Recapping September

September, as you've probably seen, has marked somewhat of a re-commitment to sharing what we've learned at Government Affairs Strategies while working with local, state, and national and international organizations in their advocacy efforts.

Here is a quick run down of what we've published this month -

• How Quickly You Can Change Your PAC Culture - one of the most integral pieces of your advocacy program is your Political Action Committee and how your organization treats that committee.
• Protecting the Trust People Give Your Organization - without the support and trust of the community, your work will always be suspect.
• Managing Your Contact Database - In this era of inter-connectivity, mass communication, and social media, contact interaction has changed, and there are many tools to assist you in managing yours.
• The Future Of Advocacy - the changing landscape of advocacy is such that if you do not evolve into new directions, you are just swallowed up by the noise of it all.

In September, we also introduced a new series we are publishing - "5 Quick Ideas", aimed at assisting associations in the development of their government affairs programs.  Hoping for this to be a twice-weekly update, this series is intended to give you a quick 5 ideas that can build upon your program, and hopefully direct you in different resources and thoughts on accomplishing those goals -

• Building Your Government Affairs Program
• Courting Lasting and Influential Leadership
• Defining Your Issues

 As we move into October, if you have any ideas of what you'd like to see in these updates, please share them with us -

Chip Ahlswede - chip@gastrategies.com
Meredith Weisel - meredith@gastrategies.com

Have a great start to your month, and don't forget to follow us -

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5 Quick Ideas - The Issues That Define You

Knowing what you stand for is a key element of being successful.  It also defines what others will be committing to when they want to support your efforts.  Because of this, defining your issues is critical.

This is a guide to help you maintain and define what issues will be important to your effort.

SET BOUNDARIES - You would be surprised how quickly you can get sucked into an issue you have nothing to do with.  It is why we defined this as key in getting started.  Define who you are.  Define what matters to you.  Define how you get involved in issues.

ESTABLISH PROCEDURES - There are going to be issues that aren't your core issue that you still need to address.  Know how to get there, ways to engage issues, groups you can partner with.  And then define procedures for issues that are core to you, and those that are not your core.

CLARIFY YOUR POSITION - Knowing what you stand for is one thing, being able to get others to understand is another.  Spend the extra time figuring out how others can understand what you are communicating to them.  The clearer your comment is, the better the response will be.

PLAN FOR WHAT YOU DIDN'T EXPECT - Identifying the issues that matter are one thing.  Its the issues you didn't think of that will get you.  How are you going to address those?  How are you going to advocate for these issues?  How are you going to get approval to move forward?

UNDERSTANDING PRIORITIES - What's important to you is not necessarily important to the body deciding the issue.  Seeing what their issues are and where your ideas might intersect will help define what you can accomplish in the near and long term.  You want to have success, and it may not come first in your biggest issue.  That may be a good thing.

Issues done right with the right leadership will be the success of your program long term.

5 Quick Ideas - The RIGHT Team is More Important Than a Full Team

 I recently had a conversation about how volunteerism is down everywhere, its true.  But the RIGHT people, saying the RIGHT things, and engaging the RIGHT volunteers leads to more success than having a full boat.

As you get started in building your government affairs team - and as you build its success, your team will be crucial to its success.  So who do you look for?

1. PICK LEADERS NOT SEEKERS - There are those that seek to be seen as leaders, and those that are leaders.  You want the later.  People can sense the wanna-bes and they dont want to be a part of that team.
2. DIVERSIFY - Yes, its going to cause some fighting on perspectives, however if you followed the advice of Building A Program That Lasts - they will know how to check their ego and politics at the door.
3. ENCOURAGE - Improv has a principle that you never say no, you build off of "yes and".  It is how a scene can innovate, evolve, and create something new.  It's also how a team builds trust.  You want a diverse team of leaders to work together.
4. CONNECT INTERESTS - Your team is going to have different interests and skillsets.  Work with those, don't try to make a square peg fit in a round hole.  Jim Collins, author of Good to Great demonstrates this with his concept of getting the right people on the right bus and in the right seats on the bus.
5. ASSIGN & ACKNOWLEDGE - There is nothing worse to a leader than being asked to be a part of something without any direction or expectations.  The second worst thing is to not acknowledge, thank, and promote the contributions they gave.

Make sure everyone on the team is bought into this program, and if you do have a team like this, you are going to get the respect your organization needs.

How You're Going To Lose Your Future Advocacy Efforts

Advocacy has fundamentally changed.  We've all seen it.  What worked even 2 years ago, isn't necessarily effective anymore.

• Letter campaigns are now screened for harmful substances and are not timely.
• "Call Your Congressman" campaigns result in ticks for an up or down vote only.
• Email campaigns are almost ignored if they look like they are mass-produced.
• Congress members and staffers are less trusting of advocacy groups.
• Fly-ins are costly, difficult to manage, and only a few people are there.

However this is how just about every organization addresses their advocacy.  You need to keep doing this and add to the discussion. Your effort is an important addition to the noise, but its not enough.

Some have some creative alternative ideas -

• Meeting their elected officials "in their districts" meaning at their local offices.
• Working with local staff to get the message delivered back to capitol staff.
• Attending local events in support of the elected official.

These are all examples of a great next step.  The problem is most organizations stop there.  And it STILL isn't enough.

The problem honestly is, they are only hearing from YOU.  Your issue, your problem, your message.  The more organizations fill the space talking about only themselves and their own issues, the less impacting your advocacy efforts are going to be.

Being effective in the future will mean bringing in groups that aren't your members, your peers, your industry, your influence group.  Being effective will mean bringing in other groups to speak on your behalf:

• Coalitions
• Affiliated groups
• Leaders outside your core group

Truth be told, in a few years that too will not be enough, because everyone else will be doing that.

If you are going to stay the same, you are going to lose as you get swallowed up by the noise.  You need to change, evolve, and be two steps ahead of the pack.

Money will only be able to go so far in politics.  Efforts can only be so effective.  If you want to truly succeed long term, you need to be planning now for what your effort will look like in several years.

5 Quick Ideas - Building A Government Affairs Program That Lasts

Getting a government affairs program off the ground is a challenge.  Undoubtedly the people you have involved are invested - which is mostly great.  The part where it isn't great is where support could challenge your program's success.

The following ideas should help you figure out how to properly start -

1. CHECK THE EGOS AT THE DOOR - The biggest threat to the program is the personalities of those involved.  The goal is to benefit the organization, not the individuals.  As such, everyone involved needs to buy into that fact, and commit / reaffirm it every time you work together.
2. ALSO, CHECK YOUR POLITICS - It's GREAT that your volunteer know the State Senator from the area.  What isn't great is that your volunteer pushes that Senator's political agenda.  This applies to political parties, other organizations, or philosophical viewpoints as well.  The politics of your organization center on your issues, and your issues are what impacts your organization.
3. ESTABLISH BOUNDARIES - You can find a reason why any issue impacts your core beliefs.  However getting launched into fights that aren't yours will divide your supporters and lead to the demise of your effort.
4. START WITH AGREEMENT - President Reagan and Speaker O'Neill often found agreement despite having diametrically different political views by simply starting where they agreed, and worked to the details where they differed.  It wasn't perfect, but it was an approach that moved towards more success than failure.
5. SYNTHESIZE YOUR MESSAGE - The reason you are going through this effort is to represent an interest.  The only way to spread the message is to make it easier to understand.  Whenever you leave your meetings, agree on a simple statement of what was accomplished, and promote it to everyone you want to support your effort.

There are many keys to success, but these 5 will make create the information that you can build upon.