Category Archives: Government Relations

Communications, Government Relations, Marketing

Warming Up The Audience Before Delivering Your Message

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Regardless of the setting, whether I’m leading a workshop, lobbying or speaking at an event, I always warm up my audience before delivering my message. When they’re warm, I’m hot.

A Story from the Field

The CEO of the large pharmaceutical company was anxious to meet with an Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM).  His company had considerable concerns around a regulatory process and he wanted to share their proposals towards addressing that challenge.  He knew that in the weeks prior to his meeting there had been quite a bit of bad press about the ADM’s program. What’s more, the bad press was the result of accusatory comments levelled directly at the ADM by another pharmaceutical company.  It was of little surprise to the CEO when he was only granted 30 minutes for the meeting, and even less of a surprise when 30 minutes was reduced to 15 minutes once he arrived.

Rather than launching into his proposal, he started the meeting by explaining that he understood the challenges the department faced.  He explained that he thought the press coverage unfair since it did nothing to contribute to an open dialogue between his industry and the department.  The ADM who had started the meeting with her hands folded across her chest and her lips tightly pursed, slowly began to relax.  When her assistant came into the meeting to get her after 15 minutes, the ADM shook her head and the meeting proceeded. By the time the CEO explained that his company funded a group of independent scientists who would be available for an exchange program with the department due to their specialized knowledge, 45 minutes had elapsed. The ADM was leaning forward attentively and asking how the scientists were chosen and how the exchange might work. The meeting ended after an hour and there were smiles all around.

As government relations exercises go, I have rarely been so impressed with a client for turning what could have been a disaster into a triumph. When we were told we had 15 minutes I wasn’t sure if he would stay or walk out, but he was made of sterner and smarter stuff.  It’s a lesson that has stayed with me.

Four tips for managing first meetings:

  • Do your homework. Understand what challenges and opportunities face your audience.
  • Assume nothing about your audience’s knowledge of you; make sure your position/attitude is clearly stated at the beginning of the meeting.
  • Read the body language of the person you are meeting with and respond to it.
  • Establish rapport before trying to deliver your pitch.

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Government Relations

Every Contact Counts

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Ever start to do one thing only to find that you have actually achieved something quite different? Well, the two young men in the following story set off to deliver some tickets to an important contact, what they accomplished was some very effective, albeit negative, branding.

Two young airline executives were on Parliament Hill for some meetings with members of parliament and thought they would take the opportunity to drop off a dinner ticket they were holding for the Chair of the Transport Committee.  When the young execs arrived at the Chair’s office unannounced, the assistant greeted them with a smile and asked if she could help.  They explained that they had a dinner ticket for the Chair and could she pass it along.  She looked a bit puzzled and then asked which dinner they were referring to. They explained which dinner they had in mind and were somewhat surprised when she shook her head in the negative.

“I’m sorry, there must be some mistake,” she said, “the Chair is attending that dinner, but he is not sitting at your table.”

The young executives, who had risen up the ranks of the airline based on their brilliant assessment skills, collectively shook their heads in the negative. “No, no, we know he is at our table.”  The assistant, looking a little less pleased said, “No, I just checked his schedule, he is not sitting at your table.”

Clearly, the assistant was new or uninformed they thought, “No, you’re mistaken we know for a fact that he is.” they insisted.

The conversation went on in this vein for quite some time with the executives getting increasing short-tempered with the assistant.  Finally, in a fit of temper, they stormed out of the office with their ticket.

As it happens, the assistant was right; the Chair was attending the dinner but not sitting at the table with the airline.  More importantly, they had left a very unfavourable impression with the assistant, which was unfortunate since she was not only the Chair’s Senior Policy Assistant and adviser, but she was married to the Executive Assistant to the Minister of Transport.  While she may not have ever consciously done anything negatively towards the airline, the story of the rudeness of their executives certainly made the rounds and couldn’t help but to contribute to an overall impression within government ranks that, that particular airline bred a lack of respect in its staff.  That lack of respect seemed to explain a lot about their customer service reputation.

A brand is not just a logo and it doesn’t just reside in your advertising, its reflected in every interaction you have with clients, customers and stakeholders. In fact, your brand is probably best displayed in your human to human interactions. The following tips may be helpful.

  • Assume nothing when walking into a situation, when confronted with conflicting information, do your homework.
  • No one likes surprises at work, avoid unplanned visits.
  • Treat everyone with respect and if a conflict develops, don’t escalate.
  • Every contact that you have with customers counts, so never take them for granted.

