The Purity of Political Failure and How to Avoid It

Take the world as it is.  it is likely decision makers won’t see things the same way as you. it does mean they are bad people. it just means they don’t necessarily agree with you for the same reasons / beliefs that you do.  an easy work around is to look at the issue from their perspective and see if you adapt your case so that it resonates with them.

Simplicity conquers complexity. if your case does not make sense to your audience you are wasting their and your time. some people genuinely believe that water boarding officials or politicians with their post doc will persuade them. It does not. It just confuses them. I’ve been fortunate to see some of the world’s leading technical and scientific experts in their field engage with policy makers and politicians. They made it simple. They were brilliant minds who realised that their brilliant ideas only counted if they were clear for the audience

Understand /master the process. if you don’t understand the process for the law, policy, or decision, you are working on, you are lost, but worse you don’t even realise it.for reasons never clear to me, many lobbyists ignore understanding the process on how rules are made. I’ve learned to develop a poker face when i learn about irrelevant factors being raised at one part of the process, better left to another time if at all

Turn up on time. Whilst the timetable for many initiatives public and announced a lot of people fail to get on board on time. If you ignore those signals, and the policy/legislative train leaves before you wake up, or you fail to let your colleagues know what’s happening, it is going to be hard to jump on board and have any influence.

Don’t ignore reality. I’ve got used to be accused of lying when noting a proposal had just been launched that was not in sync with the what someone wanted. I’ve never opted to retract the news. It would have made things easier. But, I’ve learned that in a few days or weeks the news would be public, and I’ve always had a problem with lying. I think it is a latent Irish Catholic guilt thing. If you want to just pass on good news, you may be in the wrong job.

Bring to the table what’s needed. You need to bring the right information, evidence, and solutions to the table, at the right time to the right people. If you don’t prepare and have the right evidence to support you public policy asks and have them converted into suitable briefings and legislative asks, you’ll be left scrambling.  Linked to this, is don’t bring irrelevant information to table for that step in the process. This is strangely  common. It has the impression that someone has a service/product to sell to their client (both industry or NGO), and even if it is not useful or irrelevant, enough people bought into the pointless/counterproductive exercise.  My best/charitable guess it is done to make someone feel happy (other than the person who is selling the pointless service/product), and they have not been told it is pointless/counterproductive. But, if you have not understood/mastered the process you are working on, the chances you know what needs to be done is slim.

Adapt. The political and public policy world is never static. Elections happen, Governments change, officials change, and ministers move on. The policy discourse and political mood changes. You’ll need to be comfortable taking your case and adapting it for new decision makers and political and policy moods. If you can’t, you’ll be stranded in the political wilderness for a few years.

Don’t take it personally. Many lobbyists and their clients – industry and NGOs – are only happy if officials or politicians back them for the same reasons/beliefs that they do. If you are in this camp, I’d recommend joining a cult. Just be glad that someone is backing you for whatever their reasons. And, if someone does not back you, don’t take it personally. For a number of reasons that all likely make perfect sense to that person, they just won’t back you.

Have a preference for action. If you want to know where a file is or how someone sees the issue, pick up the phone and call them. Don’t think that you can only advance if you have a perfect plan and a perfect positions – they don’t exist – but instead leave the internal meeting and go and engage with the people making and influencing the decision.

Don’t lie. This includes little white lies, embellishments, and straight up porky pies. It is sadly common. I recently read a story in the press that claimed an EU action would cause a catastrophe. There was something about the story that did not add up. I checked with a friend who was an expert in the area and they clarified that the line being covered by the press was not true. There are too many interests – industry and NGOs – who are simply ignored by officials and politicians because once someone lied on their behalf. The doors were shut for many years. If you lie, you will be caught out, and you will be ignored by the people who count for many years.