The jobs summit is only part of the story

As debate continues to rage around the up-coming federal government jobs summit, there’s one key point that everyone is missing. 

If you have been diligently watching ABC TV’s Insiders like any other political junkie of late, you may have realised something all the commentators are missing. 

While commentators complain about it being a talkfest, herding cats and focusing their attention on the summit itself, good advocates and campaigners realise that a summit (or any big event) is only 10 per cent of the story. 

The hard work, impact and actual change is done by spending 45 per cent of your effort leading up, and the subsequent 45 per cent during the follow-up afterwards.

The focus on the event itself is frustrating; this should actually be the smallest focus of any organisation keen to champion change, advocate or make an impact, whether it is the jobs summit or any other major event or political activity. What matters most is what you do beforehand and afterwards.

A couple of astute journalists have picked up on this in recent commentary reflection that the union movement is “winning” the PR battle in the lead up to the jobs summit. This narrative, ambitions, focus, their frame of references, is what we are hearing every day in the lead up to the summit. This is how you should campaign. Coordinating release of key opinion pieces, research and work of think tanks, in conjunction with a highly targeted and effective media and social media strategy has shown that the ACTU has outplayed the business lobby in the lead up to the summit.  

This is what a good campaigner or advocate does. They focus 45 per cent of their effort to the lead up to the event. What stakeholders can they bring on board? Which supporters or collaborators can back their view? What lines, case studies and discussion points can we provide to journalists in the lead up to ensure our stories are front and centre? 

On top of all the diligent work above, I can hazard a guess that they have been busy briefing people they have been building relationships with for years about their views in the lead up to the summit, making sure the political and public landscape is presented in a way which favours their preferred outcome. 

The question is, when you have a key event or meeting, is this the type of things you are doing in the lead up to it? You do not need to be in the room to make an impact, and change the course of history if you are willing to roll up your sleeves and do the work.

As well as prepositioning, before a key event making sure you are across the background is also key – have you got bios of everyone in the room, what key questions will be asked, how do you respond to difficult issues, what messages, framing and narrative supports your position, and what doesn’t. Have your wargame potential positions, compromises and other activities? All of this “prep” work is key to making sure you land the outcome you are after.

Trying to get a room full of people to agree is hard – so often the best you can hope for for large events, activities and engagement is some general consensus or commentary, or positions which are amicable to all stakeholders. This isn’t the end game though – what you do after is.

After your event, or the summit, is finished, the next round of hard work begins.  You remember everything you did before the event (or summit) – now it is time to do that all again. But this time making sure you extend your stakeholder matrix to include all five key government stakeholders, as well as checking in with all your collaborators and influencers around the process.

Remember the summit is just the beginning of any legislative, or regulatory change – map out the potential pathways of the “ideas” or “issues” raised.  How will they be implemented? What reforms will be undertaken? Who is leading the change? And influencing it? Who is going to object to your views, and how do you help them get onside? What will you compromise, and what will you fight for.  All the while the continued drum beat of public discussion, media and social media continues. 

How can you extend the event, and remind people of your views and concerns and perspective? All of these questions need to be a key focus for the period after the event (or summit).

Someone (I do not know and thus can’t credit the quote to) once said that “you may be more talented, smarter, intelligent or better than I will ever be, but I will never let anyone – absolutely no-one – out prepare me”. 

This I think sums up who will succeed or fail at the jobs summit, or any big event. Preparation is the key, and preparation also continues until you win. The summit is just the midpoint of a book, and the chapters before and after are written by those who do the bloody boring, tiring, detailed, meticulous work before, during AND after.

About the author: Neil Pharaoh has spent most of his voluntary and professional life in and around social purpose organisations, government, public policy and advocacy. Neil has been behind many leading social policy and advocacy campaigns on gender rights, equality, medical research and education, and ran for Parliament in Victoria in 2014 and 2018. Neil is co-founder and director of Tanck, which focuses on better engagement with government, and regularly runs workshops and advocacy sessions and advises leading social purpose organisations on their government engagement strategy and systems.

Happenings on the Hill is a fortnightly column focusing on all things politics, policy, campaigns and advocacy. Focusing on both Federal and State & Territory politics, stay tuned for updates around political trends and elections, lobbying and advocacy news, and hints, tips and ideas on government engagement that are specifically written for the social purpose/for purpose sector.