THINKing

Do You Have Issues?

Every organization has issues that could affect its operation. What are your issues?

The following are some thoughts on issues management and some of the tactics available to us in this discipline.

First of all, what is the objective of issues management? Typically, it is to proactively and responsibly identify and manage emerging or existing issues that can have an impact on our:

* assets

* position

* image

* competitiveness

* performance

Now, some companies become obsessed by issues management and dissect every small problem they foresee. I believe that keeping it simple is best. Identify a few issues that are most likely to materially affect you, determine the key concern each issue holds for you, determine how urgent it is, prepare an action plan, and then mount a focused attack.

Next time, we’ll talk more about how to develop a program.