If you are starting out in lobbying, here are some skills, processes, approaches and insights I’d recommend thinking about. They are the things my 52-year-old self would pass back to my 25-year-old.
- Write clearly. Study and apply Barbra Minto’s The Pyramid Principle.
- Be politically realistic. You can’t perform political miracles. To win, you need votes, and you are not in control of how 705 MEPs or 27 governments vote.You
- Your ego is the enemy. Don’t take things too personally. You are not in control of how regulatory or political events go.
- If you want to persuade a decision-maker, you’ll need to bring real evidence to the table.
- When you bring evidence to the table bring real evidence. No cherry-picking, you’ll be called out.
- Bring solutions to the table. If you don’t bring solutions, you are just an observer to change.
- Repetition is key to learning. I’ve learned a lot on every piece of legislation I’ve worked on and every campaign. Iterative improvement happens every time.
- A master builder has phronesis. It takes time to develop a practical understanding and sound political judgement. Don’t think it will happen in 5 years.
- Try and work for the best people in your field. You’ll learn a lot. I got this advice at 25. By accident and design, I landed up working with some great legislators, officials, and campaigners. A lot of my craft is based on those 12 years.
- Don’t be politically optimistic. This is easy for me, I’m a pro-European UK Labour Party member. If you base all your assumptions on grim political realism, you’ll be closure to reality.
- Look at the data. Look at how previous votes and decisions have gone. The numbers don’t lie – only 2% of delegated acts are vetoed. Do you really think you are going to buck the trend?
- Ignore the politically marginalized. If your major ally is the likes of Roger Helmer MEP, you are not going to win.
- Don’t rely on your nationality and party affiliation. To win, you need to develop a cross-party – European approach.
- Most key decisions are taken out of the public gaze and are not reported on. Deal with it.
- To find out when and why key decisions are taken, develop a small network on the area you are working on. The easiest way to do that is to ask them for coffee or lunch.
- For every bit of knowlege you ask for, you need to provide 10 bits of useful information.
- Learn how to learn or re-learn. As a political consultant, you are going to learn. The best technique I came across is in The Overnight Student.
- Learn to read, digest, and summarise a lot of information. If you don’t like reading, you may be in the wrong job.
- Like people, especially officials and politicians. If you don’t, try a think tank or modern-day seminary.
- Be nice. The most successful lobbyists I know are percieved as being pleasant to people.
- Underpromise and overdeliver.
- Realise that most actions take 2-3 times longer than you expected.
- Avoid internal meetings. They eat up your time.
- Don’t set false expectations. Sometimes you just get what someone wants. The laws of political reality are not aligned.
- Don’t burn the midnight oil. Overwork will make your brain dull and ideas conventional. My best ideas come from taking my dog for a walk in the morning. Answers to difficult problems jump out. I dictate the answer into my iPhone.
- Use modern technology. When I started, news summaries were prepared by news par clippings.
- Embrace change because change is the only sure thing.
- Embrace what works. it does not matter where it comes from. Adapt it for your own purposes.
- Read a lot, understand what is useful, summarise it, and use it.
- Use mental frameworks and iteratively test them. These rules of thumb will give you solutions for many of the challenges you face. One I find valuable is Pat Dade’s Value Communication. I realise I look at people as Settlers, Prospectors and Pioneers. See below.
- Master the processes you are working with. If you don’t master the step-by-step process for how the Commission adopts a decision, how an agency comes to a decision, or how a piece of legislation gets through the Council and European Parliament, you can’t really guide a client. It takes time to learn how these procedures work in practice.
- Issue expertise comes with experience. I’ve met plenty of issue experts who are not effective lobbyists.
Is there anything you’d add?
Pat Dade’s “Value Communication” is a communication strategy designed to help organizations and individuals communicate their values in a way that resonates with their target audience. The approach is based on the idea that people make decisions based on their values, and that effective communication requires an understanding of these underlying values.
According to Dade, there are four key steps to effective value communication:
- Discover the values that are most important to your target audience – This involves conducting research to identify the underlying values that drive the behavior and decision-making of your target audience.
- Develop a clear and compelling narrative that connects with those values – Based on the research, develop a story or narrative that communicates your values in a way that resonates with your target audience.
- Deliver the message in a way that is authentic and engaging – This involves using a variety of communication channels and techniques to deliver the message in a way that is both authentic to your values and engaging to your target audience.
- Measure and evaluate the impact of your communication – This involves tracking the results of your communication efforts and making adjustments as needed to ensure that your message is resonating with your target audience.
Overall, Value Communication is a strategy designed to help organizations and individuals communicate their values in a way that is authentic, effective, and resonates with their target audience.
That’s excellent advice. Based on my own experience, I can subscribe to all of it. I would add 2 points:
1) even if you have science on your side, don’t think that’s going to win the issue for you. Always check political leanings of your target audience- that’s going to influence them more.
2) you can’t win alone. Build a network of likeminded people around your issue.
That’s excellent advice. Based on my own experience, I can subscribe to all of it. I would add 2 points:
1) even if you have science on your side, don’t think that’s going to win the issue for you. Always check political leanings of your target audience- that’s going to influence them more.
2) you can’t win alone. Build a network of likeminded people around your issue.