Showing the Value of Government Relations

We all know that advocacy and government relations play a crucial role in supporting our clients' or organization's objectives. For clients and organizations in heavily-regulated sectors (for instance: postsecondary education, cannabis, pharmaceuticals, etc.), government policy can have a major impact on your operations - up to and including how you generate revenue & how much you can charge.

And yet, GR is typically viewed as a cost centre. It's a fair assessment - after all, it can be difficult to show how the efforts of the GR team add value, remove obstacles and preserve corporate reputation to policymakers. So then - what can we do as government relations practitioners to quantify our impact and demonstrate a return for our clients?

One of the easier metrics to track and report is access - number of meetings, calls returned, letters sent, etc. - though it is not a particularly valuable one. Access is a (rough) proxy for the effort your team is delivering - more meetings does represent more direct face time, and shows that you're doing something with your time and budget - but does nothing to address whether those meetings lead to anything. Access doesn't measure impact, and can very quickly become a vanity metric - a chance to namedrop in a report, but little more.

Another possible metric is legislative outcomes. If your government relations unit advocates in favour of a particular policy outcome - which then occurs - does this show value-add? Well, yes and no. Success in advocating for a particular outcome would seem to be a clear sign of impact; but in reality, there's far too many factors outside of your control that influence policy decisions.

A recent McKinsey survey found approximately 20 per cent of US-based government relations practitioners reported frequent success at influencing government policy and regulatory decisions. In the Canadian context - with much tighter rules and oversight, and a tradition of party discipline that leaves true decision-making power in the hands of a very small number of officials - government relations practitioners would have even less room to affect direct policy outcomes.

So how then can your government relations practice show the value-add demanded?

1) Own your scope of practice

Recognize that most of the other departments in your organization have very little idea what it is that you and your team do all day. As such - particularly in heavily-siloed organizations - they may be tempted to bypass you and engage with government directly. To counter this, you need to make clear that 1) the GR unit is the bridge between your organization and government, and 2) that your unit is more than just a matchmaker for meetings.

Demonstrate this by finding opportunities to show value in a proactive manner. If your unit is the one identifying problems before they become full-fledged issues - through internal white papers, issue scans, strategy proposals, etc. - you will be better able to position the GR unit as a contributor to organizational success. When you're able to demonstrate a consistent value-add, it becomes much harder for your detractors to argue against you come budget time.

2) Develop meaningful KPI's

Most GR practitioners do not come from a science, mathematics or business background. As such, there's less of an inherent tendency towards quant-based measurement of outcomes. Some may fear having to run the numbers by hand, while others may shy away from measurement as a whole. The challenge for our sector is that our clients and organizations have bottom-line KPIs that are used to measure the output of their business units. For government relations work to be respected those stakeholders, we need to be able to show that our performance and outcomes are tied to corporate goals.

As mentioned above, direct measurement based on outcomes becomes challenging for any GR team due to the number of factors outside your direct control. However, KPI's are not limited to pure outcome-focused measurement. In developing your government relations strategy, positioning your KPI's to measure process towards a particular outcome can be an effective tool to show value.

Say, for instance, one of the target outcomes for your organizational strategy is an increase in recognition, visibility and influence with policy-makers. How would one go about meeting these aims? Perhaps by participating in the committee process as a witness or through a written submission. Maybe your department drafts a white paper on a given topic that is distributed to legislators - followed-up on with direct engagement with them and their staff. Perhaps you work with your local representative to arrange a town hall or round-table meeting on a given topic.

Each of these outputs can be measured and tracked fairly easily, and each demonstrates a process-driven action that your team is taking in the service of institutional/client objectives. In each scenario, a target goal can be set (on whatever reporting cycle your organization uses), and your team can report on progress towards these aims. Developing impactful, process-based KPI's allow you to show quantifiable progress towards your organization's goals, while limiting measurement to things that are actually within your control.

3) Remember that Honesty = Credibility

Let's be honest - once you have metrics to pursue, it can be easy and tempting to change your behaviour to 'hit the number,' instead of the objective it represents. When you commit to a metrics-based form of measurement and reporting, you force yourself to be honest in your assessment. Credibility is especially important in the long haul, both internally with your staff and board leadership, and externally with your members, customers, and colleagues. Celebrate your achievements, while recognizing if and where you may have fallen short. Instead of adjusting your targets or fiddling with the numbers, find opportunities to try creative new ideas and tactics.

Of course, measurement becomes much simpler when you have an effective way of tracking your engagement activities. By using a GR-focused CRM like PoliTraQ, you and your team will be able to make real, data-driven decisions, monitor progress on KPI's and demonstrate the value of your advocacy efforts. To learn more or to arrange a demo, please visit PoliTraQ or email Chris@PoliTraQ.com.