I’ve tried to decode why some policy/regulatory/legislative lobbying delivers, but most do not.
I’ve traced back all the examples in my memory bank of campaigns, laws passed, and reading and tried to extract the essence of what’s needed to get the outcome you want.
What is clear is that if you use a checklist like this early on, you get a very good idea of your chances of success. And, chatting with some of the most successful campaigners, lobbyists, and law-makers, this list is obvious. But, in case it it not, here it is.
10 Things You Need to Have
Here are 10 pieces of information and products you will need for lobbying.
You should develop this at the start of your work, rather than halfway through or on the spur of the moment.
You should write this out. Writing it down helps reveal weak thinking. It is better to know how robust your case is at the start, rather than finding out out too late.
- A political rationale for backing your position. One that speaks to the decision-makers interests, not yours.
- A soundbite(s) to summarise your position.
- Evidence – case studies, reference material, examples – to support your position.
- Specific evidence – e.g. shadow impact assessment, technical or scientific evidence, legal opinions – to submit at the right stage of the policy/legislative process.
- A story that resonates with your target audience.
- Policy solution(s).
- Legislative language (e.g. amendments & justifications)
- Right lobbying material – briefings, leave-behinds, letters, speaking points, infographics.
- Political speaking points for meetings.
- A lobby plan. A road map to get you from where you are to where you want to be.
7 Things What You Also Need
If you have this, you’ll need the following to take it over the line:
- An advocate who is trusted with the right decision-makers.
- An advocate who has a successful track record of guiding people through the legislative/regulatory labyrinth, and lived to tell the tale.
- You need to understand the process for the journey you are embarking on. It helps if your advocate has walked this path many times without problems.
- Someone who can write clearly. You need someone who can turn your gibberish, which likely requires a post-doc to understand the introduction, into something that makes sense.
- Experts who are trusted by the decision-makers. There is no point submitting expert evidence from ‘so-called experts’ who are seen as propagandists.
- Resources to deliver what you want.
- Luck. You can tick all the boxes and still not get what you want.
The 12 Main Reasons You Don’t Get What You Want
The main reasons for not getting what you want:
- Stepping in late.
- Not having the right information and evidence at the right time.
- What you are asking for requires a post-doc to understand it. A common form of gibberish.
- Your story only makes sense to you.
- No policy solution(s) to offer. If you have them, you don’t have them in the correct form (legislative language).
- You don’t know the process. This leads to steping in late, speak to the wrong people, raising the wrong points, and going in the wrong direction.
- If working in a coalition, you don’t agree on what you want and spend most of your time in internal meetings bickering, rather than engaging with the people making the decisions.
- Political speaking points to hand that summarise your case in plain english that a reasonably smart person with no prior knowledge of the issue can understand.
- You don’t have a plan.
- You don’t have an effective advocate trusted by decision-makers, who can present your case.
- You suffer from Actionitis. A common affliction to do anything and everything – e.g. leafleting the MEPs pigeon holes when they are away in Strasbourg – just to show movement of some kind.
- Political zeitgeist against you. Here, you can’t do much.
I realise that the checklist of 16 may seem hard to reach. It is. It is not impossible.
Those 16 factors are core to getting the law or policy you want. Every successful lobbyist I’ve known uses a mental checklist like this.