As corporate affairs and communications undergo huge expansion in APAC, skillset “growing pains” are inevitable – when our professions get stretched by the increasing demands being placed on them, and strain to deliver at the desired competency levels.

But that also makes this a thrilling moment: The demand is there for a step change in ability for organisations willing to pursue it. Our disciplines are now under unprecedented pressure to operate at the highest professional level. A programme of skilling up should be integral to any department’s planning.

That’s why APAC needs the very best in qualified, professional training for corporate affairs and ESG/sustainability. These disciplines demand not just generic skills, but proven expertise in strategic communications, content creation, regulatory compliance, reputation management, crisis communications and much more.

With our commitment at Andrews Partnership to raising industry standards, we’re proud to offer such dedicated development via our training arm, AP Advance. Our professional trainers have decades of experience coaching communications departments all around the world, and can build their modular programmes around your specific needs.

• Build skills: Sharpen the capabilities of your team, turning them into a high-performance unit.
• Retain top talent: Employees who are being regularly developed by their employers stay longer – that’s a fact.
• Deliver better: When your whole corporate affairs or ESG/sustainability team has gone through the same training and development programme, they are more likely execute with strategic coherence.

WRITING FOR COMMUNICATIONS

Depending on specific client requests, session content may include:

Technical writing training
o Understanding different classic content structures (e.g., news “inverted pyramid” vs. case study “problem to solution” format. Also formats for press releases, strategic proposals, profiles and features, research, etc.)
o Opening lines: How to grab the reader’s attention from the first sentence
o Improving your story presentation to maximise impact (e.g., killer headlines, smart quotes, and lateral thinking on layout)
o Finding the core of your story and how to structure everything around it
o Writing for the web vs. print vs. social

Writing that delivers on the Comms Strategy
o Understanding the purpose of news/social/PR/internal content within the comms strategy
o How to build an editorial strategy & content plan
o How to segment your different audiences, and why this is important
o Building a reusable “storyline”: Turning audience and content plans into a “cheat sheet” for every piece of content
o How to turn the business strategy into a compelling narrative for all audiences
o How to measure results of news/social/PR/internal content

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Depending on specific client requests, session content may include:

Communication Trends
- Explore current and future communication trends that are having an impact on the way we engage internal and external stakeholders.
- Learn how to adopt a different level of strategic thinking and planning due to disruptions and new challenges whilst still continuing to successfully engage your audience
The Foundation of Communication
- Look into Aristotle’s Art of Rhetoric to the David Rock’s latest thinking on neuroscience how discuss how we can use these in the workplace.
- Bring all participants to the same level of understanding of the key principles and foundations of effective communication and in particular, how this applies to change communication.
Strategic Communications Planning
- The ORACLE Test, a 5-step strategic communication planning model
- Using a real in-house case study, understand the pragmatic application of this in their day-to-day work.
Clear Messaging
- The development of an engaging message is an integral part of The ORACLE Test. Using our proven Story Staircase™ framework and process, the participants would be coached on how to develop compelling messages that are designed to engage and influence their audiences.
Gaining Buy-in
- How to guide and coach leaders to communicate successfully.
- How they engage and influence different styles of leadership and internal stakeholders to buy into their plans.

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

Depending on specific client requests, session content may include:

Understanding the changing crisis landscape
• The role of the Internet, social media and mobile devices in fueling and shaping issues and crises
• The operational, behavioral, informational and legal risks of social media
• How social media is changing the crisis lifecycle
Assessing online threats and vulnerabilities
• How to identify, assess and prioritise online reputation threats
• How to distinguish between online/social media incidents, issues and crises
Preparing for crises using social media
• The role of social media in the broader crisis communications armoury
• Essential online/social media crisis considerations and protocols
• Crisis team responsibilities for social media: who does what
• How to use social media listening to identify potential issues and track crises
• How to use dark sites, Twitter and other key digital and social media crisis tools
Responding to a crisis
• What to do and how to respond in the first hour of a crisis
• Online messaging during a crisis, including how to handle holding statements in social media
• How to use crisis materials and content online, including video and graphics
• How to correct inaccurate and misleading online comments and information
• Do’s and don’ts of communicating with online influencers during a crisis.
Recovering from a crisis
• Leading from the front: how to use a crisis to change the game in your favour
• How to re-build your business and reputation and restore trust in your brand using social media
• Defining, tracking and measuring success in crisis recovery.

APPENDIX