What You Can Expect from OSC

OSC believes the first and most important step in providing top quality service is listening to, and understanding, what it is you need or want to accomplish. We understand that each of our clients has different needs and expectations and we respectfully treat everyone accordingly.

As a former senior level staffer at the Minnesota Legislature, Cap's 'behind-the-scenes' experience with strategic planning, effective communication and grassroots engagement are what set him apart from others. Cap brings a unique level of experience to the table, as well as a strong network of established relationships with legislators, lobbyists, agencies, and staff. These relationships allow OSC to build broad support and find common ground on issues...a critical component in meeting clients' goals.

The OSC process begins by determining a thorough understanding of your needs and goals, and then developing an individualized plan that addresses your specific objectives, while also allowing for flexibility to adapt to ever-changing political dynamics.
This comprehensive strategic plan is based on both desired and realistic outcomes and includes legislative process mapping, highlighting key committees, members, and/or potential allies, as well as identifying points in the process that could present obstacles.
If engagement on the municipal level is relevant to your objectives, OSC will identify and develop sound strategies for effectively engaging the key players. OSC has extensive experience working with municipalities across the state.

Throughout the course of the contract, OSC will continue to suggest new or improved strategies and develop scenarios and options for how you may want to proceed at certain critical steps; all in an effort to help the process continue moving as smoothly as possible to maximize our chances of success.

Communication is a critical element of success in government relations, so OSC makes it a point to communicate regularly, making sure that you are always aware of what is happening, how it may affect our strategic plan, how we are proceeding, and what lies ahead. No strategic decision is ever made without client approval.
OSC provides clients with regular, emailed updates that you may, in turn, distribute to your organization. Updates focus on what is happening, both generally and specifically, relative to your key objectives.
Having a cohesive message is critical. So, once our strategic plan is in place, we will develop a message plan. This will enable everyone involved to have clear, concise, and consistent messaging when engaging policy leaders.
OSC is able to craft this message; or, we are happy to work with your existing PR Firm/Team to jointly hone the message to be most effective at all applicable levels of government.

Experience with numerous campaigns and policy advocacy efforts have provided OSC with the tools to help you grow, engage, and activate your grassroots network, thereby improving your ability to reach stated goals and priorities.
Years of work with the Legislature and implementing clients’ strategy needs has put us in front of numerous city councils, county boards, mayors, chambers of commerce, etc. These experiences have taught us how to best utilize a grassroots network to achieve optimal results in all political arenas.
If applicable to your objectives, OSC will identify strategies for possible coalition-building opportunities and activities [i.e., ways in which your members and/or supporters might become involved in assisting efforts].
Some historically effective examples of this include: regular e-news, calls to action (CTAs), letter/email templates to assist in writing to representatives, district links, maps and contact lists, survey tools, outreach activities, introductory scripts, etc.

Case dependent, coalition building may also refer to identifying and engaging possible alliances and/or pooling of resources with common entities or other organizations with common, mutually beneficial goals.