If you want to win in lobbying, there are few things you need to right.
As an equation it would look like:
P+P+P+S+R+S+S
or
Politics + People + Process + Solution(s) + Research + Skills + System
An evergreen equation?
Politics
You’ve got to understand the politics driving the issue. You are dealing with law making and that’s political. If you think it is about science or philosophy, you are in for a shock.
You need to understand what is driving the debate on the issue and why political action is being taken. You need to respond to those concerns, not your concerns.
People
This can be divided into two parts.
First, you need to know the key decisions makers and influencers on your issue, and you need to persuade enough of them, at certain times, to back you. As a rule of thumb, for a directive, there are around 250 key decision makers and influencers working on the issue. The list is not static.
Second, you need to have people who can persuade the key decision makers and influencers. If your lobbyists come across as public dribbling misogynists, or Patchouli oil scented earth worshippers, best keep them locked up for your internal meetings. If you let them out into the political world, they’ll harm your interests.
Process
You need to know the rule making or law making process you are dealing with.
You need to know how the process really works, and the points in the process when you can best intervene to advance your interests, in the right way, with the right people.
If you have advanced to dealing with the public maps of the process, you need to know the map is not the journey, and some pitfalls and barriers, or shortcuts, may not be on the public map.
Many rule and law making processes are distinct and the window of opportunity to make a real difference often starts early.
Solution(s)
You need to bring real and workable solutions to the public policy or political problem on the table.
It needs to be a real and workable solution.
You need real evidence and legislative language to make co-opting of your solutions easier to swallow.
If you don’t bring a solution to the table, your chances of success are low.
Research
At the start, you don’t know the answers to most of the questions. Most of the time people think they do. They are usually wrong. After all, if you knew the real reasons and drivers for the challenges you were dealing with, you would have solved it.
You need to do the research at the very beginning before doing anything else.
The focus on early stage research is perhaps the greatest thing that separates NGOs from for profit lobbying. NGOs are brought up the campaign advice of Chris Rose’s ‘How to Win Campaigns’. This early stage research focus is in my view the biggest determiner of success.
Skills
You need to have some core skills to succeed.
You are going to have some in house, and some, like a talented graphic designer, political campaign manager, legislative drafter, data analyzer, market researcher, or proof reader, can be brought in from outside.
Few will have all the necessary skills in house. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that an issue expert is going to mysteriously going to be able to fill any other role than an issue expert or academic.
System
You need a system in place to deliver this work. It does not happen by chance.
The system will include a system, broken down into steps, stages and actions in a clear checklist to ensure you get out an persuade rather than get focused in internal meetings and calls.
As a general rule, if you want to persuade decision makers and influencers, you need to communicate with them. To date, internal meetings have never harnessed the power of telepathy, and until that time, internal meetings really do not persuade decision makers or influencers. I look forward to being disproved on this point or the power of telepathy. Please contact me when it does.
A good example of a good system is offered by AdvocacyStrategy.com
Gaps in the equation
I’ve missed out a lot here. I could have included a C for communicate, preferably in a language people understand and publicly, or PS for avoiding Political Suicide, or S for simplicity, not simplistically, at the expense of the ever popular complexity.
Ideally, you would add the the two Venn diagrams together, but my design skills are too limited, and it would be too intimidating.