Karl Rove “Over the years, I’ve seen, more often, that people fail in a campaign because they don’t have a plan, than they do have a plan and don’t execute it. […] I love to run against people who don’t seemingly have a good idea of what they’re trying to do.” Masterclass.
The surest way to guarantee failure is not to have a written lobby plan. Most lobbying work does not have a written plan. At best, some PowerPoint slides, but nothing coming close a real plan.
I believe the plan has to be in writing. I do so for some unremarkable reasons.
I’ve discovered that the very action of writing reveals whether your proposed solutions will work or fail. That simple act of putting your ideas down on paper, explaining how you’ll get the proposal you want on the table, secure the right number of votes, and the evidence you’ll bring to the table to persuade the right people, at the right time, in the right way, is a near myserious force.
Unless you are a telepath, I’ve not yet worked out a better way of communicating a political game plan than in writing. I know I’m in a minority here. And, as I don’t think PowerPoint bullet points is a useful tool for explaining ideas, it is better to put it down in writing.
Along with the near army of telepaths, there are many with near perfect memory recall. They can tell you everything you need to know and what needs to be done as it sits in their perfect recall brains.
If you don’t have access to telepaths and those gifted with super memory , I can only recommend having a written lobby plan.
There are some good reasons against have a written lobby plan.
It is likely to show you that your political chances of success are ultra-low on a good day. This is good to know. Your organisation can choose to cut their losses and not spend scarce resource on a lost cause.
You may be concerned that your plan gets leaked. This is a risk. The only way around that is to make sure there is nothing newsworthy in your plans and impress on your partners not to leak. There is anti-leaking systems out there, that allows you to identify leaks.
After 27 years, I’m convinced that there is no better way to gauartntee failing than by not having a written lobby plan.
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