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The strategic
management of
communications
By Keith Jackson
A Jackson Wells Morris White Paper
Revised July 2006
- -2
Contents
1 – ISSUES: THERE IS A BETTER WAY ..................................................................................... 3
2 – THE COMMUNICATING ORGANISATION ...................................................................... 6
3 – THE VALUE OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS ....................................................... 9
4 – CULTURE, PERFORMANCE & COMMUNICATIONS ................................................. 12
5 - COMMUNICATING STRATEGICALLY ........................................................................... 15
6 - COMMUNICATIONS BREAKDOWN ................................................................................ 21
7 - STAKEHOLDERS .................................................................................................................. 25
8 - ISSUES MANAGEMENT ...................................................................................................... 29
9 - APPROACHES TO ISSUES MANAGEMENT ................................................................... 36
10 - The practice of issues management ......................................................................................... 42
3
1 – Issues: there is a better way
In January 1985, after two years lecturing in communication at the International
Training Institute, I joined the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as its first
General Manager of Corporate Relations.
The ABC was attempting reform on a massive scale. A new Board
wanted a fresh start, fresh ideas and fresh faces. The old order was
duly expunged and the new management set its course. But good
intentions do not produce change and the Board encountered serious
resistance each time it tried to modify the existing system.
Opposition came from managers whose careers were endangered;
unions whose power base was eroding; employees who wanted
certainty but doubted the ability of management to deliver; a
shrinking audience fighting for its favourite programs – all inflamed by
an excited media.
Through 1984 and 1985, the organisation lurched from crisis to crisis.
Within months of his appointment, managing director Geoffrey
Whitehead remarked that a day did not pass without him
contemplating resignation.
The issues seemed to appear at random. Queenslanders resisting the
axing of a three-minute local TV news bulletin. The union leaking
option papers, purporting them to be policy. Prime Minister Bob
Hawke fulminating on alleged left wing bias in Four Corners. A Senate
inquiry into horse racing broadcasts inspired by an aggrieved ex-race
caller and his mate, Senator Mal Colston. An infamous ‘phantom
army’ of casual employees. The ill-fated National which moved the 7
o’clock news to 6.30, to the disgust of legions of viewers. As the
pressure grew, the ABC Board fragmented into feuding factions -
culminating in walkouts, resignations and the staff-elected director
suing the CEO.
4
As the ABC discovered, there is no easy pathway to change; immense
forces of discontent can be released. But issues need not steal the
agenda - no matter how seismic they may be. In the competent,
communicating organisation, they can be managed effectively and, if
renegade, brought under control quickly. 1
There is a better way – and it’s called ‘issues management’.
Issues management involves the planning and deployment of strategy
to control existing or potential issues so they do not jeopardise the
interests of the organisation or its stakeholders.
At the heart of every organisation, present in each nerve and sinew, is
culture: the complex collection of values, norms, attitudes and
behaviours that constitutes the organisation’s personality and
influences much about how it functions, including how it conducts its
relationships. Indeed, issues management is mainly about
relationships.
Using corporate culture as its entry point, this paper explores the
background and the practice of issue management.
Over the last 25 years, governments, corporations and organisations
have placed new emphasis on improving business performance. In the
last 10 years, this has extended to a focus on corporate governance.
These trends have been driven, respectively, by increasing
competition and growing demands for accountability.
Many factors have made the external environment more dynamic:
global business as the new norm, political shifts in favour of individual
rights (and individual enterprise), increasing deregulation, the
burgeoning economies of Asia, a new focus on the customer. In order
to maintain its position, let alone improve it, Australia had to change
its approach to work and to how work was managed.
1 A detailed and accurate chronicle of the events of this period can be found in ‘Whose ABC? The Australian Broadcasting Commission 1983- 2006’ by Ken Inglis Black Inc, August 2006
5
The community experienced similar change. Citizens are better
informed. They are more conscious of their rights. And they are better
equipped than ever to exercise them.
In adjusting to this new order, substantial demands have been made
of managers. People must be managed more creatively. Individual and
collective talent needs to be better recognised and rewarded. Process
has to be subordinated to customer. Efficiency demands synergy and
synergy demands effective relationships, effective communications
and the effective management of issues. This is the world we have
inherited in the 21st Century.
Issues management implies identifying and dealing with problems
either before they occur or before they develop into crises for the
organisation.
It is a mandatory executive skill in a world that demands an
unprecedented degree of professional rigour and competence from its
managers and communicators.
6
Failure to anticipate has destructive consequences2
Significant examples of failures to read a changing environment can be
found even in the largest and best resourced organisations. Major US
corporations such as IBM, GM, Sears and CBS, to name just a few, have all
failed to anticipate dramatic external shifts.
For much of the 1980s, IBM ignored signals that the computer
industry was changing. It focused on the mainframe not the PC.
In the late 1960s, GM failed to heed signals of a potential energy
crisis or the increasing attractiveness of small, fuel efficient
Japanese cars until its market share skidded almost 30 percent.
Sears fiddled with self-branded merchandise and monolithic
department store and catalogue delivery systems while customers
demanded name brand merchandise and more quality in products
and services.
CNN pre-empted the networks in the 24-hour news category at a
fraction of the cost CBS was paying for just one hour of nightly news.
2 Cited by William C Ashley and James Morrison, Anticipatory management tools for the 21st century, http://horizon.unc.edu/courses/papers/AntiMgt/
7
2 – The communicating organisation
The creation of a communicating organisation – whether it be a government, a
corporation or a small business - involves accepting the principle that managers do
not just deal with the closed system of their own entity but with an open system,
exposed to the dynamics of the external environment and the manoeuvring of
stakeholders.
Stakeholders are more than the organisation’s shareholders,
customers and employees. They include a vast range of other
interested parties who occupy and influence the environment in which
the organisation works, from which it draws resources, to which it
markets and upon which, ultimately, it is dependent.
The creation, building and maintenance of relationships through
effective communications is a keystone for successful organisations.
There are four communications effectiveness factors: relationships,
information flows, information mechanisms and information content.
1. Effective relationships need to be established with those
stakeholders who have an interest (or stake) in the organisation.
TYPICAL STAKEHOLDER GROUPS
Shareholders Electors
Customers Politicians
Employees Community
Suppliers Media
Competitors Public servants
Pensioners Unions
2. Effective, reciprocal and timely information flows. The word
reciprocal is important because it implies that information does not
8
move only in one direction. And note the word timely – information
that gets beaten by the grapevine is not going to generate much
that is positive about an organisation for the average stakeholder.
9
INFORMATION FLOW FACTORS
UBIQUITY. The extent to which relevant information
penetrates the organisation.
SPEED. The timeliness with which information reaches
its intended destination.
DIRECTION. The capability of information to move in a
reciprocating fashion.
3. Effective information mechanisms. There are literally
thousands of mechanisms, ranging from the humble memo to the
million dollar website. Mechanisms can be categorised according
to whether they are interpersonal (eg meetings), print (eg
newsletters), electronic (eg television) or interactive (eg Internet).
INFORMATION MECHANISM FACTORS
UTILITY. The usefulness and practical capability of the
mechanism to deliver the information people require.
RELIABILITY. The capacity of the mechanism to protect
the integrity of the information it is disseminating.
SUITABILITY. The acceptability of the mechanism to the
intended audience.
