What do you do when the people making the decisions agree with you but for different reasons?
One of the tricky points that comes up in lobbying and campaigning is that decision makers want the same outcome as you, but for very different reasons.
I’ve never had a problem with this. If someone backs the outcome but for different reasons than me, I don’t mind. Lobbying is about getting the desired outcome. Everything else in between does not really matter.
As a lobbyist, you are not in the business of religious conversion. You are in the business of getting the right policy and political outcomes and winning votes. You are not in the business of getting people to back an issue for the same reasons and reasoning that you or your clients believe in.
For me, I am just happy if the decision or votes go the right way. I have never cared why people back a position, and just wanted them to back the outcome.
It may mean you join strange political coalitions. Unlikely political bedfellows who you co-operate with just the once. A political one night stand, with no expectation of a lasting relationship. If it gets you what you want, does it matter, and you will enjoy the prize of victory.
How this impacts your lobbying and campaigning
This changes how you lobby and campaign.
It means if the key decision makers back the case for x, y, z reason, and need some help to promote that, you give that support..
That your reasons are a, b, and c does not matter. It is not that hard to subdue your case.
It means if you can get the change you want, you put your resources behind the case that is likely to get you there. That it is not your own does not matter.
If you keep banging your drum on your agenda you risk alienating anyone who matters and not getting the outcome you want.
If you can’t compromise, and want to be a purist, you are going to find you fail a lot.
A focus on the end game?
The outcome – the end game – is all that matters. And, if you can get to the promised land of the right policy or political choice, it does not matter how you get there.
Many lobbyists and campaigners only want support from true believers. They’ll say ” You are with me (for my reasons) or you are against me”. It lands up that close allies, often with greater political weight than you, walk away.
If you into political conversion therapy, it is best that you don’t lobby and campaign, and go to a political retreat or think tank.