I enjoyed “The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right” by Atul Gawande.
It puts forward a simple idea to avoid mistakes. Use a checklist to work through the action steps you need to take. It is used by pilots. Gawande wants doctors to use it to reduce accidents in surgery.
I think political campaigners and lobbyists would benefit a lot from using checklists.
My checklist for getting a piece of EU legislation on the books would look something like this:
- Is your issue/amendment Legal – will the legal service of the Commission, EP or Council squash it?
- Will the Commission table the proposal?
- Can you get it tabled by a DG or Commissioner?
- Can you issue past the Regulatory Scrutiny Board?
- Is your issue in line with the Commission’s Political Guidelines and Better Regulation Toolbox?
- Can you it through Inter-Service Consultation?
- Can you get a Rapporteur, shadow Rapporteur or key MEP to back your issue at the Committee stage?
- Can you get a simple majority of MEPs at Committee stage to back your issue/amendment?
- Can you get a simple majority of MEPs are plenary to back your issue/amendment?
- Can you get enough Member States to support your issue/amendment – no blocking minority?
- If the Commission does not support the issue/amendment, will they let it go forward?
- Do you have a clear and compelling case to support your position?
- Do you have independent experts validating your position?
- Do you have the information / studies available at the right time?
- Do you have a list of the 250 people in Europe and their contacts who will decide your issue?
- Do you know how they stand on your issue?
- Do you have access to these people in most (although not necessarily) all Member States
- Do you champions and poster childs who will be the face of your campaign?
- Do you have a budget for your campaign? Is the budget enough?
- Do you have a campaign plan to get you from where you are to where you want to be
- Do you have material to roll out in your campaign?
- Do you material that will persuade only your natural political allies or do you have a material to bring about a winning coalition?
- Do you have people who can persuade key decision makers or do they just antagonise the key decision makers?
- Can you make your issue interesting enough that key people will back it even if there is no direct gain for them?
- Does the timetable align? Can you get the Commission to table your proposal in the Annual Work Programme (October) or outside?
- Do you have a good working relationship with the right media and think tanks so your issue can be taken up?
- Do you already have a two pager in your filing cabinet and an elvator pitch to hand over if you get called up at the last moment?
The fewer things you can say yes today on this list , the less chance you have of getting what you want.