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Communications, Government Relations, public relations

Know When To Fold Them

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So it’s one thing to reflect on communications from the comfort of your office, but what happens when you do all of the right things and then because of the personality quirks of the person you’re meeting with, things get weird anyway?

A colleague of mine once took a client to meet with a member of parliament (MP) in the ante-room of the House of Commons.  The MP was on her cell phone when they arrived for their meeting and waved to them to join her.  As they approached she paused in her phone call to tell the client to start speaking. As soon as he did, she resumed her call.  The client quite naturally paused again and the member of parliament stopped her telephone call long enough to tell him to continue.  When he did, she did too. Eventually, my colleague signalled to the client to stop and they said goodbye to the MP  without delivering their message.

You might think that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that this is rude behaviour, but sometimes powerful people get so used to being catered to by their staff that they can lose sight of what is appropriate.  They are by no stretch the norm, but they are also not as rare as we might like.  In situations where your audience is being confrontational or just plain rude, it is best to cut your losses.

Quick Tips:

  • Try to refocus the meeting on the agenda topics.
  • Terminate unpleasant or unproductive meetings at the first feasible opportunity.
  • Do not take the opportunity to yell or make a scene, it may feel good momentarily, but it will most likely hurt you and in the long run gain you nothing.
  • If you are really annoyed about how you have been treated then share your story if possible. If you can’t, chalk it up to experience. We can learn from good meetings and bad ones.
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Communications, Government Relations

What was the message?

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Imagine planning a message for two months and then forgetting to deliver it.  Sound impossible?The following story really happened.

The real estate group had been planning their presentation to the Minister of Industry for about two months.  They had prepared slides and organized who would speak first and who would address the series of itemized issues.  The Minister was next to impossible to book and so this meeting was considered quite a coup within the organization. The presentation went like clockwork.  The Minister and his staff had sat with rapt attention through the slides. The assistant had made occasional notes and the Minister had asked questions.  It was, therefore, something of a shock to the group when the Minister at the close of the meeting turned to his assistant while the group was packing up and quietly said, “Why did they want to meet?”

It was no less surprising when the assistant shrugged her shoulders and said, “I don’t know; I assumed they wanted to address the pending legislation but they never mentioned it.”

Since the real estate group was under the impression that everything they said was related to the legislation, though they never actually made the link, they were somewhat dismayed.

Tips

  • Assume nothing before a meeting. Always clearly state why you are meeting and what you would like from the meeting.
  • Decide on a facilitator, someone who will lead the meeting and keep things on track.
  • Be clear on what you specifically would like the person you are meeting with to do next.
  • Make sure that you are always linking your information back to your objectives.
  • Avoid jargon, it is difficult to follow and may disengage or confuse listeners.
  • Ask if there are any questions before you conclude the meeting.
  • Follow up in writing restating your request and the highlights of your message.

Although the story relates to a failed government relations venture the same lessons can be learned by anyone trying to communicate. Essentially don’t get so preoccupied with how your message is going to be delivered that you don’t spend enough time ensuring that your audience actually gets the message. Imagine taking out a full page ad in a paper your audience doesn’t read or posting an important family message on Facebook and assuming all your relatives will read it.

 

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Communications, Government Relations

5 Lessons on Advocating with Social Media

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I initially wrote this post back in 2013, but a number of factors made me think it was worth another look.

  • The election of Donald Trump and his love of Twitter
  • The creation of “alternative facts”
  • Concerns about fake news and
  • Facebook’s algorithms

If you’re wondering about the last point, then consider that your newsfeed on Facebook is based on what you have liked in the past.  This means that all you will see are the opinions that agree with yours.  Facebook is working to adjust this, but its worth noting that as brilliant as we may be, alternate opinions are important to have a realistic and balanced view of the world.

Social media has changed the way we communicate and the way we advocate to the government. Messages placed online become living entities fuelled by others. The popularity of these communications tools provides every Canadian with an opportunity to not just express an opinion, but to be heard by thousands of others and possibly generate support for their perspectives.  This opportunity has not been lost on legislators and political candidates who quickly created their own profiles in an attempt to reach broader audiences.  The challenge, of course, is that like all communications tools, you have to use them with care. Social media does not mean accuracy or the use of facts. It also does not need you to keep a message moving once it starts to roll.

In 2008 when the federal government announced Bill-C-51, which had the stated objective of modernizing 50-year-old health legislation, no one really expected anyone beyond health professionals and other healthcare stakeholders to pay much attention.  Instead, what seemed like an army of angry Canadians rallied around concerns that the new legislation might limit the availability of certain herbal remedies.  Communications grew so vociferous and hostile so quickly that the movement became a testament to the effectiveness of social media.

