With a General Election only weeks away, many of us are now helping clients to plan for the future, mapping out scenarios and looking at the ways in which their policies may develop. However, that is though part of the day job – what we should all be doing. What about what we are not doing yet? How should we deal with the challenges that are only just emerging, or those which we have yet to fully get to grips with?
- Social media – it is constantly changing and developing but very often it sits within a corporate affairs or centralised communications function, blocked off to public affairs professionals. This has to change. As politicians engage more through social media and get used to the way that their methods of engagement and communication are changing, then so must public affairs practitioners. There is some use of social media, but mainly in terms of campaigns and wider engagement. It is, so far, less to do with political and policy engagement.
- Long, not short – it remains the case that most of the engagement public affairs professionals need to undertake requires short, pithy engagement and the need to get the ‘sales pitch’ right. However, in some circumstances, long form content is the way forward. Some audiences (especially in the EU) have always wanted more, not less, detail. Long form content continues to rise in importance so public affairs professionals should ignore this at its peril.
- Devolution – those who really live and breathe Westminster and Whitehall need to wake up to the devolution challenge. It is not just about Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but cities and city regions across the country. The plans to give Manchester more money and powers, especially in health, provide an indication of what could come. If there is a genuine push towards regional power by the next Government then there will be a shift in power and, critically, a change in the way that public affairs needs to operate.
- People power – the public believe that they have more power in their hands. Many believe that the internet has broken traditional political and power relationships forever, allowing citizens to step in. Not that that is entirely obvious from the way that political parties, Whitehall or Parliament work. If politicians are to start to rebuilding public trust in themselves and the institutions of Government then they need to open themselves up. Labour has already planned for changes to be made to the way that Parliament operates. Public affairs needs to be ready for more people power.
- Getting the basics right –understanding the political processes at work, engaging with the right people at the right time and, critically, offering solutions remain at the heart of public affairs, and continues to be an ongoing challenge. As long as Parliamentarians continue to complain about the engagement they are on the end of, or are critical of mass mail-outs, then it shows that public affairs has more to do.
I am sure there are others so if anyone has any ideas I’d love to hear from you. Thank you for reading the first hundred, I plan to keep going….!