CRITICAL ISSUES...
...do you really know what yours are?

Does our strategy fit our targets? Have we got our investment priorities right? Do our customer services join up? Those are the easy ones to identify.

The problem is that every new plan, strategy and project you devise to address your critical issues generates its own critical issues. How do you identify all of those? And, perhaps even more difficult, how do you design, co-ordinate and facilitate all of the approaches required to ensure that nothing is forgotten or mishandled?

Do it well and you can lift the organisation to a new level. Do it badly and critical issues become critical problems.

How did they miss that?

Take the case of a mobile phone company that recognised the need to place its customer database on a new technology platform. Unfortunately it ‘forgot’ that it was equally critical to ensure connectivity between key customer services.

Or the computer games company that wisely modelled its international development to distribution pipeline on the film industry. So why did it not see that local consumption habits, radically different between countries, states and even cities, could derail the entire release schedule?

Critical Issue for the critical edge

Critical Issue is a partnership which specialises in making sure you do not miss the critical issues at the heart of any development you may be about to undertake, be it organisational, departmental or individual.

Whether you’re facing a major organisational shift, embarking on a significant departmental project, or contemplating professional choices as an individual, we can help you clarify your purpose, understand all the issues at play, prepare the right tools, resources and perceptions to tackle them and then plan and execute the strategy.

How do we do it?

The Critical Issue approach is a forensic process that identifies and tackles the links that are key to the planned outcome. We help you gather empirical evidence to identify what you have and what you need. We will help you understand clearly your options –and the real impact of your choices. We will design with you targeted and customised interventions for your teams, your leaders and your organisation to ensure that you move forward with the right intelligence, tools and resources to achieve the best possible outcomes.

It’s a rigorous approach. It’s an approach that can sometimes be uncomfortable. But it’s always illuminating - and, above all, it will always be pragmatic.

Who are we?

Critical Issue is headed up by Stephen Barden and Neela Bettridge. They bring to it both their huge personal experience both of decades of leading successful companies as well as mentoring other organisations and individuals thrive through turbulent times.

This is not academic theorising. This is a process that is a result of learning from mistakes, successes and opportunities. In other words, Neela and Stephen really do know what they’re talking about.

If you want to gain the critical edge, please contact Neela for more information