Note: This applies if you work in a company, NGO or trade association.
You may have inherited a new role and are put in charge of lobbying on your company’s files. Congratulations.
Something that seems to occur with too frequent regularity is that an important decision or law is going to be made (figuratively) tomorrow. You find out that your employer has been silent on the issue even though the decision is important to them.
Just because your predecessor was asleep at the wheel or stuck in an internal meeting, you may be concerned that you will be carrying the can when the decision/law goes public.
What can you do?
First, you need to skip through the stages of grief.
Stages of Grief
- denial.
- anger.
- bargaining.
- depression.
- acceptance.
If you get stuck in a fetal position of denial, there is little good that can come from it. You need to move beyond acceptance and work out what you can do.
Most people never get past anger. It does not help their interests.
Second, some people resort to prayer. They call on real and imaginary political allies to intercede on their behalf and make political miracles happen. As a man of faith, I’ve witnessed these political miracles, which are rare.
Third, in all rule-making systems, the most effective tool is identifying procedural glitches. Violations of internal rules and guidelines, succinctly and fairly brought to the attention of the gatekeepers, can temporarily provide respite. Even if the relief lasts only a few years, the matter is likely to come back.
Fourth, you may simply have to accelerate 12+ months into 2 months. This is tough and resource-intensive, but if there is a will, there may be a way.
- Have a story – that resonates with the decision-makers.
- Have a solution that stands a chance of landing with the decision-makers.
- Have real evidence to support your solution.
- Know the process and the legislative journey you are about to embark on.
- Get out the door and meet the decision-makers
- Have someone who can make your case to the decision-makers
- Have the resources to do all this work.
- Be trusted by the decision-makers
Fifth, if you don’t have 1-8 – and I think you need all 8 – you may need to be honest to yourself, colleagues and leadership and admit you can’t get what you want.
There are variations of this. You may ask outside an outsider to give their advice. If the lawyer or lobbyist you call in guarantees success be cautious. Brussels is a city full of so-called experts who guarantee ‘sure thing success’. When I’m called in late in the day, and if I am wildly optimistic (which I rarely am), chances of success in the 20% range seem more realistic. This caution helps me deal with my Catholic guilt.
Finally, after going through this, you are unlikely to want to do it again. So, I recommend preparing a lessons-learned report. It will examine why your organisation stepped in too late. This is a painful but necessary process. If you bring someone externally to do this, it can be less painful.
I find lessons-learned reports valuable—win or lose. In one, we realized that success occurred because internal meetings stopped, which allowed us to lobby the people who needed to be met.