IMPROVING PUBLIC POLICY ADVOCACY REPUTATION

Public Policy Advocacy is both misrepresented and misunderstood. Practitioners are represented as the mythical, powerful vested interests that dictate rather than influence and inform policy. This misrepresentation perpetuates a public misunderstanding that we need as an industry reverse.

In Public Policy Advocacy we’ve spent far too long doing our industry’s PR badly. Too few people understand what we do and how we can provide value. So we really need to practice what we preach better. We urgently need to explain to the public what it is we do and clear up some of the widely held misconceptions.

All of us need to work towards a common goal of improving the professionalism, training and reputation of Public Policy Advocacy so we can lead the industry into a new era of opportunity and success. We need visionary leadership to clearly articulate the place of Public Policy Advocacy in the political landscape. We need leadership to showcase why Public Policy Advocates are best placed to leverage narrative, engagement, influence and information strategies. We need to better demonstrate how our expertise informs and influences the political process, leading to better politics and better legislation.

We need to show how our practice supports an effective and efficient policy process throughout its different phases by acting as agenda setters, by facilitating the formulation and deliberation on issues, by monitoring policy implementation. We must demonstrate the positive effects this has on the output and involvement of a broader public and how it enhances the legitimacy of government and its institutions. We need to show that the link we form to the citizens through the provision of information and transparency on the decision-making process and through the possibilities of participation and interest representation can strengthen the principle of self determination.

We need to improve our self-trust by following through with what we say we will do. When we hold ourselves accountable to our promises, we are more likely to do the same with others. That exchange of accountability allows us to build trust with others and with ourselves. Our professional reputation will improve because we are more responsible and people know that we stick to our word.

The reputation of our industry should be based on what it does well or badly. There are vey few people who are good at it, and not enough people who talk about the real skills. What matters is how individually and collectively we manage the bad days, the bad news and the bad people who by their own actions taint our reputation.

We should develop the confidence to celebrate the value of what we do. We should also drop our desire to be loved and aim instead to be respected. That is much more important. The debate about being a ‘profession’ or an ‘industry’ is utter navel-gazing- we should be professional and be valued. What we call ourselves is worth nothing on the bottom line. It is irrelevant to clients or senior colleagues. Our professional skills are what they value. Our ethical standards are what they value.

The best thing the Public Policy Advocacy profession can do to improve and protect is reputation is to mount a traditional PR campaign and come up with a joint strategy. Public Policy Advocates are strategic communicators and improving reputation should be part of our individual and collective strategy based on:

• Greater accountability and transparency
• Better information and education
• More of a say for citizens
• Dealing with issues that are of concern
• Greater use of experts
• More positive media coverage