Types of Services
Phone Consultation: CPCX is available to offer advice and short-term assistance to field projects in the areas of public participation, stakeholder and partner engagement, risk communication, facilitation, conflict resolution, teambuilding, virtual collaboration, and collaborative technologies. CPCX serves as a general help line for those planning or conducting public participation or those aiming to prevent and resolve conflicts.
Public Involvement Plan: Effective public involvement and stakeholder consultation require thoughtfully developed participation plans. A Public Involvement Plan or a Communications Plan is that framework that addresses how a team will engage with the public and approach internal and external communication. CPCX offers informal instructions and examples of how to write Public Involvement Plans.
Workshop Design (in-person or virtual): CPCX assists project teams in designing and carefully structuring project workshops to meet the meeting purpose. This includes 1) creating an agenda that will address the issues in question and the purpose of the session (such as building consensus or sharing information), 2) helping the project team prepare and deliver their key messages, and 3) selecting a meeting structure, such as break‐out groups, roundtables, exhibition space, etc. that will best achieve the goals of the organizers.
Meeting Facilitation (in-person or virtual): CPCX can provide facilitators from the CX, the National Roster of Environmental Conflict Resolution Professionals or via contracts with external facilitators. This network of professionals includes facilitators, mediators, risk communicators, Tribal specialists and other public engagement practitioners.
Vertical Integration: CPCX applies a partnering process to bring together staff from the Districts, Divisions, HQ and ASA who are involved in the project. This usually entails a workshop at the beginning of the project or study designed to clarify roles and develop a common vision. This process gets internal Corps stakeholders on the same page before they engage with external stakeholders.
Teambuilding: CPCX helps PDTs and offices improve relationships and advance their teams focus and productivity. Support includes in-person or virtual sessions, for several hours or longer workshops. CPCX often uses the personality assessment Strengths Deployment Inventory to support improved communication and interpersonal skills.
Situational Assessment: A situational assessment is a conflict management tool designed to build good will at the beginning of a project, or to address a conflict that occurs during a project. The assessment consists of a series of field interviews with interested parties and stakeholders to collect input on the project, understand the issues, and determine which stakeholders would like to be involved at what level of engagement. CPCX can conduct these assessments or contract out for this service.
Information: CPCX is a repository for information related to public participation and conflict resolution. This includes innovative engagement tools and a variety of literature from Federal policies to Corps guidance and resources. CPCX helps Corps professionals learn about best practices, case studies, and the tools and techniques of conflict resolution and public participation.