In lobbying, I often hear people use the phrase, “We just need to educate them.” Somehow if you educate officials and politicians they’ll agree with you
The phrase sends a chill down my spine.
First, the phase conjures up the ideas of education that went out of fashion after the Khmer Rouge. See above.
I suspect many officials and politicians think the same.
Second, it is highly likely that the person you are dealing with understands the issue but disagrees with your policy prognosis. That’s normal. A spell of reeducation is not going to help.
Third, they may well be as well or better qualified than you. Their postdoc at Stanford on the issue at hand puts them in a good place not to deserve a spell of reeducation.
Fourth, education takes time, and you need more time when meeting people late in the policy-making process.
Fifth, most experts are dreadful teachers for non-experts. So, if you send in an expert to “educate” someone you think deserves “reeducation”, your expert is going to leave them, at best, more confused than they were before they met you.
Finally, instead of (re) education, you should focus on persuasion. The manual on persuasion has been written and is easy enough to follow. Lobbying is the business of persuasion, not re-education.