4. Effective information content. The mechanisms may be first
class but if content is poorly articulated or impaired, perhaps
because the organisation does not want to disclose, even the best
mechanisms won’t work. In communications, content is King and
the audience is God!
10
INFORMATION CONTENT FACTORS
CREDIBILITY. Information is believable and relied upon.
CLARITY. Information is easily understood.
RELEVANCE. Information is meaningful to people in
terms of their lifestyle and work.
SCOPE. Information takes into account the differences
and requirements of specific parts of the organisation.
How much new information is created each year?3
In 2002, about five exabytes of new information was created: 92% of which
was stored magnetically, mostly on hard disks. Five exabytes of information
is equivalent in size to the information contained in 37,000 new libraries the
size of the Library of Congress book collections.
The world population is 6.3 billion, thus almost 800MB of recorded
information is produced per person each year. It would take about 9 metres
of books to store the equivalent of 800MB of information on paper. The US
produces 40% of the world's new stored information and the amount of new
information has doubled in the last three years.
Most radio and TV content is not new information. About 70 million hours of
320 million hours of radio broadcasting is original. TV produces about 31
million hours of original programs of 123 million broadcasting hours.
The average American adult uses the telephone 16 hours a month, listens to
radio 90 hours a month and watches TV 131 hours a month. About 53% of
the US population uses the Internet, averaging 25.5 hours a month at home,
and 74.5 hours a month at work.
3 From University of California (Berkeley) School of Information and Management Systems, How much information: 2003, http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info-2003/
11
3 – The value of effective communications
Within organisations, the communications process performs many functions: it can
disseminate information, share core values, strengthen morale, build value and
contribute to issues and crisis management.
1. Disseminating information. A stock role of communication
process is to ensure that information is distributed within the
organisation and to stakeholders.
2. Sharing core values. The unifying values of an organisation (eg,
teamwork, quality, performance-to-plan) are empty of meaning
unless there is systematic effort to communicate them. Values
depend upon communications for their implementation. Teamwork
is unachievable in the absence of good communications.
3. Building value in the market. Quality information contributes to
creating public trust and confidence. This assumes that promise is
matched by consequent performance. Organisations that over-
promise and under-perform have a credibility gap.
4. Strengthening employee morale. Good communications can
lead to a more positive outlook which can contribute to greater job
satisfaction among employees.
5. Contributing to issues and crisis management. Effective
stakeholder communications is significant in creating relationships
that contribute directly to an organisation’s capabilities at adeptly
handling issues and crises when they arise.
One of the most sweeping changes in organisational communications has
been the growth of teamwork. Boeing’s new 777 jetliner was manufactured
by more than 200 design-build teams. The teams comprised employees from
engineering, quality control, finance and manufacturing. Each concentrated
12
on a specific part of the aircraft. Even suppliers and potential customers
were sometimes included in team meetings. 4
4 Wall, 1992, p. 110, http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/speech/commcentral/mgorgcom.html
13
BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS
1 - The CEO is our chief communicator and is visible, articulate and
proclaims values, vision and strategy.
2 - Managers effectively transform top management’s vision and
goals so they are understood and endorsed by employees.
3 - Managers accept responsibility for good communications and
for improving their own performance as communicators.
4 - Multiple channels - print, electronic, interactive and
interpersonal - are used to reach stakeholders.
5 - Priority is placed on content ahead of means of communication.
6 - Employees are encouraged to engage in communications
through feedback and feed-in.
7 – Employees are involved in the life of the organisation and
managers ensure employees have a good grip on key issues.
8 - Managers recognise that employees have a personal life as well
as a work life.
9 - Communications is strategic: planned, programmed and
integrated with business planning.
10 – The organisation measures and evaluates the way in which it
communicates and uses this data to improve its performance.
In the 1980s, the Australian Graduate School of Management asked senior
executives what they would most like to improve in their organisations. Most
of the executives ranked good communications at the top of their list. A
similar survey in the 1990s provided the same outcome suggesting that,
while managers generally rated communications of high priority, this was
not reflected in actual performance.
Communicating effectively by email5
5 http://www.allbusiness.com/articles/content/15315.asp
14
Writing and sending email messages is easy but crafting effective messages
can be a challenge. You need to make sure your message not only says what
you want it to say, but that it conveys the right impression.
An email full of misspelled words or typos can give people the impression
that you're careless, and an angry message sent in haste can jeopardise a
relationship. Knowing email’s limitations can help prevent these disasters.
Grammar. All kinds of rules are broken in email. Don't forget that the
recipient evaluates you based on your message.
Spelling. In business correspondence, you want your words to carry weight,
not to highlight inattention to detail.
Tone. It's much harder to gauge tone in email than in conversation. Your
recipient doesn’t have the benefit of the cues they would have in
conversation. They can't see you wink or hear you laugh, and the ironic
sentiment you mean to convey might be misconstrued.
Emoticons. Although ‘smileys’ or ‘emoticons’ have become hallmarks of
online communication, they're usually inappropriate in business
correspondence. Once you have a solid working relationship, you can judge
whether or not emoticons are appropriate.
Signature. If you use a pre-formatted email signature with your business's
contact information, be sure to type your name at the end of your message
as well. Relying on the signature in lieu of your name can be construed as
cold and impersonal.
Subject headers. Providing an accurate subject header is essential. Many
people choose what to open based on the subject line; blank subject lines or
subjects that have little to do with the message contents are frustrating for
the reader.
Think twice. Always re-read your outgoing messages before you send them
— especially if you're angry. Email makes it easy to fire off a message you
might regret later.
15
4 – Culture, performance & communications
Culture is the invisible glue that bonds an organisation. It comprises the collection of
beliefs, values and attitudes that forms the personality of an organisation and
differentiates one organisation from another.
It is culture that dispenses the initial shock you experience upon
joining a new company. Most people quickly adapt to prevailing
culture; some accept it with reluctance; a few remain antagonistic.
The main output a rational organisation seeks for itself is high
performance, which can be measured in a number of ways: e.g., in
terms of productivity, quality, profitability or social utility. Research
suggests the basis of high performance in organisations lies more in
cultural factors than in planning, marketing and skills.
High performance organisations, the argument continues, have a
strong culture: they are unified, outward looking, strategic and
optimistic. Low performance organisations, on the other hand, are
unwilling to examine and test embedded opinions and generally show
no sensitivity of the need to manage culture. They tend to be
fragmented, inward looking, short-term in focus - and low in morale.
Culture & performance
There is a business effectiveness model that seeks to fit a number of
the elements we have been discussing into the one performance
model.
16
LEADERSHIP
CULTURE STRUCTURE
PERFORMANCE
STRATEGIC PLAN
Factors influencing organisational performance
The foregoing model assumes that management's primary goal is high
performance and that strategic planning is the starting point with
executive leadership an integrating function. Like all models, it is not
perfect - but there is plausibility and power in the way it draws
together the five elements influencing performance.
Centrally there is leadership. Without good leadership the most
perfectly structured and richly resourced organisation will fail to
perform. Supporting leadership there is:
Structure. How the organisation arranges itself to do
what it has to do. Structure should be a response to market
demand rather than an internal dimension driven by production
considerations.
Resources. The range of human, financial and physical
assets the organisation applies to fulfilling its mission.
