Members and Senators are extremely influential, but they are also extremely busy. Just because you have secured a meeting, it does not mean you have their support. There is also no guarantee that they fully understand the issue you care so passionately about. You must now make your case, in a meeting that will likely last no more than 30 minutes. These 30 minutes can make or break your cause.
A serious mistake can damage your brand and close doors that are extremely difficult to open again.
London Agency’s public affairs team has pooled together its years of government relations experience from ministry, backbench and crossbench offices to give you a guide to the most common mistakes, and how to avoid them.
Members and Senators receive hundreds of meeting requests a month, and hear about scores of issues a week, all of which they are told are vital. Decision makers simply do not have the time to invent solutions for all these problems. If you don’t come to them a solution, your issue will go nowhere, and the decision maker will often feel like their time has been wasted.
Every word a member or Senator says in parliament is written down in Hansard, and what they say outside of parliament often ends up on the news or social media. They are clear about what they care about, and why they care about it. They are also clear about what makes them angry, and what they hate talking about. Decision makers expect you to know this.
Not doing your homework makes you look sloppy and increases the chance of a major faux pas. If you can’t be bothered to get the pronunciation of the electorate they serve correctly, are they going to support your issue?
While they are all elected to parliament, many representatives can be broken into two camps, parliamentarians and politicians.
Parliamentarians are driven by the idea they should do the greatest good in their time as an elected official.
Politicians live and breathe the political game and are driven by finding ways to advance their political cause to the detriment of their key opposition. No matter what, politicians are in Parliament because they play the political game and play it well. No matter how much politicians personally sympathise with your proposal, if it could be unpopular with their constituents, ideologically toxic, or distract from their personal brand, it will be shot down.
Effective advocates don’t just know the policy, they understand the political reality it must survive in and the ramifications of any decision. If you ignore this, prepare to be dismissed as a naïve amateur.
Politicians have a lot of differences, but one what they all have in common is strong personalities. Tone and tempo are everything. Some meetings are brisk and businesslike, others more conversational. Reading the room is an art, and a vital skillset. Misjudging the mood, being too casual or too serious, or cracking the wrong joke can undo weeks of preparation.
In politics, substance matters, but so does style. A well-prepared, well-judged meeting signals professionalism and builds trust, while a careless can set your cause back months or even years.
London Agency’s Policy Pathway Workshop is designed to help you make sure you get it right the first time. In just one session, we help you sharpen your ask, stress test your proposal, understand the politics and the personalities, design a clear action plan, and make sure you are prepared to say the right things to the right people, and more importantly, avoid saying the wrong things to the wrong people.
When a singular faux pas can set your cause back years, it pays to invest in getting it right the first time.
Download our instructional pamphlet and get in touch to discuss how our sessions can help you leverage our experience to maximise your chance of advocacy success.
