How to Get Junior Communications Staff Comfortable with Issues Management

Published on August 20, 2025 by Kurt Heinrich

Kurt Heinrich

Kurt Heinrich is the founder of Broadsight. He is a longtime media relations and issues management professional and an advocate for data-driven communications leadership.

• LinkedIn

Let’s talk about junior communications staff and issues management.

If you’ve ever sat across from a new team member during their first “uh-oh” moment—maybe a media call about a sensitive topic, or a stakeholder email that’s clearly escalating—you’ll know the look. It’s that mix of “Am I allowed to say something?” and “Please don’t make me say something!”

And honestly? That apprehension is totally fair.

Here’s what I’ve seen junior comms people worry about most:

• Saying the wrong thing: The fear of putting something in writing—or worse, on the record—that could blow back on the org (or them) is real. They’ve seen enough headlines to know how fast things can spiral.
• Not knowing the full context: They’re often looped in mid-stream, without the full backstory. That makes it hard to feel confident about tone, positioning, or even who the key players are.
• Approval paralysis: They want to be helpful, but they’re also navigating a maze of “who needs to sign off on this?” That can lead to hesitation, or too much silence.
• Feeling like they’re not “senior enough” to weigh in: There’s this unspoken rule in some orgs that issues are for the senior folks. So juniors hang back, even when they have good instincts.

So how do I help them?

First off, I try to normalize the nerves. If you’re not at least a little anxious when something’s blowing up, you’re probably not paying attention. But anxiety doesn’t have to mean inaction.

Here’s what I focus on:

Frameworks over scripts. I teach them the three questions the public has, which we should always be able to answer:

Are we safe? Can we trust you? What are you doing to fix this?

If you can answer those, you’re 80 per cent of the way there.

Context is a team sport. I make sure they know it’s OK to ask “what’s the backstory here?” or “who else is involved?” That’s not a weakness—it’s due diligence.

We role-play. Seriously. I’ll throw them a mock media call or stakeholder scenario and let them try a response. Then we debrief. What worked? What didn’t? What would you do differently next time?

We use tools like Broadsight. Not just to track issues, but to surface the why behind our responses. When juniors can see the connective tissue—how a media line ties to a stakeholder concern or a past incident—they start to build that strategic muscle.

I give them real responsibility—early. Not the whole issue, but a piece of it. Maybe they draft the first response. Or they lead the intake call. The point is they need reps. And they need to know I’ve got their back if it goes sideways.

The goal isn’t to make them fearless. It’s to make them prepared.

Because the truth is, issues management isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about knowing how to ask the right questions, stay calm under pressure and build trust—internally and externally.

And that’s a skillset you can absolutely grow.

If you’re mentoring junior comms folks, how do you help them build confidence in high-stakes moments?

Or if you’re earlier in your career—what’s something you wish your senior team would do more of to support you? 

Let me know in the comments on our LinkedIn post about this!