Systems. The methods and techniques the organisation
adopts to respond to demand and to deploy resources most
efficiently. Amongst the systems organisations employ are
communications, information technology and quality systems.
Culture. The attributes that make up the character of the
organisation and which distinguish it from other organisations.
Surrounding all this activity and impacting upon it profoundly is the
external environment – the relationships in which the organisation is
enmeshed and which, if it is to survive, it must manage.
The central task of management is to design and direct each of these
interdependent factors so they work together as effectively as
possible.
Let us consider a simple example.
17
SYSTEMSRESOURCES
It is obvious that a change in structure – e.g., the Administrative unit
taking over the Finance function - will affect the way resources and
systems are deployed in an organisation. The change may also result
in a culture shift especially if the demise of Finance as a separate
unit removes a well-established and tradition-bound entity from the
organisation. The organisation’s leadership will of course be the
integrating influence in all this activity.
18
KEY CONSIDERATIONS IN PLANNING CHANGE
A change in one performance factor inevitably induces
changes in them all.
The relationship between each factor must be defined,
planned and communicated if the organisation is to
achieve high performance.
Communication implications
If you change structure without adequately informing employees of
the reasons and the implications, it is likely morale and even
industrial problems will ensue. If there are resource constraints
necessitating a change in strategic direction and managers are
neither consulted nor persuaded of the merits of the new strategy
there are likely to be implementation difficulties. If operational
systems are changed without users being fully briefed there are
bound to be significant downstream problems.
The Erebus tragedy: death by culture6
The Air New Zealand aircraft that crashed into Mt Erebus in Antarctica
underscores the notion that organisational cultural and communications
patterns influenced the actions of its pilots who unwittingly flew directly into
the mountain at 1500 feet. To make sightseeing more exciting, upper
management changed the route from circling the mountain to flying over it
prior to a low altitude circumnavigation. The aircraft’s flight management
systems were reprogrammed by avionics personnel, but no one told the
crew. Flight briefers advised new altitudes but not in the context of new
6 Catherine A Adams, Organizational Culture and Safety, 2003, http://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/ltrs/PDF/2003/mtg/NASA-2003-12isap-caa.pdf
19
routing. The pilots assumed the altitudes were guidelines rather than
requirements. Disaster ensued.
20
5 - Communicating strategically
Communications & strategy
We can't assume that the future of any organisation is likely to be a continuation of
the past. An increasingly competitive world means that past assumptions about
appropriate policies, strategies, products and markets are no longer very useful.
In Australia modern and traditional organisations exist side by side,
often within the same corporate walls. This is true whether we are
discussing the public, private or not-for-profit sector. The key
differences between traditional and modern organisations are
summed up in this comparative table.
CHARACTERISTIC TRADITIONAL MODERN
World view Economic Political-economic
Focus Internal (micro) External (macro)
Concerns Static (size, structure) Dynamic (adjustment to external influences, competition)
Management Concerned with control, coordination, process, resolving work-related conflict
Concerned with strategic decisions, issues management, external challenges
Definition of effectiveness
A technical matter based on objective standards
A political matter established through bargaining with constituencies
Limits to the organisation
Set mainly by its own capabilities
Set mainly by environmental constraints
Organisation’s impact on society
Limited. Judged in terms of output of products and services
Multiple. Subject to public scrutiny and bargaining by stakeholders
Traditional and modern organisations
If we are to avoid becoming victims of the future we must develop
some understanding of what it may hold. Communications methods
and techniques offer a way of influencing the shape of future issues
21
and events. They make it possible to influence the future by narrowing
its range of uncertainty.
In this context, issues management is in no way an adornment but an
integral part of management planning, decision-making and
controlling.
Strategic communications can be defined as the organised and
systematic application of communications methods, materials and
techniques to support management in its pursuit of the organisational
mission and goals.
COMPONENTS OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
Understanding the organisation, its culture and its
external environment.
Creating a network of effective relationships.
Ensuring the free flow of reliable information.
Identifying and managing internal and external issues.
Factoring in communications considerations at the
planning stage of corporate activity.
Designing and executing communications programs
which blend with management strategies.
Committing management to thoughtful intervention to
bridge gaps between intent and performance.
Corporate communications & public relations
The main facilitator of formal communications in most organisations is
the public relations department. This function may sail under many
different flags - public relations, corporate relations, corporate affairs,
public affairs, public policy, external affairs or group communications.
22
In each case the basic task is the same: to support the development
and maintenance of effective lines of communication with groups
inside and outside the organisation. The qualifiers "facilitate" and
"support" infer that communications is not a unique task assigned to a
particular professional group but the responsibility of every manager
and supervisor.
The PR function may focus on any of the external and internal
relationships critical to the organisation: media relations, community
relations, government relations, customer relations, investor relations,
employee relations and so on. In addition, it may be given
responsibility for marketing, corporate image, publicity, promotions,
advocacy advertising, publications, displays and exhibitions, and
special events.
Even relatively small organisations have their own public relations
personnel and in large organisations there is commonly a flotilla of
‘flacks’ or ‘spin doctors’, as journalists somewhat unkindly call them.
Like in every other profession in a changing world, under the weight
of management expectations the nature and characteristics of public
relations are changing. This comparative table looks at what may be
termed the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ PR:
CHARACTERISTIC OLD NEW
World view Economic Economic-political
Prime concern Marketing Strategy
Focus Products Stakeholders
Performance indicator Quantity Quality
Priority Image Performance
Positioning Below the line Above the line
Impacts Limited Multiple
23
Thrust Supportive Synergistic
Mood Manipulative Analytic
Timeframe Short term Medium term
Challenge Credibility Acceptance
The old and the new PR
PR runs into major problems when it is used to build facades over
chronic problems. Stakeholders see such tactics as dubious - and they
are dubious. The bottom line is always performance. Image is never a
substitute for substance.
There used to be a school of thought, still prevalent in some circles,
that any publicity is good publicity. Australian business history attests
to the thin ice on which this premise rests – the stories of John Elliott,
Brad Cooper, Rodney Adler, Ray Williams, Rene Rivkin, Christopher
Skase and Alan Bond being obvious examples.
In the short term, PR glitter may beguile and even persuade.
Ultimately, however, because PR’s substance can be no better than
the product, company or idea it is trying to promote, it will not
endure.
Ill considered attempts to create ‘good news’ stories, or to suppress
bad news or to crash through with bluff and bluster can come
seriously adrift.
Some supermarkets saw ‘green friendly’, photo-degradable shopping bags
as a great marketing initiative. But doubts were soon cast on the
environmental soundness of the process by which the bags were
manufactured.
Then, when a daily newspaper encouraged people to peg bags to
clotheslines and report on how long they took to disintegrate, it was the
beginning of the end. Ugly grey bags flapped in the breeze month after
month. We no longer see many photo-degradable shopping bags.
Corporate communications as a tool of strategic management has the
capacity to enhance business opportunities, protect the organisation,
24
assist with the implementation of corporate plans, provide an input to
strategic decisions and promote a continuing awareness of the total
context in which the organisation is operating.
Case studies
Bountiful banker brings borrowers to brink
A bank manager in a far-western wheat and sheep area has been lending in
an irresponsible way. Ladling out credit, his speciality is negotiating loans in
local pubs and clubs, assuring credulous farmers of a golden opportunity to
improve property and machinery. The banker single-handedly inflates
property prices in the district. Then, when interest rates soar, the bank starts
foreclosing.
