Simplicity
I have just read Richard Koch’s ‘Simplify‘. He describes how companies who are prepared to simplify their product or service offering reap remarkable returns. IKEA, Ryanair, and the Boston Consulting Group all took the step and are doing very well.
Firms can either price simplify, usually cutting their prices by 50-90%. Or firms can proposition simplify, by creating a product or service that is useful, appealing and very easy to use. IKEA has done the first, Apple the second. Interestingly, you can’t do both.
Services Don’t Need to Be Complex – A KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) Model
Boston Consulting Group simplified strategic consulting for the C Suite. BCG supplied a simple, universal model that was applicable to any business or industry. It was so clear and made so much sense that industry leaders called them in to simplify their companies. NGOs like Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and WWF are now using them.
Can Lobbying Be Simplified?
Why does the service of influencing the EU or any government seem so complex, when it is not.
Lobbying, or the service of persuading politicians and civil servants, of your client’s or cause’s interest, is when it is chunked down simple.
A model could be created that chunks lobbying down to its key constituent parts, namely:
- Process
- People
- Values
Process – are you following the right maps?
I guesstimate there around 50 main procedures for the adoption and passage of legislation in Europe. I have written on several of them before.
If you work on certain specific regulated area, for example chemicals, there are additional procedures.
I see these procedures as maps. If you have the wrong map, the chance of getting to where you want to be goes down a lot. But, for some reason, people seem very reluctant to show the map on how to get to the end point.
Sometimes, people don’t even seem to realise that the map they are using is for the wrong journey. I have met people who want to use the same trusted map for ordinary legislation when the journey they are embarking on is for delegated legislation. At first glance, there may be similarities, but if you look a little more in detail, you’ll quickly see that the map needed is very different.
People Matter
It seems to be a surprise to some, but there are people behind the proposals, votes and adoption on any law. If you are not persuading the right people, at the right time, the chance of you winning goes down dramatically.
Fortunately, law making in the EU is very open. It is not hard to find out the names of the Commission officials dealing with a file, let alone the politicians. The officials names are easy enough to find out, and the politicians contacts details and their involvement in an issue on the public record. Tracking down the Member State officials dealing with the file in Brussels and at home is trickier, but it can be found.
I guesstimate that on any legislative file there are now more than 250 people in Europe who will decide. I used to think it was 500 but have revised it downwards with time. Finding out the names is not too hard, if you know your area.
The key thing is to know who the key decision makers and influencers are in reality. There are usually a few unknown key players who Presidents, Prime ministers, Commissioners, and politicians will turn to and ask them how to vote. The trick is knowing who they are.
In the Juncker Commission, a lot of key decisions land up in the hands of a few people. If you speak to them early enough you may well find things going in the right direction for you.
Values – Are you speaking their value language
I am forever amazed how often people will pitch an issue to a politician or civil servant that totally ignores the likely values of the person they are speaking to. I have witnessed total train wrecks of meetings were companies explained to a socialist politician they had to do something because otherwise a huge and very profitable multi-national may have their profits impacted. NGOs sometimes try the same technique and reason to the same politician that it matters not if all of europe would deindustrialize, and harm many trade union jobs, if a rare grass was perhaps saved.
If you have the right map and know the right people, and then throw the meeting and you case away by accidentally making the politician or civil servant angry and against your case, you have done your interests a great disservice.
It does not have to be that way. You can read Chris Rose’s “What Makes People Tick” if you want to learn to easily make your case resonate with your audience. Some people can of course do this naturally, but there are still a lot of train wrecks.
What you Don’t Need
You don’t need to know as much as your client on their issue. You need as much as the politician or civil servant needs to know and turn what your client wants to say into language that makes sense to decision maker. I remember getting a call from a Head of Cabinet to welcome me to a new position. He said he realised someone new was in place because he and the Commissioner could for the first time understand what the organisation was asking for. I had removed the scientific jargon and banished equations from the letter. They were left in the technical annex which was discussed by the Commission’s technical experts, but not the Commissioner or his Head of Cabinet. And, to this day, I have now idea what the equations mean.
Other useful things for the journey
Of course, your case has to make sense, and you need to deliver the actions. Many journeys in lobbying fail because people don’t take a step forward, or only start walking when the process has gone too far.
Having a guide, or shepherd, to show you the way can be useful. But, maybe the guide/shepherd may simplify the process so much that they produce an app to help you on the journey, or just be available by skype if you have any questions.
I guess I better go and draw some more maps .