest, and most sensitive aspects of any problem. That means getting things right the first time. Much of our advice and counsel involves teaching and coaching executives, managers, and supervisors to make fundamentally sound, results-oriented communications decisions and to effectively communicate those decisions to others.
Leadership Development
The leadership capabilities of individuals often become apparent during urgent situations. Established leaders need someone to break a management impasse or dislodge the barriers to effective action and counteraction. Crises are the one time in organizational life when just about everyone learns key new things at lightning speed. Crises are times for leadership enhancement and leadership discovery.
Second Opinions
With more than 40 years on the front line of crisis communication management, one of our most important roles, aside from strategically directing response operations, is providing second opinions. During a typical year, The Lukaszewski Group provides its opinions in situations involving activist attacks; angry communities; organized opposition; government investigations; high-profile litigation; network television news coverage; 60 Minutes, PrimeTime Live, Dateline NBC, and other news magazine shows; media investigations and the like. We are frequently called the “Consultant’s Consultants” and the “Expert’s Experts.”
