Why are you not getting the law/regulation you want

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Coming up to 29 years in sunny Brussels, I notice that there are some frequent reasons people* don’t get the law or regulation they want.
Top of the list is turning up late in the process.
If you wake up late in the day, what can you do?
Common responses are:
  • Praying to the fairy people.
  • Imagining a ‘conspiracy’ is out to get you.
  • Do nothing.
The first part of my general recommendation of ‘stepping in at the right time and place, with the right people, with clear evidence and solution ‘ is redundant. It is hard work to develop clear evidence and solutions.
Note that the right time tends to come upon you far faster than most think.
Late Saves
I have seen the following late saves:
  • Damascus-like conversion. Decision makers wake up, very late in the day, that you are not what they thought you were.
  • Divine intercession: Someone takes pity on you and park the issue. This requires you to speak with them or have your case brought to their attention.
  • Procedural error: An obscure procedural step or part of the rule book was not followed. Sound governance requires the matter to be parked, rather than stopping everything, and restarting
These three may be seen as a sleight of hand. If you step in late in the day, it is unlikely that you have the credible evidence and solution that you need to win.
Going to law is an option. Ask your lawyer for the chances of success, based on recent case law, and ask them if they’ll do the case on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis. If they agree, you have a winnable case.
For the first 3, you’ll need to be:
  • Clear as to why you don’t meet the criteria for inclusion in the law/regulation
  • Honest, why you woke up late in a ditch and stepped in late in the day.
  • Perform Triage. Save what you can save at this late stage.
Why does this happen
People wake up late in the day and miss the chance to influence decisions.
This tends to be because:
  1. You don’t have any priorities, follow everything, and have no slack in the system for when something new comes up. If you are exhausted, you are more likely to fall asleep at the wheel.
  2. You do not have systems for tracking and monitoring legislative, policy and regulatory developments.
  3. You don’t want to pass any bad news to your colleagues. You like to tell them “everything is fine”
  4. You spend all your time in internal meetings.
There are more basic reasons why you are ignored:
  1. You have no idea what you are doing.
  2. You don’t have any evidence or solutions to bring to the table, so sit out the consultations.
  3. You bring your case to the table, but it is so unclear that people working on the file have no idea what you are on about. You are ignored.
  4. You simply are not trusted. If you are not trusted by the key people working on a file, your chances of getting what you want are low.
  5. Your policy salesperson, your lobbyist, has a dire record of success, or takes instruction from their horoscope.
How to Not Fall Asleep at the Wheel
If you don’t like being asleep at the wheel, you can:
  1. Focus on a few key priorities.
  2. Have good systems in place to track files and inform your colleagues.
  3. Have people in place who have a track record of delivering success.
  4. Spend a lot more of your time engaging with decision-makers to find out what makes them tick and what is in the pipeline.
  5. Understand, and maybe master, the process of the files you spend most of your time.
* can refer to organisations, companies, NGOs, or individuals.