Organisations often spend far too much time congratulating themselves when they have some success in engaging with government especially if they have seen off a policy threat. They should instead appreciate that the same issue is likely to come back onto the political agenda in the future.
A successful outcome to a public affairs and lobbying campaign should not be viewed as the last word on an issue. Politicians often return to the same idea repeatedly. The policy may not always come back in exactly the same format or with the same proposals but the broad approach and aims will often return time and again.
Politicians increasingly try to look at a wider range of policy initiators to broaden their range of thinking. Without widening the gene pool there is a risk that new thinking does not come in and instead the parties return to tried and tested approaches. However, the problem of periodic recycling remains.
This happens often because the core problem or the issue that politicians are looking to address refuses to go away. They may have promised to maintain a watch on the issue, they may be under pressure from groups or campaigns to deal with it or it may continue to be featured in the media. For whatever reason, the problem continues to be a problem and action comes back onto the agenda.
So what can be done against this backdrop?
- Keep the campaign going – not at the same level of intensity or with the same level of resources but the strategy paper should not be consigned to the bottom drawer. Instead, plan for a period of low level activity, maybe even just a watching brief, and making sure that your public affairs actions do not attract attention and raise it up the political agenda.
- Refresh the campaign – even during a quiet period consider how the campaign should develop in the case of renewed interest. It won’t be possible to just run the same arguments and ideas over. Politicians may become immune and frankly it will be difficult to motivate supporters if they have heard it all before. Sometimes the new government position addresses any previous weaknesses as well, so they learn by their mistakes or at least try to.
- Maintain the internal focus – if there is a problem that government has identified then ensure that internally the focus is maintained on doing something about it. When the political focus returns you can then show that action has been taken which may draw the sting of the new attack. If, however, an initial victory was taken for granted and no further action was taken, you may be vulnerable.
- Maintain your records – there is no guaranteeing how long it may take the issue to come back. It could be six months or it could be several years. If the time period is longer then it is critical that excellent records have been maintained about the campaign – who was engaged with, what their issues were, how they were followed up, what letters and other papers were prepared etc. Individuals and teams may move on so there has to be systems put in place so that the organisation can retain its collective memory.
The most critical element is to not fall into the trap of thinking that issues are ever truly solved. Complacency can set in and when the issue returns you will be ill-prepared to deal with it. This, in turn, makes your lobbying and public affairs that much more difficult.