(1) You're the PR manager. Upon learning the 7.30 Report is
working on this story, what do you do? (2) What are the pros
and cons of the options you face? (3) When the reporter calls
asking for an interview, do you say yes or no? (4) What are the
pros and cons of either course? (5) How do you explain forty
foreclosures in this small district to: (a) the 7.30 Report, (b) the
local community, (c) your local employees who are taking a lot
of flak?
Dubious deals dishonour despatch
A new management team is appointed to run a public sector rail
organisation. The CEO comes from interstate and immediately faces
resentment about his appointment and public controversy over a leaked staff
reduction plan.
In his first month on the job, shocked by a long history of theft from the
despatch department, he authorises a late night raid of a warehouse and is
lucky enough to catch the culprits red handed. They are insiders. The CEO
suspends them without pay and calls in the police. The police tell him it was
known all around town that new generators, machine tools and other
equipment could be ordered from the nearest pub and delivered at a fraction
of the market price.
(1) Should the CEO keep the wraps on this one or should he
disclose? (2) What are the pros and cons of either course? (3) If
25
he does disclose, to whom: (a) Minister, (b) unions, (c)
employees, (d) customers, (e) media? (4) And what should he
say?
Perplexing prattle peeves personage
A major construction company is under siege. It has diminishing contracts,
buoyant bad debts, a drooping share price, disgruntled contractors and poor
employee morale.
And now it has another problem. Sensitive documents are being leaked to
the media in a steady flow. The managing director decides something must
be done: so an instruction on how to protect and safeguard documents is
issued. Soon after, the instruction about preventing leaks is itself leaked.
The MD decides he had to go further. So he forms a committee to consider,
and remedy, the problem.
(1) Suppose the committee chairman asks you how you see the
problem. What do you say? (2) What steps would you propose
for minimising the leaks - or preventing them altogether? (3) In
what terms would you communicate these steps to: (a) top
management, (b) employees, (c) customers who have voiced
concerns that documents embarrassing to them might surface in
the Sydney Morning Herald?
Lessons in communicating uncertainty7
Use redundancy and repetition to communicate core messages over an
extended time period. Redundancy communicates a similar message in
different ways, like a stop sign using language, shape and colour to send the
same message. Repetition increases the odds that everyone will at least hear
the core messages.
Allow the core messages to evolve over time. Changing circumstances will
demand messages that develop. But such development must not include
contradictory messages.
Utilise employees at all levels to communicate messages. Managers often
make the mistake of assuming sole responsibility for communicating. Both
managers and employees need to be an integral part of the process.
7 Phillip G Clampitt, Bob DeKoch & Tom Cashman, Communicating strategically: a perspective and case study about creating comfort with uncertainty, 2001, http://www.imetacomm.com/otherpubs/pdf_doc_downloads/strat_commg_uncertainty_v4.pdf
26
Anticipate and respond to employee resistance points. Messages may
generate employee discomfort and resistance. Skilful managers do not
minimise employee concerns, they acknowledge, legitimise, and objectify
them.
Frequently discuss the organisation’s future. While reassurance about job
security is necessary, the future is the predominant issue. Employees want
to know about future products, marketing plans, new customers and
research efforts.
Use messages to frame auxiliary issues. To frame a subject is to choose one
meaning over another. The frame acts as a lens through which other issues
are viewed, highlighting certain images and refracting others.
Align communications tools with the messages. In most organisations there
is a strong temptation to use the same communications tools regardless of
the messages. In a situation of change, traditional tools may subtly
undermine messages.
27
6 - Communications breakdown
Here are some common reasons why communications fails.
Bias
Perceptual bias by the receiver can mean people hear only what they
expect or want to hear and filter out unexpected or unwelcome
information.
Federal Opposition leader, the late Billy Mackie Snedden said he hadn't lost
the 1974 election, he just hadn't got enough votes to win.
In the organisational context, it can take the form of selective
perception.
A British study cites the case of a production manager who recorded himself
giving instructions on 165 occasions. His subordinates recorded receiving
only 84 instructions. Conclusion: Nearly half the time the manager thought
he was communicating, employees didn't get the message.
Conflict
Where there is interpersonal or interdepartmental rivalry, information
is often withheld or distorted.
In IBM, internal rivalry over quality became so intense that divisions were not
disclosing crucial information to each other. This had a major impact on
performance and IBM ended up scrapping the approach.
Distrust
A study of 330 United States scientists found that, where trust was
weak, communications was evasive or aggressive. This can be seen in
organisations where managers evade their responsibility to fully
disclose and employees search for the hidden agenda.
28
Distance
The old sage said it first, "out of sight, out of mind". The greater the
distance, the less one communicates. People in branch offices often
feel they are not kept adequately informed.
Distortion
Information is omitted or recast by the sender. It may be deliberate.
US research showed individuals with career ambitions systematically
withholding information that might threaten or detract from their
position. Or it may simply be the well-known weakening and
misconstruing of information as it passes along a chain.
A study of 100 US companies showed that, of information disseminated by
the CEO, the first level down recalled getting 65%, the third level 40% and the
fifth level 20%.
Immediacy
More immediate communication tends to drive out less immediate
(the tyranny of the telephone).
A Columbia University survey revealed that, while half the major points made
in a lecture were retained at the end of the lecture, this figure dropped to a
quarter after two weeks.
This was most likely due to a combination of overload and failure to
understand or reinforce the key points. A critical factor in effective
communications is the need for consistent repetition of the same
message over a lengthy period of time.
Obfuscation
This is caused by a variety of factors including inadequate
explanation, jargon, imprecision, ill-defined objectives and so on.
A lecturer at the International Training Institute asked a group of African
trainees to wait for him outside a department store in Sydney's central
business district. When the lecturer returned, he found the group had moved
29
some distance up the street. Questioned on the reason for this, one trainee
pointed to a nearby road sign which said ‘No Standing’.
Obliteration
We know that non-verbal communication (facial expression, gesture,
tone of voice, dress, etc) has four times the impact of verbal
communication and can result in its obliteration. This is especially so
on TV where the images can sink the words.
Overload
Information overload (a term coined by Alvin Toffler in his 1970 book
Future Shock) refers to having more information available than can be
readily assimilated. It can lead to confusion and incomprehension.
Status
Status differentials pose problems for communication. Individuals of
lower status find it difficult to initiate communication with higher
status people (and with groups). This places an obligation on
managers to establish an appropriate climate for effective
communication.
US research showed that:
90% of managers said they understood supervisors' problems but only
51% of supervisors said managers understood their problems
95% of supervisors said they understood their workers' problems but
only 35% of workers said supervisors understood their problems
Reality and perception
A survey in the United States has found that the overwhelming
majority of chief executives believe public perception is as important
as performance in determining corporate success. It's not just what
you do that matters; it's what people think you do. It's not just what
you are that matters; it's what people think you are.
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Problems flowing from perception are more intractable than most.
More often than we’d like to believe, perception is more influential
than reality. Long after the actual performance of an organisation has
improved, the perception that things are bad can continue to pose
problems. When perception combines with stereotyping, it is very
difficult to shift the image of an organisation.
Here are some solid as rock stereotypes: public servants are
inefficient; banks are ripping us off; you can’t trust a political promise;
engineers are unimaginative; accountants are dull.
