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What is a Strategic Issue?
A Strategic Issue is, first of all, an issue - an unresolved question needing a decision or waiting for some clarifying future event. Secondly, it is strategic and has major impact on the course and direction of the business. It probably relates directly to one or more of the fundamental “Three Strategic Questions”:

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  What are we going to sell?
  
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  To whom are we going to sell it?
  
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  How will we beat or avoid our competition?
  

Strategic Issues lie right at the heart of the business. Correspondingly, the process step dealing with Strategic Issues lies right at the heart of Simplified Strategic Planning.

How Does the Strategic Issues Process Relate to the Rest of the Simplified Strategic Planning Process?
Figure 1 provides a schematic diagram of the entire Simplified Strategic Planning process. The information generation and analysis steps of the process build and converge toward Strategic Issues, while the later, intention formulation steps flow directly from it. Strategic Issues is a cornerstone of any strategic planning process.

Figure 1 (click here for a larger version)

The information-generating steps above the Strategic Issues block of Figure 1 take place early in the process. They provide the raw material for the review and analysis that occurs immediately before Strategic Issues. In his in-depth article entitled “Good Input - the Foundation of Good Strategy”, featured in the July 1998 issue of Compass Points, Charles Bradford emphasizes that good input—freely shared, properly analyzed, challenged and understood—is vital for good strategy. Unfortunately, the benefit of good input will never be realized unless the critical step that identifies Strategic Issues is handled properly by your Planning Team.