Issues management is an action-oriented management function which seeks to identify actual, emerging or potential issues that may impact on the organisation and to mobilise and coordinate organisational resources to influence their development.
The component parts of issues management are:
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To identify, analyse and prioritise actual, emerging and potential issues.
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To mobiblise and coordinate the resources to deal with them.
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To actively and strategically influence their development.
What is so crucial about adopting a strategic approach to managing issues? Can we not deal with issues simply by handling the problems as they come along?
Perhaps the best answer to this rests in a consideration of what can happen when there is no effective issues management. Take a look at today's newspapers. Many of the stories are the result of issues that have not been managed effectively. The issues that were managed properly probably did not make the headlines.
Every organisation constantly confronts and needs to manage a range of issues.
The liquor industry positions itself as a good corporate citizen. It volunteers to uphold advertising codes, takes a stand on underage drinking, supports government campaigns on drink driving, increasingly focuses on moderation in alcohol use. Result: by acknowledging and dealing with the issues, the industry manages its way through.
In the absence of effective communications, many issues will either not be resolved or perceptions that they have not been remedied will linger on long after the reality has changed.
Unmanaged issues, whether external or internal, can make life very difficult for an organisation. They can, amongst other things:
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generate controversy which may destabilise the organisation
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create a hostile climate of opinion which may detract from its image
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deflect it from a planned and rational course of action as interest groups exert pressure
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cause managers to lose focus and impact adversely on employee morale
Organisations (and individuals) that do not manage issues are jeopardising control of their own destiny. Planned action gives way to ad hoc reaction. Issues management becomes crisis management. Unresolved issues distract organisations from the main game. They waste time and they waste energy. If not confronted and managed, issues persist. They rarely go away of their own volition.
Being stalked by the issues is not good management. Yet organisations frequently allow themselves to be entrapped by issues rather than getting on to the front foot and managing them.
Issues management is about facing up to the unpalatable, picking the issues early, building the networks which will deliver information and influence, understanding exactly where the opposition is coming from and doing something about it early enough to make a difference. It requires an ability to see other people's points of view and to understand the difference between emotional and intellectual debate. It is also a point of convergence between business management and business communications. It reflects the reality that organisational issues may have a public, political or industrial dimension that may determine the course of events just as much as any decision made by management.
Once an organisation is negatively stereotyped, it has a big problem. Long after the reality has changed, the negative perception will continue. It's best to avoid getting into that position in the first place.
Issues management involves taking a planned and analytic approach - not "gut feel", not emotional, not subjective, not random, not short term. When you fix the problem, you want it to stay fixed. In the absence of effective communications, many issues will either not be resolved or perceptions that they have not been fixed will linger on long after the reality has changed.
Issues management is not a synonym for the so-called "public relations fix". There is, in reality, no such thing as a "PR fix". Not in the medium to long term, anyway. The best PR can do without substantive backing is to offer a temporary repair which will split open next time there is a bit of pressure. There is no such thing as an advertising fix either. There is only a management fix.
Issues management is not crisis management, although the two are frequently confused. In fact, it is the antithesis of crisis management. Issues management involves an attempt to fix problems before they occur, or at least to minimise their impact. It involves picking the issues early enough to do something about them before the crisis descends.
A sound issues management approach constantly scans and analyses internal and external environments, seeking telltale signs of emergent difficulty and planning the management of worst case situations. Crisis management is the practice of dealing effectively with issues that have well and truly gone off the rails.