Having recognised there are two factors at work in defining an
organisation's reputation, the point is not complicated. Perception and
reality both influence where you place your emphasis when
communicating and how you communicate.
When image (perception) is badly tarnished, there is only one sure
way to resurrect it: the organisation must improve performance
(reality) then communicate the new reality. It is at this point that we
move more deeply into the substance of issue management.
A note on the grapevine
In the participatory organisation, information moves more freely. In
the bureaucratic organisation, information flows are impeded and, as
a result, informal channels (the grapevine) tend to become the main
means of information dissemination.
It is commonly claimed that the grapevine (aka rumour mill, bush
telegraph, coconut wireless) is reliable. Unfortunately this is rarely
the case. For the most part, the grapevine is an unreliable means of
distributing and acquiring information.
Grapevines carry without discrimination fiction, fantasy, speculation,
exaggeration, interpretation, misconstrued analysis and, yes,
sometimes even the truth. But you never know for sure what you're
getting. Grapevines are open to abuse, they yearn for mischief and
should never be regarded as credible.
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The expression grapevine telegraph was invented in the USA sometime in
the late 1840s or early 1850s. It provided a wry comparison between the
twisted stems of the grapevine and the straight lines of the then new electric
telegraph marching across America. The term became widely known during
the American Civil War period, so much so that the phrase permanently
entered the standard language. Soldiers used it in the sense of gossip or
unreliable rumour.8
8 Taken from Michael Quinion’s ‘World Wide Word’, http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-gra2.htm
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7 - Stakeholders
The notion of stakeholder is one of the underpinning ideas of issue management. A
stakeholder is any group with a direct or indirect interest in the organisation. It is
any group that influences how the organisation achieves its objectives.
Companies wishing to improve the bottom line or under financial duress
frequently cut staff. Not an uncommon issue and clearly one with a large
impact on a number of key stakeholders.
Of central importance are employees and unions, the latter wielding influence
in their own right. The government, especially a Labor government, may also
emerge as a key player. So too the Industrial Relations Commission where any
disputes may unfold.
Customers clearly have an interest, especially if there is a prospect of
industrial action, and there is always clear media interest.
Two other stakeholders with a keen interest in how things turn out will be
shareholders (usually keen to bid up the price of a stock when employees are
shown the door) and competing organisations.
Stakeholders must be identified, communicated with, listened to,
understood and - ultimately - accommodated. We are talking here
about establishing and maintaining relationships, the central element
of effective communications and effective issues management.
THRESHHOLD RULES TO MAINTAIN RELATIONSHIPS
· Talk with stakeholders and ensure they’re listening.
· Talk in terms stakeholders are able to understand.
· Make sure stakeholders talk back to you.
· Listen to them and understand what they are saying.
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Maintaining good stakeholder relationships, however, goes beyond
this elementary two-way transaction of information. There is a high
level of interaction and inter-reliance between a large number of
stakeholders and relationships are, in reality, much more complex.
The organisation does not even need to be part of the argument to be
dragged into it by stakeholders.
In the Illawarra region of New South Wales, the local Trades and Labour
Council opposed the closure of the casualty facility at Port Kembla hospital.
When the State Health Minister ignored them, the TLC threatened a strike
against the steelworks - an innocent bystander.
Faced with losing $10 million a day in lost revenue from a shutdown, the
steelworks intervened to keep the facility open until eventually the Health
Minister changed his mind.
A clear analogy we can make is that of the solar system. If the
organisation is Planet Earth, locked into its own orbit and hurtling
through space, then stakeholders appear as sister planets - travelling
their own paths but exercising considerable gravitational pull on each
other and on the Earth.
To take the analogy a step further, the whole system is moving and
interacting with other systems within the galaxy. The total
environment in which we find ourselves is dynamic and constantly
changing.
KEY FEATURES OF STAKEHOLDERS
· They influence greatly the climate in which the
organisation operates.
· They can intervene on matters in which they have an
interest.
· Their influence on the organisation can be as strong as,
and rival, managers own more direct control.
· They can collaborate to get their way.
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The Australian ‘bank bashing’ phenomenon showed how customers,
consumers, unionists and politicians can collaborate in a loose and
informal alliance with the media to make life difficult for the major
retail banks. This was no conspiracy - simply stakeholders behaving
interactively in pursuit of their own interests.
To the extent that this interaction between stakeholders affects the
organisation, there is a need to pre-empt or intervene. This was seen
clearly in some of the events which led to the downfall of Australian
entrepreneur Alan Bond.
Tiny Rowland, a onetime business ally of Alan Bond, was so angered by
Bond's share raid on Rowland's Lonrho organisation that he launched a
concerted public relations-based attack on the financial soundness of Bond
Corp.
The subsequent critical media reporting of Bond's affairs undermined
investor confidence and created enormous problems for the entrepreneur.
The Bond Corp share price and credit rating dropped, the market took flight
and bankers got jittery.
Bond Corp's subsequent demise would probably have happened without
Tiny Rowland but it unlikely that it would have occurred with such speed.
Stakeholder groups
Stakeholders represent the basic building block of strategic
communications but, in reality, it is impossible to communicate
effectively with them in their macro formations of government, media,
business, community etc. These groups are simply too big to relate to
and they are too diverse to allow the fashioning of relevant and
focused messages.
Upon examination, it is seen that each stakeholder group contains
within it many sub-groups. These more specific formations become the
focal point of communications.
EXAMPLES OF MEDIA SUB-GROUPS
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· Television · Metropolitan dailies
· Radio · Suburban press
· Provincial press · Magazines
· Trade press · Professional journals
Once the sub-groups are defined as in the foregoing example, the next
consideration concerns which specific media within the sub-groups to
communicate with. Media choice depends very much upon the
stakeholder’s distance from us and position in relation to us, the
message generators.
If the target audience is distant and dispersed, we deploy the mass
media (radio, TV, press) or interactive media (Internet). If the
audience is closer and less dispersed, the electronic and print media
choices tend to be lower tech and cheaper (telephone, memo). If the
audience is very close, the options are again different as interpersonal
communication comes into play.
It is worth reinforcing that we first identify the stakeholder, then
define the sub-groups and then select the media to reach them. The
stakeholder always comes first; the media choice second. We don't
ask questions like: "Who will we send the newsletter to?" Instead, the
question becomes: "Which mechanism will best reach our supervisory
staff?"
There is a hierarchy of targets for mass media messages. The message
is designed for the primary target, but there are also subsidiary
targets. Say, for example, you circulate a memo on a planned
restructuring for which the primary target is staff. An important
secondary target is the union, so the memo will clearly need to be
designed to avoid plunging you into an industrial dispute. A tertiary
target for the memo might be the media, given that it could be leaked.
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Stakeholders complicate Internet’s future9
The architecture of the Internet has always been driven by a core group of
designers but the form of that group has changed as the number of
interested parties has grown.
With the success of the Internet has come a proliferation of stakeholders -
stakeholders now with an economic as well as an intellectual investment in
the network.
We now see, in the debates over control of the domain name space and the
form of the next generation IP addresses, a struggle to find the next social
structure that will guide the Internet in the future.
The form of that structure will be harder to find, given the large number of
concerned stakeholders.
