I’ve tried to put down in one simple checklist why Public Affairs/lobbying is hard.
You can’t get just one thing right, you have to get a lot of core things right (see below), and usually at the same time. If you get one thing wrong, you are likely going to fail.
And, at the end of reading this, you will understand why a lot of lobbyists fail, before they have even started.
12 Thing You Need to Win
- You need to know the procedures of adopting and passing laws and decisions. This includes ordinary legislation and secondary legislation (DIA and RPS Measures). On top, any specific process you are working on, you’ll have mastered the rules.
- You need to explain your issue clearly for the intended audience. This is a rare skill in Brussels. Industry and NGOs are unified in mostly lacking it. You suffer from some variation of demonic possession – the curse of experts. The only people who understand you meet in post-doc panels on the dark web.
- You need to write clearly, briefly, persuasively, and accurately. This means no more 55 page position papers, with made up studies, and graphs made up from non-existent data. If you can do this one thing, you’ll be in the top 1% of your field.
- You need to the right story. The right story is unlikely going to be that if you don’t do what I want, a really obscure moss is going to be harmed, or alternatively, or your profits are going to be hit by 1/2%.
- You need to bring a real public policy solution to the table. Your solution needs to based on real evidence and data, not conjured up after a night chatting to Unicorns dancing on fluffy clouds.
- You need luck. Successful lobbying comes down to knowing the right people, at the right time, and bringing them the right thing (evidence, story, solution), and knowing when and know to step in. That’s a lot of things in the air. The only thing you are not in charge of timing. And, you can increase your luck quota by being prepared.
- You need the right resources. Success does not come cheap. If you, for your client, does not have the right resources (skills, experience, funds), success starts to evaporate away.
- You come across as banshee on a bad acid trip. It is a lot more common than you’d ever think.
- You are simply offensive or deluded. A casual bit of misgony, racism, slagging off the person who you need to persuade, or think sun spots cause global warming. I’ve seen them all. The person saying them was DOA.
- You lie in a meeting or in writing. More common than you’d hope for. If you do this, even your allies will walk away.
- You take things personally. You don’t have a thick skin. If you are here, try a new profession.
- You and your client need to be trusted. If you are not trusted, your chances of success are near 0.