Concerns about the Bill came close to hysteria in some instances. One website claimed that the new legislation would give the government the right to invade homes and remove materials without the need for evidence or a search warrant.  Another site warned Canadians that a police state would result from the implementation of the legislation.  The Health Minister, who was initially dismissive of what looked like a small group of misinformed people, found himself having to explain and defend the Bill in the press and on the Health Canada website.

So while all this people power sounds like great news for the average citizen, you might also want to ask who started the commentary on the Bill.  There are no assurances that blogs or the information posted on social networks will be accurate or honest.  There is also nothing to prevent people with a specific agenda from generating misinformation or confusion around a given subject.

Lessons Learned

  • Always take into consideration who is active on the websites you use as resources.
  • While blogs and social media sites represent a great communications opportunity, they also carry with them significant challenges and some pitfalls.  Know who is talking to you and to whom you are talking.
  • Consider the strengths and weaknesses of different social media sites and use the ones that best fit with your objectives, audience and your time. Once you engage, stay engaged.
  • If you use social media, do so with the understanding that it requires your full attention as a communicator.
  • Social media is not a billboard. People can not only react to it, they can take over your message. Sometimes that’s a good thing, so don’t try to control it, but do try to respond immediately when they take your message in the wrong direction.

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9 Ways Social Media Does Good

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Communications, Government Relations, Internal Communications

The Importance of Research in Business

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Risk is a part of most business equations, but making assumptions without first doing your research is just bad planning. Several years ago as a consultant, I worked with the Executive Director (ED) of an association on a government relations campaign. He had attended many government meetings over the years but I had gotten him an important meeting an Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM).

Since the association had wanted to meet with the ADM for some time, they had lots of information to share. The ED was eager to communicate as much information as possible. He glanced at his notes again and again but he hardly needed them. He knew his issues inside and out.  The trick would be to make sure that the message was being delivered with all the necessary information following a logical pattern.  The ADM was relatively new to the portfolio and was an unknown to the organization. The Executive Director wanted to make sure that he captured all the nuances of the message and left a good impression. I had suggested starting the meeting with a brief description of the association, followed by an overview of the profession, but the Executive Director was concerned about inadvertently insulting the ADM by addressing things that he could easily have learned prior to the meeting.

The Executive Director was about 45 minutes into the hour-long meeting when the ADM asked a question that revealed he had absolutely no knowledge of the profession, never mind an understanding of the association. It was at this point that the Executive Director decided that he would have to do three things,  1) abandon his presentation 2) start the discussion over again with a description of the profession and 3) not make eye contact with me for the rest of the meeting.

Fortunately, we subsequently built a strong rapport with the ADM, but the story stays with me because it so beautifully illustrates what happens when you make assumptions about your audience in business.

Tips on engaging your audience:

  • Assume nothing about what people know
  • Do your research, learn as much as you can about the person you are meeting with before you meet. Look them up on LinkedIn, search the internet for their bio.
  • Send a briefing note in advance of the meeting if your time is limited.
  • Bring material that you can leave behind in case your audience has questions after you leave.
  • Complex messages require multiple meetings or messages.
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Communications, Government Relations

Body Language – Managing You, So You Can Deliver Your Message

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Your body can give away secrets you’d never dream of sharing, so when going into a meeting or presentation, take the time to note your body language and the body language of those around you.  Even if you are presenting to a large gathering, you can get a sense of the room based on the level of buzz that happens before you present. Are people laughing and standing close together? Whispering in groups of two and three? Are they standing as individuals and making little contact? If the mood of the room is solemn, then you may want to rethink starting with a dirty joke. Noting your own body language ensures you are not delivering conflicting messages. You could be saying one thing, while your body is saying something else. I’d trust the message your body was delivering since it is more likely, to be honest.

Your body tells when you lie

I once had a meeting with a client who was trying to gain the support of another organization for a government relations campaign.  The gentleman from the other organization sat  with his arms folded across his chest and as my client spoke the other gentleman continuously shook his head in the negative as he verbally indicated that we could count on his support. I knew before he left the room that he would be an obstruction to my client’s objectives. I also knew that he was willing to be dishonest about it.  That said a lot about his character (I probably wasn’t the first professional contact he’d lied to) and it provided me with enough information to better equip my client. Our communications materials were altered to reflect this consideration and in subsequent meetings with government officials when my suspicions were proven true, we were prepared.