9 Barry Leiner, A Brief History of the Internet, Vinton Cerf, David Clark, et al, 1998
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8 - Issues management
Issues management is about caring where you end up. And, therefore, it is about
caring which way you go. This requires understanding of the external environment,
effective analysis, reliable forecasting and the competency to realise plans.
"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.
- Lewis Carroll, ‘Alice in Wonderland’
The Cheshire cat might have been a philosopher - but it was no
strategist. Otherwise the fat feline might have pointed out that it
mattered a great deal where Alice went and that, maybe, she should
stop and think about the question some more.
Nicolo Machiavelli, the arch strategist who flourished 500 years ago,
understood this when he wrote:
"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 in Machiavelli's time. Pick the
issue early, we are advised, and do something about it. Undue delay
may lead to failure.
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What is an issue?
In the context of this paper, an issue is any event impacting on
- or which may potentially impact on - the performance of an
organisation.
There is an abundant supply of issues. They may involve 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, which unhappily
often manifest themselves as win-lose situations.
In the 1993 Federal election, each of the two major political parties was
confronted with the need to manage a volatile issue.
The governing Australian Labor Party had to manage the issue of double-
digit unemployment. The Liberal National Party coalition went into the
campaign burdened with an unpopular goods and services tax.
The poll outcome essentially revolved around which party could minimise its
own killer issue while playing up the others.
Labor managed the unemployment issue by injecting the goods and services
tax with a monster virus. The GST stalked the coalition all the way to polling
day, when it lost a close election.
When consulting to Westpac a few years ago, I sought senior
managers’ assessment of key issues in surveys conducted two years
apart. As you can see, the issues in consideration varied considerably
over that time.
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF KEY ISSUES
ISSUE 1989 1991
Service quality 55% 40%
Overseas expansion 33% n/a
Organisational culture 30% 30%
Consumerism 27% n/a
Profitability 24% 20%
Growth 24% 10%
Image 21% 60%
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Product awareness 15% 10%
Technological change 15% n/a
Leadership 12% 40%
Government regulation 12% n/a
Quality of investments n/a 40%
Morale/self image n/a 30%
What is issue management?
Issue management is an action-oriented management function that
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.
COMPONENTS OF ISSUE MANAGEMENT
· Identification, analysis and prioritisation of actual,
emerging and potential issues.
· Mobilisation and coordination of resources to deal with
them.
· Active and strategic influence of their development.
What is so crucial about adopting a strategic approach to managing
issues? Can we not deal with them simply by handling 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 didn’t make the headlines.
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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, and 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:
generate controversy which may destabilise the
organisation
create a hostile climate of opinion which may detract from
its image
deflect from planned and rational action as interest groups
exert pressure
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.
When he became managing director of Westpac, Frank Conroy was
determined to revive the bank’s flagging fortunes. Part of his armoury was
an upbeat advertising and public relations campaign. A few months into his
new appointment, Conroy said Westpac had turned the corner on its
financial problems and that the bad news was over. Soon after, the bank
announced a record loss. Further reassurances were given. But it seemed
each time it was claimed the worst was over there was another crisis: a
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share float that sank, a huge overseas tax liability, unexpected property
writedowns and bloodletting on the board.
The constant attempt to talk things up made matters worse, especially
as it was perceived there other issues the bank was not addressing.
PERCEIVED UNADDRESSED ISSUES
• Damaged credibility particularly with customers and
investors.
• Media cynicism at the bank's evasion and arrogance.
• Diminished customer service which kept stories of the
bank's errors in the public domain.
Being stalked by the issues is not good management. Yet
organisations frequently allow themselves to be trapped by issues
rather than getting on the front foot and managing them.
Issue 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.
Issue management 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 perceived it may be able to
extricate itself only with great difficulty. It's clearly best to avoid
getting into this position in the first place.
Sydney’s monorail only ever had one birthday party and it was an
anniversary that should have been allowed to pass unheralded. Just as
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people were beginning to forget the controversy surrounding construction
(environmental outrage, heritage arguments, oil leakage scares, nuns
trapped aloft for hours on one of its first trips), the monorail operators
decided to celebrate its first year of operation.
It was a debacle. At the commemorative news conference a toy monorail
lurched around a model railway and broke down for the cameras. TV viewers
later witnessed the spectacle of the general manager instructing journalists
"not to film that". The real life monorail carrying the media came to a
grinding halt halfway around its circuit. The celebration provided a gold-
leafed invitation for Citizens Against the Monorail to renew their campaign.
And the ABC chipped in with an investigative piece claiming that the
monorail was losing $20,000 a week. It was quite a marketing exercise.
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.
Early in 1988, in one of the greatest misbegotten ideas in the State's history,
then NSW Minister for Natural Resources Janice Crosio plunged into the
Bondi surf in a public relations stunt designed to show that the water at
Sydney's finest ocean beach was clean. As the truth about Sydney's beach
pollution unravelled over succeeding months, the community realised that
Sydney's beaches needed more than PR treatment.
Issues management is not crisis management, although the two are
frequently confused. In fact, issues management is the antithesis of
crisis management. It involves an effort to fix problems before they
occur, or at least to minimise their impact. It involves picking the
43
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.
How issues are generated
At the point when an organisation translates intent into action, or
when it broadcasts a decision, its intent becomes tangible. A range of
groups may be impacted by the decision and they will react depending
upon how they perceive their interests are affected. In human terms,
an issue is generated when your intent and a dissonant interest
collide. 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 a strategic organisation. But, where an organisation is
not strategic or where the issue is not discerned or is more volatile
than anticipated, the collision can be devastating.
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GOAL
Deflection pathZONE OF REACTION
ISSUE EMERGESZONE OF PRE-EMPTION
Intervention path
Planned change pathSTAKEHOLDERS
DECISION / ACTION
How an issue emerges
When an organisation makes a planning decision it sets out on the
desired change path leading from the decision to the achievement of
a defined goal. When the decision is implemented, subsequent action
is evaluated by those stakeholders who believe their interests may
be affected or who believe they may be able to influence the decision
in their own interest.
If a stakeholder assesses it is likely to be affected adversely, or
believes it may be able to leverage its position in some way, it will
react. It is in this initial exchange of initiation and eraction that an
issue is generated.
Depending upon the nature and extent of the reaction, the stakeholder
may intervene in the change path envisaged by the organisation. A
significant intervention can deflect the organisation from its planned
pathway. This deflection can effectively undermine the attainment of
the defined goal.
The practical application of this model, however, lies in understanding
that it has two zones. 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.
Other organisations try to move to the zone of pre-emption, and are
price makers in issues management terms. This means they plan all
decisions of consequence in terms of how stakeholders will react and
assessing how such reaction may impact on the change path. If the
assessment is 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.
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9 - Approaches to issues management
Zone of reaction
No less than three separate categories of response are identifiable in
the zone of reaction: passive, defensive and reactive.
The passive approach supposes the issue will go away if it is
ignored. It won't. It will probably get worse.
When random breath testing was proposed for the state of New South Wales,
the two major breweries chose not to enter the debate. The result was the
imposition of a .05% blood alcohol limit. In South Australia, where local
breweries became actively involved in the debate, a higher limit of .08 was
set.
KEY POINTS OF THE PASSIVE APPROACH
INDICATORS
· The issue may be identified or it may not be.
· There is an assumption that it will go away eventually.
· There is no productive action to manage the issue.
OUTCOMES
· There is an abdication of management responsibility to
act and influence.
