All about influence….
Jamie Wilkinson
European and global health, pharmaceuticals, & biotechnology policy strategy. Ensuring clients can demonstrate the effectiveness of their advocacy activities to leadership, investors, sponsors, members, and stakeholders.
In this month’s Newsletter, I cover a couple of influence-related topics (doing justice to the name I guess ??), as well as a short piece on the difference between public affairs and public relations.
Please like, share, and comment to join the discussion!
Baker’s Four Strategies of Influence
In previous posts I spoke about the need for both evidence-based and emotionally-driven argumentation when attempting to influence #EU #policy.
A nice way of bringing these two concepts together, and developing them a little further, can be seen in Baker’s Four Strategies of Influence, as seen below.
Baker breaks this down as follows:
1.????? Investigation (Push & Logical): Use powerful facts, figures, charts, and graphs in a methodical and structured approach.
2.????? Calculation (Pull & Logical): Preference to promote positive aspects of the proposal, highlighting weaknesses in current position, using clear logic to advance cause.
3.????? Motivation (Push & Emotional): "Big picture thinkerâ€, able to link a cause with a compelling future vision. Good with words, and creates a simple yet convincing "dream†that brings people along.
4.????? Collaboration (Pull & Emotional): Great team builders who engage hearts and minds, using emotion and involving people in the decision.
So, what does this mean for #publicaffairs practitioners?
My takeaway on this is that we should embrace the use of not only facts, figures, and emotive arguments, but that we should also categorise these into 'push' and 'pull' strategies.
That way, we enrich the tapestry of influence in our public affairs practice and can appeal directly to the different personalities and perspectives of our target audiences. ?? We’re all human after all, and respond differently based on our personalities and beliefs.
Source: Adapted from Baker, 2015.
How to do an influence mapping
In a previous post I outlined a three-step technique for stakeholder mapping which included plotting the so called ‘power-interest matrix’ to help prioritise engagement. However, as mentioned in last month’s Newsletter, and today’s #AdvocacyWednesday, there are several other similar techniques that can help understand who our stakeholders are, and how they may position themselves on a topic of interest. One of these is the ‘influence-resistance matrix’, shown below.
So why should we consider using it? Below I offer my four thoughts on this…
? Firstly, this technique is particularly useful when experiencing resistance to change ???, as it classifies levels of stakeholder support - which in turn allows us to identify and develop the right tactics to minimise or resolve said resistance.
? Secondly, this technique is also helpful to build or strengthen a coalition around an issue. In practice: we would want to see a shift from ‘Game Changers’ ?? to ‘Champions’ ?? as a result of our external engagement, but if this doesn’t initially work, we can actually mobilise the ‘Champions’ to encourage the ‘Game Changers’ to shift left on the horizontal axis.
? Thirdly, as we periodically update this matrix, we may also see a change in influence of different stakeholders, and therefore, we would need to keep an eye on the ‘Cheerleaders’ ??, who, when experiencing an increase of influence, become ‘Champions’.
? Finally, the group in the ‘Sceptics’ ?? box would be the lowest priority, but we should aim to better understand those in the middle box of ‘Undecided or don’t care’ ??, as they could become important players in swaying ‘Game Changers’ and ‘Sceptics’ to the left of the horizontal axis.?
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Source: Adapted from Giangregorio 2017.
While we’re here, what’s the difference between public affairs and public relations?
In a recent Advocacy Wednesday post, I outlined some key differences between #PublicAffairs ?? and #PublicRelations ??
They are often used interchangeably, so is there a difference? And if there is, what is it? Read on to find out!
Let’s start with public relations, also commonly referred to as ‘PR’.
? The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR, Europe’s largest professional body in the field of PR) defines PR as:
“…the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.â€
And what about public affairs then? (Also often shortened to ‘PA’)
? The European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA) defines public affairs as:
“Public affairs is a clearly identified communication specialism practiced by increasing numbers of professionals across Europe. It is frequently associated with lobbying, which is an important sub-function of public affairs. But modern public affairs is centred on the wider management of relationships, organising campaigns and the building of discursive communities across a range of stakeholder networks in order to influence any issue that may have legislative or regulatory policy implications.â€
So what’s your take on the difference between public relations and public affairs? ?? ??
Is one discipline more or less:
- Reactive or proactive?
- Public or policymaker centred?
- Short-term or long-term focused?
- Established or emerging as a discipline?
Comment below to join the discussion!
Sources:
Gregory A, 2015, Planning and Managing Public Relations Campaigns, 4th Ed, p.5