Your policy report will not create change without these four essential actions

Many organisations invest huge time and effort into producing a report for Government on an area of policy that is in desperate need of reform.

By the time you come to publishing the report, hours of staff time have been poured in to research, interviewing stakeholders and developing policy proposals that will make a real difference on the ground.

The moment you publish the report – perhaps with a Parliamentary launch – it can feel like your job is done… finally! You have spoken truth to power. You have highlighted the problems, offered the solutions and they are sitting there ready for someone to pick them up and implement them.

But publishing a report is actually just the start, not the end, of the process of creating change.

Working as a political adviser in Parliament I was sent literally hundreds of policy reports by organisations - but the pace of political life meant I rarely had time to read them.

I would file them in an Outlook folder called ‘To Read’. Or they would pile up on my desk, cause a growing sense of guilt for not having read them, and periodically I would cut my losses and put them all in the recycling bin.

I only made the time to read a policy report if it was sent to me at the right time, when I was working on that very issue, or when the organisation worked really hard to get my attention on it.

To ensure your policy report creates the change you want it to, these four actions are essential:

1.     Face to face meetings

Work out who needs to understand the contents of your report – who has power to act or influence decision-makers? Request to meet them and summarise the key points of the report for them. Engage with their questions, offer them actions to take. Build a relationship and make sure they know how to contact you in future.

2.     Study the Parliamentary calendar

Find out what is going on in the coming weeks and months in Parliament – relevant debates, opportunities for questions and moments for interventions. Understand the timing of when your issue will be at the forefront of the minds of politicians and their staff, and use it to your advantage.

3.     Remember the Lords

It can be too easy to focus on MPs when it comes to lobbying. Often Lords have more time and interest to explore policy proposals in depth, and can be key influencers. Think about how you can reach out to the peers, and learn from them too.

4.     Create a strategy

Change rarely happens overnight and your lobbying will take a sustained effort, involving many conversations, briefings and partnerships. Develop a strategy which will take you through the journey to your end goal and have as many different informed voices feed into it as possible. Know what it is your asking the people you meet to do and why.

For help with maximising the impact of your policy report, book a free consultation here.

For more tips and blogs like this, sign up to my newsletter and get them as soon as they’re published.