Why timing is vital for a lobbyist

I like the occasional long flight. It lets me rummage in an airport bookshop and pick up some easy reading.

I just bought and read Daniel Pink’s new book “When – the Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing“. Over 7 chapters and 218 pages he shows the importance of timing.

As anyone with a teenage child knows, their sleep patterns go very strange. Midnight seems like wide awake time. Traffic accidents peak at certain times (2-6 am, and 2-4 pm). Taking tests in the morning  – but after 8;30 am – leads to better results than taking them at 2:00 pm. And, short siestas  are good for you.

A lobbyist instinctively knows timing is everything.

Too often, a lobbyist steps in too late in to process Whatever you say, however useful, will simply be ignored. What you are putting forward has not been delivered at the right time.

A good lobbyist knows that the windows of opportunity to influence decisions are narrow. They are prepared for those short openings.

1. When the Commission start to prepare new proposals, they give you lots of opportunities to feed into the process. Take those opportunities. It’s better to feed in early to the public consultations.
2. Work backwards. Pink writes about doing a premortem at the start. Work out what can go wrong and take steps to remove those hurdles. The biggest challenge in lobbying is not having a credible position with supporting evidence ready in time. This can be avoided. First, I base things on the “reasonable worst case scenario”. Second,  I try and work out in advance the hardest questions I am going to get asked and have the answer prepared. Those questions always come up. Third, I don’t believe in political tooth fairies.
3. Inter-Service  Consultation is usually for 10 or 15 days. It can be shorter. If you miss the opportunity to let members of the Inter-Service Steering Group and their Cabinets know you position just before or within that narrow period of time, you must like this scene from the deer hunter.

4.  You need to have your  amendments ready and prepared in time. If they are late it is pointless. Today, the European Parliament settles all ordinary legislation at first reading, and they are pushing through the remaining files on their books quickly. This means that as soon as the Commission have their proposal published, you need to have your amendments ready. You can’t sit around for plenary or 2nd reading.
5.  During the great recession, politicians and ministers were open to taking on board concerns about the cost of environmental legislation. They really feared that jobs would be lost. Today, those same arguments that worked in the recession don’t work in the booms.
6. Somedays you need to accept that MEPs or Council officials just won’t be available. Some days are better than face to face meetings than others.  They have Committee meetings to attend or Council Working Groups.
7. Try and avoid 2:30 pm meetings. Pink observes that humans get tired around 2 pm. It makes sense to me. I worked for politicians for a few years. The 2-5 pm slot was not ideal for meetings with lobbyists.  I found it best to have a meeting in the morning slot or after 6 pm. Our circadian rhythms seem to equate to that.
8. Where you issue appears on the Committee schedule is everything. Ken Collins MEP, the legendary Chair of the Environment Committee, taught me that. If the Chair of the Committee schedules your issue at the start of each Committee, you’ll have a more engaged Committee, who are more receptive, and this helps you get your proposal through quicker. If you schedule it later in the day, the members are less receptive, too often you won’t have a quorum or your item will just fall of the agenda.
9. If you do have to have long meetings, there is a trick to making it productive. Have a break and come back. It refreshes people.
10. Elections bring opportunities. If you are looking for a job with a new MEP, the best time is the end of May 2019. There will be a new European Parliament and newly elected MEPs will be looking for political advisors to guide them through the labyrinth.
11. New Commissioners will be nominated and appointed in 2019. The confirmation hearings and the preparation of handover briefings is the right time to influence future policy direction.
12. In meetings with politicians and civil servants, please don’t waste time. Raise the question you want the answer to, ask some quick clarifications, thank them, and leave. They don’t get paid by the billable hour.  If they ask you questions, all well and good. You can make the meeting more useful by sending them a 1 page briefing a few days before the meeting. If you are there to discuss a report you have prepared, send them the report and a 2 page summary a week before. The point of the meeting is to get answers and nothing else.
13. I like this slide from PACT. It shows you when you chances of influencing a decision are highest. I’d start very early in the process. Most people don’t.
    
14. It is useful to go and see politicians when they are most receptive to listening to people. Party Conferences provide the perfect opportunity.
15. Avoid religious festivals, especially if those you are trying to influence are religious. Even if you are a non-believer, there are plenty of people of faith around.
16. It’s smart to work with the media to get certain stories out at certain times to influence decisions. It works.
17. Each political group in the European Parliament adopts their voting lists in a certain way and more importantly at a certain time. If you miss that small window of opportunity, you’ll have missed the boat.
18. Even though a politician may intend to vote a certain way, you may still have time to reverse a groups voting line if it as odds with their national Party line. You then have just a few hours to change the voting list.
19. If your position does not add up, whatever you say won’t really help. If you get in early, at least you’ll know what you are saying is not working, and you have time to change.
20. In the words of the late Andy Grove “only the paranoid survive”. You will be prepared ahead well ahead of time and harness every window of opportunity. They are often open for a very short period of time. Most will miss it.