issues management

1. Anticipate issues and establish priorities

This first fundamental step can take many forms, from drawing up a very

basic set of assumptions through to a highly elaborate issues anticipation

system. Setting up an internal task force, based on the approach outlined

in the previous section, is a crucial starting point. Brainstorming sessions

and database analysis should focus on responding to questions like:

●      What immediate and medium-term competitor, social or regulatory

factors do we need to contend with?

●      What changes do we anticipate in the marketplace and wider polit-

ical and social environment over the next 12 months and beyond?

●      What factors are likely to affect the way we are working?

●      What special events are likely to take place and have an impact on

our ability to sustain and develop our markets?

Once these issues are identified, priorities can be set and decisions can be

taken on how much time and resource to devote to them.

2. Analyse issues

Develop a formal brief or analysis of the issue, looking at the opportuni-

ties and threats against a series of different scenarios. This should cover

what could happen if the issue is ignored, and an assessment of how key

audiences are likely to be affected by the issue. There should also be a

summary of the direction in which the issue is likely to be heading. This

will give management a broad view of the issue and its effect on a

number of areas such as product marketing positioning, financial perfor-

mance, corporate reputation and the potential for regulation or even.

3. Recommend an organizational position on the

issue

The analysis from the previous step should provide a database to develop

a position designed to create support from the greatest majority of indi-

viduals and groups affected. The database is built from answers to the

following questions:

●      Who is affected?

●      How do the affected groups or individuals perceive the

issue?

●      What are their likely positions and behavioural inclinations?

●      What information/data can we gather to support our case?

4. Identify groups and opinion leaders who can

advance your position

These groups and individuals should emerge from asking:

●      Who makes decisions on the issue?

●      Who is likely to support our position?

●      Who is likely not to?

●      Who can we target successfully to make the biggest difference in

advancing our position?

If possible, research should be undertaken to validate assumptions made

about groups during the analysis stage. Opinion leaders, closely followed

by influential industry or employee associations, consumer and other

special interest groups and informed media, can be powerful allies in

dealing with a range of audiences, and criteria for selecting them include:

●      Who do members of our target groups look to for advice on the issue?

●      Who will the (customer, consumer) community and the wider public

trust on the issue?

●      Who has the credibility to best advance our position on the issue?

●      Who is likely to be open to our position on the issue?

5. Identify desired behaviours

This is an easy point to overlook, according to the authors. Advancing

specific behaviour relating to the company’s position drives development

of the rest of the planning processing, namely: communications and

marketing strategy, goals, objectives, messages, tactics, resource alloca-

tion and budgets.

Finally, evaluation of progress needs to be incorporated into plans to

ensure that key milestones are met, the course of the issue is charted, and

adjustments made if necessary.

Our experience from dealing with current and historic issues across

different industry sectors endorses the value of implementing the

following types of activity as early as possible, both to gain the initiative

and protect against adverse developments.