Our Services

Combating NIMBYism

'Not in my back yard', or NIMBY as it is popularly called, has become a routine fact of life for any proposed commercial or industrial development. Even the not-for-profit and public sectors are not immune. SSi specializes in assisting organizations in heading off NIMBY attacks or in minimizing the project delays and regulatory hurdles NIMBYs try to put in your way. We help our clients by using a process we have developed called L.E.A.R.N.

• Listening to the host community and its concerns and aspirations through the use of research and community listening tools
• Educating stakeholders to ensure they understand project risks and rewards
• Awakening and mobilizing local sources of support and empower them to speak up on your behalf
• Respecting public attitudes by implementing authentic public outreach
• Negotiating beneficial outcomes for both the community and the project

Some of the listening tools we use include Key Opinion Maker Audits, where we interview politicians, municipal administrators, planners, approval authorities, regulators, landowners and residents. Once we get a good understanding of what the opinion makers think, we would recommend a Public Opinion Survey to uncover the attitudes and biases of the general population, including those who live near your proposed development. Not only will this up front research uncover the real, often unvoiced, concerns of the local area, we can also use the research to determine the preferred message platform to use in crafting a public communications program.

Based on our message development and research, we employ the complete range of public outreach communications tools to educate stakeholders and government authorities including advertising, project brochures and newsletters, open houses, speech writing, project presentations, media relations, political outreach and government relations programs.

SSi will also help you mobilize local sources of support in the community and enable them to Speak Up to publicly support your project. Very often NIMBYs use the media to make their numbers look far greater than they really are. SSi will help mobilize the sources of support for your project to give the media and community a more balanced perspective and credibility in front of approval and government authorities.

Government Relations

SSi has among its capabilities the complete suite of government relations services including, providing strategic advice, policy audits, political contact programs, policy and legislative advocacy campaigns, relationship building, government communications and ongoing government policy monitoring.

Our government relations expertise crosses most sectors of the Canadian economy including energy, forestry, mining, power generation, financial services, manufacturing, infrastructure development, agriculture, health care and technology.

SSi conforms to all industry norms, regulations and ethical standards governing the practice and profession of lobbying.

Stakeholder Engagement

After putting a strategic plan in place and developing a good understanding of stakeholder influence and positions on an issue, SSi can assist you in designing and executing an effective communications and engagement strategy. Often we will act as the secretariat to the campaign, writing the communications documents, drafting the communications products and enabling project events and media relations activities. We will recommend the right approach for your organization from among a range of successful stakeholder consultation tools.

In addition, SSi provides a number of stakeholder engagement services dealing with special situations.

Conflict Management and Crisis Communications

Situations that involve conflict and crisis is not the time to put the organization's reputation in the hands of less experienced or overworked communications staff. Often internal corporate staff are overwhelmed or do not have the experience themselves to resolve conflict situations. Conflict resolution requires a different skill set than most public relations staff have. With over 25 years experience in crisis communications and conflict management, SSi staff have dealt with a wide variety of public affairs challenges from labour strikes, public protests, health crisis and threats to corporate reputation.

Coalition Building and Management

Sometimes an organization is being influenced by the same external events that are affecting its peers or it wants to secure a leadership position within its industry to ensure its strategic requirements prevail. Building a coalition of like minded partners is often the preferred response to a public policy or public affairs issue. SSi will help identify and enlist new members to the coalition, give it an identity and brand, a constitution and structure, and serve as the coalition's administrative arm, making it an effective and powerful voice.

Stakeholder Audits

Often the key to a successful engagement is developing a better understanding of what the issues are likely to be and where the sources of support and opposition are likely to come from. SSi will employ a number of research tools including issue and stakeholder mapping, on site communications research, interviews with local opinion makers and community surveys to provide clients with an accurate assessment of the local scene and expectations. The audit serves as a valuable guide to having a successful project.