· The issues frequently generate major failure or crisis.
A defensive approach is not much better than passivity. Here, the
organisation identifies the issue, sits on it until it is raised publicly and
then grimly tries to defend itself. This not only relinquishes control of
the agenda but the defence is often weak and unconvincing.
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The former Sydney Water Board's initial response to public outrage about
polluted beaches was to say that everything was under control. Public
opinion refused to accept that position and eventually there was politicial
intervention.
Sometimes, when an issue looms, it is possible to temporarily hold
back the tide. But the process is usually inelegant and a source of
embarrassment.
Sydney's major newspapers and most newsagents have a cosy arrangement
where newsagents agree to home deliver (an unprofitable activity) in
exchange for the granting of exclusive rights to sell in certain areas. This
restraint of trade has effectively prevented deregulation of the industry and
was investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The ACCC ran into successful resistance from newspaper groups and
newsagents' associations, a crude defensive fix to keep out potential
competitors.
KEY POINTS OF THE DEFENSIVE APPROACH
INDICATORS
· The issue is usually identified.
· It's rarely analysed or prioritised.
· It may be discussed but there is no action.
OUTCOMES
· Control of the agenda is relinquished.
· Defensive explanations convey weakness and lack of
conviction.
By far the most common means of dealing with issues is to adopt a
reactive approach. Once again, the issue is often spotted in advance
but either the organisation has no appropriate means of dealing with
it or there is an inclination to lock it out of sight and hope it will go
away.
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Finally the issue starts running and the organisation is driven from
the closet to deal with it. But control of the agenda has been
relinquished to others and it is difficult to regain the initiative.
Nevertheless, this is how most issues are handled. It's like giving Phar
Lap three lengths start. It also means making decisions on the run,
often without adequate information or research and with the
prospects of success diminished by having to build substance and
credibility out of controversy and pressure.
The Multifunction Polis seemed like a good idea at the time but the media
soon made great capital with the notion of 'Japanese enclaves' and
bureaucratic confusion surrounding exactly how the polis would work.
A consultancy was paid a million dollars to design a model that nobody
liked. Corporations funding the project suspected rivals were trying to seize
a competitive advantage. The Commonwealth Government thought it should
be in charge. State Governments thought they should.
It was decided to give the MFP to Queensland but the Queensland
Government didn't own the proffered land. The Japanese wanted Sydney but
ended up with a swamp full of noxious chemicals outside Adelaide. In 1999,
after ten years of dashed hopes, the MFP was laid to rest.
The MFP people later said they decided not to communicate what they
were doing because people might misunderstand and that this would
create problems for them!
KEY POINTS OF THE REACTIVE APPROACH
INDICATORS
· The issue is usually identified.
· It is frequently subject to some analysis.
· A reactive plan is often formulated but no pre-emptive
action is taken.
OUTCOMES
· Control of the agenda is relinquished.
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· Reactive management is often successful but damage
has been done where it might have been avoided.
Zone of pre-emption
Finally, there is the best idea of all - the pre-emptive approach. An
organisation is pre-emptive where - having identified the issue - it
tries to do something about it before it causes problems.
SOME PRE-EMPTIVE MANAGEMENT ACTIONS
· Prior consultation with constituencies to achieve an
acceptable decision.
· Gathering good intelligence about constituency
positions.
· Varying decisions to accommodate constituency views.
· Explaining decisions fully and carefully.
By emphasising pre-emption rather than reaction, managers provide a
safeguard for the organisation: a distant early warning system.
Further, managers ensure that stakeholders benefit from problems
being solved before they get out of hand.
KEY POINTS OF THE PRE-EMPTIVE APPROACH
INDICATORS
· The issue is identified, analysed and prioritised.
· A strategic plan is formulated.
· Pre-emptive action is taken to manage the issue.
OUTCOMES
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· The issue is managed effectively.
· It may never actually impact on the organisation.
· A win-win situation for the organisation and its
stakeholders.
There are very few beneficiaries from an issue gone bad - which is
pretty much a lose-lose situation.
It is often difficult to see pre-emptive issues management at work.
Often, the issue simply never surfaces - it has been fixed first. The
victors rarely boast (Messrs Tuckey and Moore who engineered John
Howard's first downfall as Federal Opposition leader were
exceptions). Occasionally, though, you can spot the telltale signs.
In many cases of pre-emptive issues management, a particular
initiative or "game breaker" can be identified, which provides the key
to the resolution of the issue.
Such was the case when Telecom (now Telstra) outmanoeuvred its business
opponents, the Economics Ministers, the Department of Transport and
Communications, the then Overseas Telecommunications Commission, the
Trade Practices Commission, the media and just about everybody else in
securing the position it wanted in the new telecommunications order. There
were two key lessons in what Telecom did. Firstly, it got on the front foot
with a politically viable and intellectually robust position. And then it
committed itself to the hard work of lobbying.
Telecom's pre-emption flowed from recognising that it would have to
give away something substantial - its monopoly - in order to secure
the position it wanted in the new order.
When Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name to KFC, it decided to place
the name change in the context of a range of other planned initiatives: plans
to double in size over five years, build 250 new restaurants and employ 7,000
more people. It was an impressive investment in the middle of a recession -
including the name change as just one issue among many.
KFC's pre-emption was based on an understanding that a name
change was not all there was to the game. By placing the name
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change in the broader context, it was seen correctly as but one
change among a raft of changes.
Taking a pre-emptive approach allows you to plan your way through
issues and to strongly influence, and even determine, their outcome.
Mary MacKillop, Australia's first Saint, founded the Sisters of St Joseph in
1867. At the headquarters of the Order in North Sydney, they are turning a
ragtag rabble of buildings into a national shrine. But the Order was
concerned that its redevelopment of the site might be seen as a grab to turn
a quick quid from Mary's beatification. The solution was to ensure an
exhaustive program of consultation with the local council and the
surrounding neighbourhood before the development application was made.
It resulted in the Order's fear being overcome.
The Order of St Joseph's pre-emption was to take its case to all the
people affected - including the community - before making any formal
move. Maybe this was overcautious but there was a reputation of
great integrity to protect.
The Independent Panel on Intractable Waste was appointed by the
Commonwealth, NSW and Victorian Governments to determine what to do
with Australia's stockpile of toxic waste given community opposition to the
building of a high temperature incinerator. The Panel decided that, before
seeking to find a means of disposing of the waste, it should first define
precisely the problem for itself and the rest of the community.
So the issue was exhaustively reviewed through public consultation, expert
hearings, a comprehensive review of documentation and research. The
outcome was recognition that the toxic waste issue was not a single problem
- it was a range of problems. This was the key that unlocked the door to a
successful resolution.
A range of problems required a range of solutions and, once on this track,
the Panel identified a number of acceptable alternative technologies to deal
with the waste.
The Independent Panel's pre-emption involved not leaping to a
conclusion before everybody understood the problem and the various
options for resolving it. The panel took the community along with it
as it tracked through a public enactment of the scientific method in a
logical, step by step way.
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The point about each of these interventions is that, irrespective of how
obvious the strategy may seem in retrospect, it was deliberate, pre-
emptive action that secured success. This action was planned, not
random. And it was planned in a thoughtful and structured way.
Being pre-emptive allows you to plan your way through issues and to
strongly influence, and often determine, their outcome.
