Category Archives: Influencing Legislators & Politicians
How to Avoid the Tripping Point During Your Advocate Hill and State House Visits: Part Two
Utilizing the Science of Influence – For Advocates and Professional Lobbyists
There are scores of tools in the influence toolbox, and the savvy agent knows how to use the right tool for a particular client and situation. That said, we’ve noticed that there are some tools that work particularly well for political advocacy across a range of situations. Among them are trust building, proximity, metaphor, and narrative.
Trust building is the essential ingredient in credibility, but it’s a skill that’s often overlooked while attempting to demonstrate expertise. The social sciences have identified several tactics that can establish trustworthiness rapidly. We focus on trust building skills with authority figures, such as doctors, scientists, senior organization leaders and business owners.
Proximity is a humble tool…
How to Avoid the Tripping Point and Maximize Your Advocate Hill and State House Visits: Part One
Grassroots advocate Hill visits are a necessary activity for groups who are serious about impacting the legislative process. Why don’t these opportunities create raging grassroots thunder advocates? Why don’t the visits result in converted legislators?
To make an impression with our advocates and legislators, we must go beyond the stultifyingly boring “dos and don’ts” of legislative communications and empower our advocates to influence, rather than present, the organization’s position and their personal story to their legislator. However, many groups stubbornly cling to the tired ways of advocate development without respect for the calling, managing expectations, and the science of influence.
Our observations and knowledge of the science of influence reveal how your group can avoid “the tripping point” and leverage your Hill…
How to Maximize Your Key Contact Training
Grassroots training should be an ongoing process, not one that is over when the trainer leaves. There are services a grassroots trainer should provide before, during and after your training so that you can maximize the benefits of the training. You should never accept “hit and run” or “off the shelf” training. However, that subject is another article!
You as a grassroots professional can enhance the long-term benefits of your training. Remember, the goal is not just increased knowledge, but improved performance via increased legislative, civic, and political activism.
Traditionally, with the “hit and run” training approach, trainees are not adequately prepared for the new knowledge and skills and thus, there is not much behavioral change. You’ll get the…
The Habits of Effective State Advocacy Groups
The results of the following research have been featured in many of my advocacy workshops, as well as various national and regional publications.
In our initial research review, we saw that the specific word “grassroots” was the second highest response as one of the habits of an effective advocacy group. However, upon further review of the responses, we noted that there were numerous responses such as: “active membership,” “lots of members”, and “regular people” that refer to grassroots.
Therefore, I am republishing the results. This change affects only the order of the number one and number two responses. The remaining effective habits are the same.
While those of us in the government relations profession often debate about the most powerful interest groups and…
Influence is Not An Art: Learn How to Tell a Better Grassroots Story
Innovate to Motivate® is the first conference of its kind to integrate the science of influence into our PAC and grassroots curriculum. We’re gratified that others are copying us, but we were the first, and are always raising the bar. We believe that influence is a science, not an art, and thus, anyone can learn the principles of influence and become more persuasive. (When it’s referred to it as an “art” that infers that you have to have some kind of special personality or charisma to be influential. That’s wrong.)
My colleague, Dr. Kelton Rhoades, is a perennial I2M favorite. Kelton is Director of Working Psychology and an adjunct Professor at USC’s Annenberg School for Communications. You can learn more about…
