Many organisations base their public affairs campaigns on thought leadership. This, it is hoped, will demonstrate to audiences that they know their area and intend to be constructive. This can achieve policy aims and help extend networks. But thought leadership can be self-indulgent and inward looking. An excuse to profile senior individuals not to promote the ideas and thoughts themselves. To develop and progress thought leadership you need to think internally and externally.
Thought leadership needs to be developed over time and can be expressed in a number of ways. Technology and social media mean that there are many ways that ideas can be devised and developed. Few organisations though take advantage of these.
There remains a reliance on ‘command and control’ – ideas devised in closed communications communities and then ‘sold’ to a pre-defined list of stakeholders. Instead, successful thought leadership considers the following points:
- What is your thought? As Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg mention in their book How Google Works, one of their communications colleagues, Ellen West, tells her team ‘To be thought leaders, you have to have a thought’. But actually it doesn’t need to be your thought. The idea can come from anyone across the organisation but it is the job of public affairs practitioners to see whether it will work with the intended audience. Public affairs also needs to help cultivate the internal culture that fosters such thinking and creativity. Without the flow of ideas, the thought leadership will not develop.
- The political environment – many organisations focus narrowly on what they do and what they think they are good at. This takes no account of their existing reputations and what the audiences who they are seeking to engage think of them. These should be the building blocks upon which the thought leadership is built. Understanding the political environment is also all about knowing the policy making process, party positions and likely appetite for change.
- Thought leadership is a continuous process – even the best planned and executed strategy might not work. The key is to keep going. New ideas should be coming forward if the environment is right. A pivot may be needed or a new iteration, thought leadership should not always be considered the final or definitive version during its first version. This means being open to feedback from stakeholders and developing the thoughts. Many organisations are too protective of their ideas and fail to listen.
- Live by the ideas – if you expect others to think seriously about what you are saying then how seriously do you take them? Matching up the walk and the talk is imperative otherwise you face instant accusations of hypocrisy. Sometimes this can come from too much of a focus on securing media coverage. This would make the campaign more about PR and name checks and less about policy outcomes. That may be no bad thing but needs to be agreed on at the outset.
- Make the ideas workable – unless the idea is simply to be seen as ‘an expert’ which brings with it its own challenges, not least the problem of potentially upsetting people or being seen as too political, then the ideas presented need to work in the real world not just the abstract. This is common across all public affairs so the requirement should come as no surprise. Counter intuitive ideas may get media coverage but are less likely to gain any policy or political traction.
Thought leadership is needed in public affairs. No audience has an exclusive right to ideas and need well-argued help and input from experts. Experts only become experts through experience and learning. This needs to be communicated to the stakeholders so that you can be trusted to make an effective input.
It should though be noted that the age of expert dominance is coming to an end. A less deferential approach and the greater availability of tools that allow people to be heard means that thought leadership will need to change. How does your organisation harness the expertise of all its people? How does it listen to its customers? A widened pool of expertise will come to dominate thought leadership.
What stage is your thought leadership at?