Your body tells when you’re bored

Body language also provides you with indicators about whether or not you should continue a meeting or end it. I have sat in meetings with clients where  officials have gone from attentive to glazed, to outright bored. They began looking at their watch, folding and unfolding their arms, fidgeting in their seats and in one case; they even began to read the material provided by the client while the client was talking. If the person you are meeting with has had enough, then you’ve said enough. Believe me, no matter how long you keep talking after they stop listening, they are not getting the message. If you are going into a meeting as a team try to determine signals for bringing the meeting to an end or moving it along in advance. Then listen when you get the signal.

Your body can interpret other people’s secrets

Mimicry can also help you to understand the body language of the person you are meeting with.  This is simply copying their body language in a non-offensive way.  If they sit forward, you sit forward, if they lean back with their legs crossed, assume a similar pose.  Not only does this help to build better rapport with the person you are meeting, but it also means that you are sending your brain quiet messages about how effective your communications are and whether you need to change tactics.  If at some point you find yourself leaning back with your arms and legs folded, then you know that a message is being blocked or something about the message isn’t sitting well. Just remember not to over do it or you’ll weird them out.

A few more physical tips:

  • When shaking hands match the strength of your grip to theirs.
  • Face your audience head-on.
  • Avoid crossing your arms.
  • Don’t slouch in your seat or appear too passive.
  • Avoid putting your hands in your pockets.
  • Do not fidget with your hair, pens, coins …
  • Use gestures sparingly, keep them natural and spontaneous.
  • Don’t point a finger or raise a fist.
  • Don’t bang on the desk or the arm of your chair.
  • Keep facial expressions natural and friendly, don’t frown or raise a brow at a comment or question.
  • Keep your presentation fresh by altering your vocal pitch, volume and rate of delivery.
  • Speak clearly, enunciate, emphasize or punch certain words.
  • Use simple language, avoid jargon and acronyms.
  • Keep humour gentle.

Maintaining good eye contact is also an important component in face to face meetings.  Eye contact is a tool that helps you appear sincere, demonstrates confidence, engages your audience and can help you confirm understanding or detect other signals. Don’t stare (that’s just creepy) but hold the connection for a few seconds or while you complete an idea.

Finally, be polite to everyone. Aside from being the kind of thing most civilized people learn in kindergarten, being impolite can have unanticipated consequences. How believable is your message that you are client centred or community focused, if you have just blown off the receptionist and blustered your way past the assistant?  Remember the story of the airline executives (Every Contact Counts) and the impact their behaviour had on their government relations efforts. Based on inappropriate treatment of a staff member, I’ve seen rude visitors greeted by a Minister with a coldness that could chill wine. The way you behave when it doesn’t count says more about you than what you do when you’re in the spotlight.

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Government Relations

Two Steps Forward…

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We_Can_Do_It!

With the American primaries heating up there has been a fair bit of coverage and discussion on women’s voting patterns and in particular, Hilary Clinton’s popularity with women voters. Initially I was surprised to learn that Bernie Sanders was gaining traction with young women.  Really, a seventy-four year old man could better represent women than a… wait a minute, sixty-eight year old woman.

The truth is, it’s a bit of a stretch that either of them really understand how young women think. It’s also a bit of a stretch to tell them how they should vote, period. If we older women really want to establish that women have the right to make their own choices, then we have to reconsider telling women, young or old how they should do anything, including vote. That we would tell them they should vote for someone based on nothing more than their gender is even more ridiculous.

I was a little embarrassed for feminists this week. When 78 year old Madeleine Albright and 81 year old Gloria Steinem weighed into the American political debate  they made me cringe.  They didn’t come across as particularly wise and they certainly didn’t seem to think that young women could think for themselves. I’ve always considered myself a feminists, but it seems my definition differs from these women in some significant ways.

For me, it meant that despite the fact that I was a young black woman, I could be a political assistant, not secretary, on Parliament Hill.  It was that same thinking that lead me to believe that I could be an equally effective lobbyist for national and international corporations a few years later. The fact that I was often the only woman in the room, not to mention the only black person, never phased me. I knew as much or more about how government worked and I could strategize with the best of them.  It never took long for them to stop wondering why I was in charge of their lobbying efforts. Amazing what happens when you are a strong, self-confident woman.

Being a feminists has always meant to me, that I had the right to pursue whatever dreams, positions or electoral preferences I had. It’s a pity if that that definition has changed and small wonder that young women today have a hard time associating themselves with the concept of feminism.

Soon enough the furor over the poorly stated comments of Albright and Steinem will die down and Americans will be back to considering their options based on the quality of the candidate rather than their sex. If nothing else, I and the rest of the world can only hope that when the time comes, whoever the democrats choose, they won’t be facing Donald Trump, because he is far more of a threat to women, minorities and religious freedom than either Bernie or Hilary.

