In the quest for narrow expertise, many lobbyists have lost the ability to scramble out of their deep policy silo.
Too many are unable to connect the policy dots that will impact them (their issue/clients) that come from outside their world.
And, too often, they are simply unable to speak a language that anyone outside their closed cloisters can comprehend.
There are some areas of EU policy that when lobbyists start talking about their fetish policy, sounds like to me that they are using one of the rarer UNESCO languages in danger.
This infects industry, NGOs, governments, and academia.
When a policy development impacts that originate from outside their narrow area of interest, they are left floundering, unable to react, and lost.
It does not have to be like that.
What Can You Do
The most successful public policy entrepreneurs I’ve worked for and know, have some common characteristics:
- They communicate clearly and plainly – both in speaking and writing.
- They have a breadth and depth of expertise in many areas. It takes time to develop.
- They can connect the dots between different policy areas and understand the likely impacts.
- They place a strict limit on the number of issues they are managing. If you are working on too many issues you won’t have the bandwidth to connect the dots.
- They realise that the real decision-makers on any issue are not the narrow policy experts. They are often the only people in an organisation who can communicate with the people who decide.