21 things you need in your lobby plan

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21 things you need  in your lobby plan

 

A friend asked me why I am keep mentioning the importance of lobby plans and what is in them.

I think they are key for three reasons.

First, I can’t remember every person who is going to a make or influence a key decision. I think the only way to quickly recall a lot of information is to have it written down. Personally, I prefer paper, but online works as well. I realise I am in small minority here. Most lobbyists seem to have didactic memories. I don’t.

Second, I think on paper. I find writing, and re-writing, helps expose weaknesses and fallacies in a plan. The only way I have worked out how to do this is through the writing process. If there is another way of getting there, please let me know.

Third, the easiest way to share with others the next steps and evidence to back a lobbying campaign is to have it written down. In the absence of telepathy, it seems the best approach. Again, I am very open to trying alternatives.

 

The 21 steps 

My friend then asked me what is in a lobby plan contains.

I think there are around 21 bits to a basic lobby plan.

  1. You need a short description of what the issue is about.

It is useful to make sure everyone in the room is there for the same reason. Over 20 years of lobbying, this tends to throw people. Some people turn up for the wrong reason. This helps them leave early on.

Sometimes, you find out that the aim seems to be amount achieving world peace in a week type goal. Ambitious not doubt. Feasible? No, just a pipe dream.

 

  1. You need to know the background to the proposal

I think it is useful to have  an aide memoire on the background to the proposal.

This can be helpful for two reasons.

First, it is useful to deal with mock indignation that the proposal has come out of no-where. Few proposals ever come out of the blue. There is a long history to them. Having a few lines to remind you and your colleagues of the history is useful.

Second, the aide memoire provides a useful reminder of the background, players, and reasons for the proposal.

  1. You need to know what type of legislative proposal are you dealing with

99% of EU legislation is secondary legislation. Most lobbyists frame everything in terms of co-decision (am too old to call it by the proper name of ordinary).

I prefer deep simplicity. It is helpful to make sure you are clear from the start  what legislative process you are dealing with. From that, you’ll know the steps, and more importantly, how many votes you need at which step.

 

  1. You need to know where you are in the process

 

Here Daniel Guegen’s excellent slide tells you everything you need to know.

The earlier you start in the process, the easier it is to influence.

 

  1. You need to be clear who leads on this issue

It is vital to be clear who leads, who decides, and who executes. Campaigns are riddled with too many chefs in the kitchen. It gets bad when none of them know how to cook.

 

  1. You need to be clear why this is an issue for you

Again, this is not just a test for early signs of dementia. It is useful to be clear from the start why you are working on the issue. What is the real issue for spending scare time and resources on this.

I have no problem on fighting for the principle of an issue, but when that principle costs millions to advance, and burns away goodwill, it is helpful to be clear why you are really working night and day to defend a principle.

As an aside, lawyers and political consultants love a client who wants to fight to the end to defend the principle.  The fees they rack up are amazing.

 

  1. You need to know what you want to achieve politically?

For me this is simple. You want to know how the legislation is going to be altered. The more specific you can be the better.

I tend to run away from grand visions and posturing. I get nervous. I prefer the dull and mundane . As lobbying is about changing laws, I tend to stick to textual change that can be put into the law books and implemented in practice.

 

  1. You need to be clear what is your reasonable worst case scenario is from day 1

I am a lifelong Labour Party member. So, coming  from the centre left winning does not happen that often.  I think it is useful to know from the start what your ideal is and what is your reasonable worst scenario.

Things tend to swing to the reasonable worst case pretty often, and planning for it lets you get plans in order for when it happens.

 

  1. You need to know how previous votes have gone down

Past votes don’t predict future votes perfectly. Past votes on the same issue, with the same people, give you a dammed good idea on how they going to vote again on a similar issue.

Here I can only recommend the services of Vote Watch Europe.

 

  1. You need real facts, not pub facts

You are going to have your message bible. That’s well and good. It helps if your messages have some evidence to back them up. It helps even more if you have this all written out. It helps people like me whose mental powers of instant memory recall are not so well accentuated.

The advantage of having them written out, is that you, or your expert, can spot your pub facts. Those are messages and facts that sound great in the pub after 5 beers, but in the cold light of day need to be flushed away. Too many campaigns are based on pub facts.

 

  1. You need  the devil’s advocate

The Jesuits contribution to western civilisation have been many. I think one of the greatest is their historic role as the “devil’s advocate”.

If you are serious about winning, you  need to put your best people on the case of tearing your case apart.

Whilst is is painful, it helps make your case stronger. And, to be be honest, any decent opposition will do the same, so it is better to be verbally brutalised in private, rather than humiliated in public.

 

  1. You need to need to do research – you don’t have the answers yet

    I spent my holidays when at law school working for a law firm do criminal law cases. I learned the key to winning was a lot of research before the day of trial.

In lobbying, you need to have the best, credible and independent evidence at hand. You need to make it clear and understandable. Putting forward the latest thinking of a Nobel prize winner is not likely to have much impact if your audience are politicians and officials. It is key to make the expert understandable to their audience.

  1. You need to know what research you need to have do, and have it on time

It is good if you can commission the expert to do the research you need. It is pointless if their research is going to be published a year after the final vote or decision is going to be made.

 

  1. You need to have a copy of your ideal legislative text in your back-pocket

There is a really easy way to know from the beginning if your campaign is going to win.  Just ask for a copy of the legal text in the amendment and supporting explanatory memorandum.

If it is not already written down, your chances of winning are low. It is lower if you don’t have a written plan.

 

  1. You need to know who really makes the key decisions?

I think there are around 250 key people who make the decision on any piece of EU law. The tricky part is to know who they are and to have their contact details.

You need to know who they are before your start. Anything else is well meaning amateurism.

 

  1. You  need to know your friends 

You need to know who your allies are. You need to speak to them directly and check they stand shoulder to should with you on your issue. If you don’t, the first time you publicaly call them out as a supporter, they will too often say they are not.

Do the same with your opponents. When I worked on fisheries legislation, there were vast parts of southern Europe I devoted no energy to.  I knew where they stood.

 

  1. You need a budget

I hate to break it to you. A good lobby campaign is not cheap. You need to pay for experienced staff, expert evidence, clear and powerful material, media and online output.

Too many people think this is all happens for nothing.

My rule of thumb is to have 50% fixed costs, such as labour & rent and 50% flexible funding to focus on the campaign.

Anything less, you won’t have the cash on hand when you need it to run that advertisement in Politico or the FT.

 

  1. You need a media and social media plan

If you don’t have it, get it.

For me, the real benefit is it gives very busy people a chance to learn your view on the position before they have met you.

 

  1. You need to go old school

You need a step by step plan on who is going to meet who. Yes, it like the last hurrah in the age of technology, but if you don’t know how your target audience are going to vote on your key issue, all the hard work is lost. I am old school, so I like do face to face meeting. It is easier to know if someone really is going to vote for you.

 

  1. You need to try Basecamp

You need to track how your team’s meetings went, you need to have a list of how people are going to vote for you, and you need to have all the key documents available.

You need something like https://basecamp.com/. If you have the funds, you can use Fiscal note.

 

  1. Just do it

When you have your house in order, your plans set, your case prepared, you just need to go out and do it.

Plans are useful. Most of it will change really quickly. Events will overtake you. But, you’ll have a solid foundation and survive the changing tides.

There is a sure way to loosing and that is not to have a plan, or to have a plan, but ignore it.