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Government Relations

Loathing Fear

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English: Photograph of Parliament Hill, Ottawa...On Wednesday, October 22, 2014 a lone gunman gave Ottawa a taste of fear. In the days following the tragic events in Ottawa’s downtown, the media covered the story with slow, in-depth and repetitive detail. Every aspect discussed, every perspective pursued. Even now we continue to look and ponder. We learned the anatomy of the fear experienced by everyone. Those on Parliament Hill who heard shots and then knew nothing more of what transpired for hours. We learned of the fear experienced by those in lock down in the many government buildings surrounding the Parliamentary Precinct. We heard of the fear experienced by the sergeant-at-arms who confronted and killed a man for the first time in his long career of service. We heard about the fear of the pedestrians close to the war memorial where a young soldier lost his life. The fear of the passerby who stopped and comforted the dying soldier as he drew his last breath and of course, we learned of the fear and shock he must have felt on that fall day.

No doubt if we could gage the level of stress experienced by the city of Ottawa on that day it would have spiked through the charts, but more concerning for me is the level of fear that we retain as the events of that awful day fade away. “Should we tighten security on Parliament Hill?” one poll asked and of course in the rush of fear following the shootings, the public said, “Of course.”

Well as someone who has always been proud of the fact that we give our citizens open access to our parliament it makes me angry to think that one gunman’s loathsome actions could charge us so full of fear that we create barriers between the public and those who run the country. Do we need to tighten the way we implement current security? Certainly. Are there things that could have been done better? No doubt. But as an exercise in marketing fear, I’d like the gunman’s actions to ultimately fail. Democracy, personal rights, political and religious freedom are among the things we put at risk when we let fear campaigns dictate our actions.

Today, when this post goes up, a week after that gunman terrorized MPs and citizens alike, I will be on Parliament Hill along side hundreds of other people. Like them, I will be meeting with individual MPs, telling my story. Like those others, I have a good story to share, one focused on public health, one acting in the public interest. More importantly, I’ll be reminding MPs, and perhaps myself, that they are there for very good reason and that access to the public and the publics’ access to them should never be the price we pay for security. I expect security will take a little longer, but I am pleased to know that voices like mine will work to drown out a loathsome message of fear.

Photograph of Parliament Hill, Ottawa. Taken from Ottawa/Ontario end of Alexandra Bridge. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

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Government Relations, public relations

Etiquette – Things You Learned in Kindergarten

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Over the years, I have  helped many clients prepare for their first meeting with a legislator. I have seen presidents of national and multinational corporations, men with billion dollar budgets and thousands of employees break out in a sweat at the thought of presenting their organization’s perspective to a Minister.  I have also had clients whose complete lack of regard for the time and opportunity afforded to them by a meeting with a Minister come close to derailing their corporate objectives before they had even presented them.

In one particularly memorable case, my client who had been out at meetings with members of parliament (MPs) all morning called a minister’s office and asked the assistant to organize a lunch in time for their arrival since they were falling behind schedule. Given that the assistant in question worked for the Minister of Finance it’s fair to say that she had other things too attend to that morning, not the least of which were all of the other visitors waiting to meet the minister. She didn’t call a caterer, she called me.

When people told me government relations was exciting, I was skeptical. I had worked in politics for years and met plenty of lobbyists. While the issues were interesting and the policy solutions often ingenious, the hours were long and moving regulations or legislation is often tedious. Unless it was an election night, exciting is not how I would have described most political action. However, when my day was unexpectedly interrupted by a an outraged assistant previously known for her patience under fire, my heart rate might have picked up. There is definitely a certain amount of drama associated with trying to soothe an angry assistant, while madly pantomiming to your own assistant to call the florist and send a massive bouquet of flowers BEFORE your oblivious client gets there.

Although the client in question headed up a multi-national who could make the nation’s GDP drop when they had a strike, they were still people dealing with people. The cost of the flowers and my time while I sorted out their faux pas was negligible, but that little moment cost them a good deal of credibility. For a large corporation if you perform enough small blunders the cost to your reputation starts to take a tremendous financial toll. Whether you’re annoying a minister’s assistant or frustrating a customer, bad news spreads quickly. Social media means it spreads at the speed of a key stroke.The customer/stakeholder/follower is not always right, but they always deserve to be treated with respect.

Some Simple Tips To Keep In Mind

  • Consider how you might feel if positions were reversed.
  • Treat people the way you want your favorite human treated.
  • Respect the time of the people you are meeting with, including the time of their staff.
  • If you are going to be late, give them a heads up.
  • If you are going to be early, try to avoid their office unless you have no choice and then stay out of their way.
  • Most importantly, play nice.
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