Organisations too often start designing their campaign by considering what they want. They consider it to be an issue that is important to them, their members, or those they seek to represent. All they simply need to do, therefore, is convey this to the right people and a solution will not be too far away.
This may ensure internal buy-in to a campaign but it is no guarantee of success. In the perfect world of some, that may be a way of politics working but it fails to consider the pressures that individual politicians, at all levels, local or national, can find themselves under.
In order to ensure a campaign resonates as much as possible with a political audience some practical considerations need to be taken into account.
- Colleagues – just as in any workplace, what colleagues think about an issue, how they behave and the views they have all exert an influence. Parliament is no different. Whilst seniority no longer carries the absolute weight it once did, an element of deference remains. Internal politics, again as in any other organisation can be critical in whether you have a career or not. For the political parties, with absolute power in the hands of one or a few people, that makes the need to be a team player, be in the company of a group of like-minded people and make allies all of critical importance.So a campaign needs to consider these pressures and sometimes think about the collective position, not just a series of disparate individuals with one-to-one meetings.
- Electorate / constituency – this may seem incredibly obvious, but the focus tends to be on the General Election every five years, not on a continuous basis. Post bags / inboxes / Twitter timelines still show whether an issue resonates and if the office of a MP needs to raise it their boss.The constituency element of a campaign will always be critical and MPs can take offence if you have not bothered to personalise your approach by reflecting a constituency angle. In essence, there is a near continuous series of elections and this could increase still further depending on the outcome of the drive to devolution.
- Parliament – as an entity it too has demands, whether that be on when people need to attend, involvement in Committees, when and where to table amendments and so on. The list can be exhaustive but it is more exhaustive for some than for others.Again, some reform of Parliament is likely to take place after the next General Election and this will take people’s time.
- Party bosses – those senior to the MPs may expect them to vote of certain issues, play an active role or keep out of things. That is not to say that they have complete control, there is room for some independence, but that can vary over time and between issues.Add to this the campaigning requirements placed on them, for instance a mass trip to Scotland to campaign against independence, and then there are more demands on time and attention.
What all these pressures really mean is that organisations need to look at their issues through the other end of the telescope. Instead of thinking narrowly and internally, consider how the issues will play with the political audiences. What is it you really want to achieve and how can this be delivered in a complex environment? Are the pressures on your stakeholders being fully considered in your campaigning? That can change the dynamic of the discussion from what suits you, to what is achievable.
I am one of those that believe the only way in which political parties can re-establish some credibility with the electorate is for MPs to look more to their local areas and communities and less at the centre and party discipline. That will make the life of those involved in public affairs campaigns potentially much more difficult but could make the average citizen look more favourably on politics and politicians again.
The plea is for all pressures to be considered.