Any good public affairs campaign should change over time to make the most of political and policy opportunities. That makes public affairs only as good as the opportunities that can be identified and then exploited. Here are some tips.
This means being able to explain why you act on some information and not others. So always keep good records. Mistakes will be made from time to time but can only be avoided if an examination of the reasoning can take place. Gut instinct and a simple ‘no’ on an email won’t cut it.
The sheer quantity of information out there also means that some can be missed. But similarly, unless there is a good record of how you go about identifying information then lessons cannot be learned.
Some of the sources you need include:
- Information from government – press releases and other documents from departments; forward plans if you can get them etc.
- Information from Parliament – check the Weekly Business so you know what to expect; Select Committee inquiries; APPG meeting timetable etc.
- The power of networking – contacts may have information that you do not so a bigger and better connected network can lead to improved public affairs. That network might not just be yours. An initial lead could come from colleagues in other parts of the organisation as well but they need to know to ‘report’ it to you for potential actions.
- Social media – as government gets better at using social media, the level of information and interaction increases. Add to this the ability to gather information from external organisations and potentially about future events, news work-streams etc.
Think about this potential, fictional opportunity:
The responses from these questions need to be considered as part of your potential future engagement. For instance, if the previous strategy recommended enhanced transparency on taxation but your organisation failed to deliver that then you might choose to not respond this time or, at the very least, you need to be able to explain why you failed to deliver. Similarly, if your new response is likely to be a detailed critique of Government failures then consider how you express these and where a balance needs to be struck with new ideas.
I am always happy to chat through approaches and challenges with people as well. Sometimes the best opportunities, or the identification of pitfalls, come about through discussion.