Effective political engagement and public affairs can be full of difficult and challenging decisions but if you remember these five Ps then you will not go far wrong. There are, of course, no shortcuts to good public advice but we can all use some pointers and guides to help our thinking. These 5 Ps also show that good engagement shouldn’t only be about profile-raising. That can play a hugely useful role but in these times of greater financial constraint that can be difficult to justify to senior management.
We all need to be thinking about the work being delivered and why it is of use, making it as effective as possible.
- Policies – keep the engagement focused on outcomes either for your organisation and / or government. Looking at policies should not just mean engaging on the issues that matter to government now but also setting the agenda to put new policies on the table as well. Governments, it should be remembered, are always on the lookout for new ideas and making the ones that they already have perform better.
- Personalities – these can be of the politicians or audiences you are engaging with but also those internally you have to deal with. The personalities can impact on the messages being delivered, how they are delivered and by who, and who does the engagement as well. In some cases it may even decide whether you talk to them at all!
- Projects – too often, organisations can become distracted by the politics or the general sense of engagement. However, for many, there needs to be a very clear focus on the projects being developed by government. These can be complex, cut across departments and take many years to come to fruition. All the things that can be difficult for Government to cope with but also difficult for public affairs teams to explain internally as well.
- Parliament – whatever public affairs is and / or may become, there remains a focus on the role and importance of Parliament. What is said and done there remains critical in terms of policy-development, scrutiny and, in particular, in the protection of reputations. That element of reputation management and protection is now at the heart of public affairs because of the interplay between Parliament, the media and social media.
- Process – one of the cornerstones of public affairs is simply in understanding the political and policy-making processes, the ‘what happens when’. Getting the ask of a politician right is not just about the politics but also about the process. Can the ask be delivered? Is it really do-able? If not then there is, for instance, a risk that you damage the relationship with that politician.
Campaigns are, of course, always a little more complex and need to consider the range of stakeholders, the messages to be delivered, the methods of communications to be employed and, critically, the solution be offered.
However, thinking about the 5 Ps will set you on the right path.