"Cheshire Puss" Alice began, "would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends on where you want to get to," said the cat. "I don't much care where," said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the cat.
The Cheshire cat was no strategist. Otherwise it would have pointed out that it mattered a great deal where Alice went and that maybe she should stop and think about it some more.
Issues management is about caring where you end up. And, therefore, it is about caring which way you go.
This requires reliable forecasting, sensitivity to the external environment, good relationships with stakeholders, effective issues analysis and realisable strategic plans.
Nicolo Machiavelli understood this when he said:
"For knowing afar off the evils that are brewing, they are easily cured. But when they are allowed to grow until everyone can recognise them, there is no longer any remedy to be found."
The advice is as relevant today as it was 500 years ago. Pick the issues early and do something about them. Undue delay leads to failure.
In the context of this discussion, an issue is any event that impacts on - or which may potentially impact on - the performance of an organisation.
There is an abundant supply of issues. They may involve the law, economics, environment, health, engineering, international trade, parent-teacher relations, crime, property, politics or any other dimension of human activity. Every organisation faces scores of issues. Many of these manifest themselves as win-lose situations.
Issues can and do change over time. A case in point is the waxing and waning in the Australian republican debate. It roared into life in the early 1990s, began to limp like an old dog, briefly resurged and then, after a referendum disappeared without trace.
Issues management is a management function that seeks to identify actual or emerging issues and which then mobilises resources to influence their development. Every organisation constantly needs to manage a range of issues. The alternative is unappealing in the extreme - to let the issues manage you.
Issues not managed can make life very difficult for an organisation. They can:
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generate great and destabilising public controversy
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deflect the organisation from a planned and rational course of action as interest groups exert pressure
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create a hostile climate of opinion which may detract from its image
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divert managers from substantive matters, such as delivering the mission of the organisation
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finally, issues not managed can impact adversely on employee morale
Organisations (and individuals) that do not manage issues jeopardise control of their own destiny. Planned action gives way to ad hoc reaction. Issues management becomes crisis management. Good relationships turn into adversarial ones.
Unresolved issues distract organisations from the main game. They waste time and they waste energy. And, if not confronted and managed, issues persist. They rarely go away of their own volition.
I was invited to Hong Kong to review an issue that was destroying the reputation of the local electricity company, China Light and Power. Eighteen months before, an explosion at a power station had killed two engineers.
Halfway through the subsequent inquest, which resulted in a finding of accidental death, the company fired its barrister who absconded with a number of documents not tendered at the inquest. This should have been a minor embarrassment, since the documents revealed no wrongdoing, but China Light tried to prevent their disclosure. Consequent litigation included an injunction threatening the widows of the dead workers with imprisonment. As you might expect, all the documents found their way to the press. And the inquest was reopened.
After many months, during which it became an object of public scorn, China Light won a Pyrrhic victory in the courts. At which point, media and coroner found themselves joining the lengthening list of injunctees as the company used every device at its disposal to inhibit those it saw as opponents.
By the time I arrived in Hong Kong, there were ten law suits active, including one in which China Light was being sued for $125 million US. By this time, the company was eager to find a less adversarial path through the morass.
One moral of this story is that issues cannot be litigated to death. China Light found it impossible to resolve its issue through suppression. In fact, the issue degenerated seriously and at considerable cost and risk to the company.
Issues management is about understanding and being sensitive to the external environment, building relationships with constituencies, picking potential issues early in order to defuse them, understanding your opponents' positions, sometimes facing up to the unpalatable and always acting early enough to make a difference.
Issues management also requires the ability to see other people's points of view and to understand the difference between inclusion and exclusion.
Let us take a closer look now at the birthplace of an issue.
At that time when an organisation publicly announces a decision, or when it translates planning into overt action, its intent becomes tangible. It is there for stakeholders to see - and to react to.
Those stakeholders impacted by the decision will respond depending upon how they perceive their interests to be affected. An issue is generated when the organisation's intent and a dissonant interest collide. And, each day, there are many such moments in the life of an organisation.
Most issues are minor enough to be dealt with as they arise, or they can be accommodated within the normal planning and operational framework of the strategic organisation.
But - where an organisation is not strategic, where the issue is not discerned clearly or where it is more volatile than anticipated - the collision of interests can be devastating.
Organisations, in their planning, define a desired change path connecting the planning decision with a defined strategic goal. When the planning decision is implemented, consequent action is evaluated by those stakeholders who believe their interests may be affected.
If a stakeholder assesses it is likely to be impacted negatively, or if it believes it may be able to leverage its position in some way, it will react. It is in this initial interaction that an issue is born.
Depending upon the nature and extent of its interest, the stakeholder may intervene. A significant intervention can deflect the organisation from its planned path. This deflection will effectively steer the organisation away from the achievement of its defined goal.
The practical application of this model lies in its zonal construction. Most organisations wait until an issue has been generated before taking any action. They operate in the zone of reaction, and are price takers in issues management terms. This does not mean that issues cannot be managed effectively from a reactive position, but it does mean you start off on the back foot.
Organisations intent on controlling their environment, however, operate in the zone of pre-emption. They are price makers in issues management terms. This means they plan all decisions of consequence with an eye on how stakeholders are likely to react. They then assess how these reactions may impact on the change path. If it is assessed that deflection may occur, the organisation will act pre-emptively to ensure the issue either does not arise or, if it does, that it can be managed effectively.
In emphasising pre-emption rather than reaction, you provide a safeguard for the organisation.
We might describe pre-emption as thoughtful analysis and effective strategy designed to enhance relationships to protect the organisation.
The pre-emptive approach to issues management leaves the organisation in control of its destiny and well positioned to achieve its objectives.