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10 - The practice of issues management
1 - Assign responsibility for forecasting issues
Assigning responsibility for forecasting and assessing issues does not
mean centralised control but certainly there has to be a uniformity of
approach and a good exchange of information across the organisation.
Issue forecasting is the research part of issues management. In
forecasting issues an organisation scans the environment and uses
collected information to determine how it and its stakeholders might
react to a future event, trend or controversy.
Research by Cranfield School of Management, a business school in the UK,
revealed companies that addressed planning and forecasting issues
consistently outperform sector averages. These companies had an average
share price growth of 116% over three years (101% sector average),
2 - Develop monitoring & analysis skills
Having developed skills in identifying, monitoring and analysing
emergent issues, decisions need to be made about how to deal with
them. This applies not just to current issues but also to emergent or
over-the-horizon possibilities.
Most problems are foreseeable to some extent and - even if specific
issues can't be pinpointed - experience will suggest which parts of the
organisation are most vulnerable and which stakeholders most likely
to pose problems.
A wide network of contacts, a good knowledge of the organisation's
strengths and weaknesses, and a sensitivity to the climate of opinion
in which the organisation is operating, are all helpful in detecting
pertinent issues.
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There are training programs available in detecting and managing
issues – such as the well-proven program offered by Jackson Wells
Morris.
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HOW TO BRAINSTORM ISSUES
· Convene a suitable group of people.
· Brief the group on the process (suspend judgement,
keep an open mind, let yourself go, all ideas accepted,
build on others' ideas).
· Record ideas so everyone can see them.
· Assemble the issues into categories.
· Ask the group to prioritise the issue categories.
· Refer the issues for analysis and strategy development.
3 - Analyse the issues
Gather together relevant background information including statistical,
documentary and other data to table all there is to know about the key
issues and their context.
HOW TO ANALYSE AN ISSUE
· Compile a history and background of issue.
· Identify the internal and external stakeholders.
· Assess influence of corporate policy on issue.
· Review research conducted into issue.
· Gather statistics that might help clarify issue.
· Define positives and negatives of issue.
· Analyse threats and opportunities around issue.
· Prepare forecast of best and worst case outcomes.
· Appoint manager responsible for dealing with issue.
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4 - Create a data base
The effective management of issues requires the maintenance of a
comprehensive and systematised body of information that can ‘stack
and track’ the main issues facing the organisation. A continually
updated database will keep issues under review.
Issues can be prioritised according to their impact and urgency, with
high impact/high urgency issues requiring a crisis management
response. This chart depicts possible management responses to issues
of varying impact and urgency.
Issue prioritisation chart
5 - Develop an efficient system of notification
A good referral system will ensure the Board, chief executive and
senior managers are alerted immediately new issues or major
communication problems arise. Action taken may vary from a simple
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Issue has high impact & low urgency
Response: Contingency planning
Issue has high impact & moderate urgency
Response: Action planning
Issue has high impact & high urgency
Response: Crisis planning & execution
Issue has moderate impact & low urgency
Response: Document in database & keep
under review
Issue has moderate impact & moderate
urgency
Response: Contingency planning
Issue has moderate impact & high urgency
Response: Action planning
Issue has low impact & low urgency
Response: Document in database & accept
risk
Issue has low impact & moderate urgency
Response: Document in database & keep
under review
Issue has low impact & high urgency
Response: Contingency planning
media release or internal memo to more complex programs of activity
to remedy a matter having serious implications for the organisation.
6 - Deploy resources to deal effectively with the issues
These may include:
people to plan, organise and coordinate a campaign
budget to employ expertise, produce publications, buy
space for advocacy ads etc
time taken to explain to employees, customers or other
stakeholders what is going on; time taken to listen to what the
involved stakeholders have to say
7 - Establish effective contacts with key stakeholders
Formal networks of reporting, consultation, coordination and advice
need to be in place. These must be supplemented by the development
of widely dispersed informal networks; not merely to provide social or
professional opportunities but to gather useful information. Issues
cannot be properly managed unless there is a profusion of such
networks and some assurance that the information moving through
them actually ends up somewhere useful.
8 - Be aware that decisions may have inadvertent impacts
Most managers have the capacity to take actions that may become
matters of public comment and controversy. In practical terms, this
not only means making good decisions but communicating them
effectively, warning if adverse public reaction is anticipated and
ensuring the Minister and managers are equipped to deal with this.
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9 - Assess the public impact
The public impact of an action must be a consideration when decisions
of importance are made - and thinking through how they should be
communicated. Among the important questions are: Who will be
affected? What is their likely reaction? What affect will this have on
the organisation? What are the political implications? How can we
optimise our position? Sometimes these considerations will affect the
substance of the decision itself. More frequently, they will affect the
way in which the decision is implemented.
10 -Assure a good inwards flow of information
Issues management is not only concerned to ensure a good and
reliable outward flow of information. It is crucial, also, that there be a
reciprocal flow into and around the organisation. While none of us
should be guided wholly by public opinion or the views of pressure
groups, such attitudes must be taken into account when decisions are
being made. There must be a continuing awareness of the position of
key constituencies.
11 - Disseminate messages to create the desired response
This also means being sensitive to the impact of words; to ensuring
you say what you mean - and mean what you say; and to making sure
that what you say today won't come back to haunt you in the future.
12 - Build rapport with key groups
The more hostile the group you are dealing with, the greater need for
personal (face-to-face) communication.
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13 - Accept responsibility for error
Never try to defend the indefensible. If there has been an error or
negligence, providing litigation is not pending, a full admission should
be made together with an announcement outlining what corrective
measures are being taken. Toughing things out is not a plausible
option, especially for organisations with a clear accountability to the
public or to shareholders.
"Honesty is the best policy" certainly applies to issues management.
As damaging as it may seem to have to admit error, it is nowhere near
as damaging as it is to be caught out later. Adopting a policy of
candour with the media is vital. This does not mean that the press
have the right to know everything. But it does mean that they have
the right not to be deceived.
14 - Explain and defend the organisation publicly
All organisations must expect to be criticised from time to time and
must react maturely to this. This means not lashing out intemperately.
If criticism is not factually based or flows from misunderstanding, it
should be addressed directly and dispassionately.
15 - Provide media training
It's important that management communicate competently in public.
There is a need to conduct interviews so key messages are
communicated. Formal media training, anything from a few hours to
regular refreshers, and even training in public speaking may be
required. Depending upon the issues, rehearsals may also be
required.
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16 - Build media relations
The news media will be one of the most important conduits for
delivering information. It is important that the organisational
management establish a good network in the local media: finding out
who they are, dealing with them on a personal basis and making sure
they know you and your key managers and that they understand what
your organisation does and what its major programs are. Regular
press briefings, even when there is no major announcement or story,
are a good idea.
Briefings should include media owners and editors not just working
journalists. Conducts these meetings when your organisation is not in
crisis or beset by problems to present information in a balanced non-
controversial context. Make sure the media have contact numbers
and that they are re aware they can contact you or your spokespeople
any time. Plan an approach for dealing with the media in crisis
situations.
17 - Develop communications materials
Depending upon the level of previous communications, the community
may have only a vague idea of exactly what your organisation does.
This is where materials may be important: brochures, handbooks, fact
sheets, internal talking points for managers, videos, kids' workbooks,
posters, stickers, badges, bookmarks, etc.
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