I’ve recently been doing a fair amount of policy work, with two charity contracts running concurrently focused on this. One has now come to a close after 5 months, and here’s what I’ve learnt:
1. What even is policy?
It’s not the easiest work to explain to people. As soon as I’ve said the word policy, most people think organisational policies and procedures. They think I’m writing the charity’s recruitment policy, their latest risk assessment or fire evacuation procedure. But it’s very different. Policy, in this context, is about outlining your intent, or set of proposals, to achieve a particular goal. It’s fundamentally about securing change. Sometimes this is in particular spheres, for instance with public policy being targeted at state institutions such as government, but it always involves a goal, known audiences and how you’re going to lever that change. Policy instruments, the tools of how you go about it, range from tax (like the zero tax for low emission vehicles to change behaviour) and information (like the food labelling to influence choices) to voluntary regulation (such as professional code of conducts) and media campaigns to raise awareness.
2. It’s a lot about research
If you’re an organisation setting out to make a change in the world, there’s no point doing it in isolation. That means isolation in all forms. You need to understand the issue in depth – it’s history, its causes, why it’s important to change and why it hasn’t changed so far. You need to understand the landscape, whether there are allies to this cause, who may be resistant to the change and why, which organisations or individuals are already involved in this issue and where everyone sits on the spheres of influence – who holds control as a decision-maker on the solution to this issue and who holds influence on those decision-makers.
From there you need to build out tactics around what approach you’re going to take, which audiences you focus on, what messaging they need and how you’re going to do it. Policy change can take place over long periods, so it’s often about breaking it down into manageable actions through an agreed plan.
3. It’s also about relationships
Policy work only gains traction when you build and sustain relationships. You need to be an authoritative voice on your issue, one that uses lived experience to build evidence and a emotive story behind why change is needed. Whoever your audience, whether a government department or the general public, your role is about creating urgency behind the issue. Real life examples include World Basic Income. An incredibly ambitious proposal that is gaining interest but not yet lasting commitments, in part because of the sheer complexities in its application. Pregnant Then Screwed, however, recently celebrated the government’s announcement for extending subsidised childcare to support working parents as the achievement of one of their long-term goals. They also achieved a success in lobbying to allow partners into labour rooms during the pandemic, in reaction to the experiences of pregnant couples.
4. Pilots are a way to test
Pilots are a way of proving concept. The charity I’ve been working with has been lucky enough to have the reputation, track record and financial leverage to design and trial pilots in order to test their thoughts behind securing change. Two of the pieces of work I’ve been doing with them are designing pilots in order to prove concept, building evidence which they can use to lever change in government approach.
5. It gets political
We’re now less than two years from the next general election, with lots of opinions about how this one is going to go. It’s a time when parties begin looking at their election strategies, including their manifesto – essentially outlining what they stand for and what their priorities for change are. It’s a crucial time for anyone in policy to exert influence, to utilise this window of opportunity to make the case for why their issue should make it on the priority list for political parties. For charities such as the one I worked for, it’s also a balancing act between ploughing on developing new work while ensuring it doesn’t become associated with the incumbent party, to give them flexibility for a potential new party to take these forward. If you’re targeting change by government, your work will inevitably involve politics in some form.
6. Policy is a long game
It’s harder to see the impact of your work. There has been research, foundation events, plans and pilot designs but not the finished projects I’ve experienced through other contracts such as evaluation reports, resources written, events completed. In the time I’ve had, you can only begin to build the infrastructure needed, and start the important conversations.
7. Speed is critical
This particular contract was for a set number of days, which I used over the course of a few months due to my limited availability. In effect, it came down to about a month of full-time working. When I look at the work I’ve covered in that time, it feels good. It hasn’t always been easy, particularly working within this organisation’s specialism where I haven’t worked before. The learning curve was steep, to get up-to-speed on those questions of key players, the landscape, what’s already going on and where this organisation could make an impact in an area of quieter space. It’s also had to be a really quick learning curve due to the limited time I had.
8. It takes deep thinking
Some of my work recently has come quickly and naturally, for instance writing a volunteering toolkit just needed me to structure all my ideas and I can fill the pages easily. It also means you feel like you’re delivering good value for money while producing assets, and at a decent speed. However, advocacy work, developing policy positions and designing pilots needs time, where you balance options, consider impact and debate priorities. It’s harder at times to feel that that thinking work has equal value, but I also recognise a very old-fashioned mentality in myself that unless I’m actively writing/creating it doesn’t feel like I’m working and it’s a personal development point to work on.
Summary
It’s been a new policy area for me to work in, with a new organisation, and an organisation that’s a much bigger operation than I’ve worked with before. There have been a lot of learning curves, and at times I’ve had to be reminded that being in uncomfortable spaces is a great way to push yourself and grow. My imposter syndrome has reared its ugly head at regular intervals in this contract and one thing I’m keen to do is capture the feedback I’ve had in my “book of joy” to remind myself that, objectively, my work was valuable, whatever my brain goblins sometimes would like me to believe. It has also been challenging balancing this work against all the other work I’ve had on, and I’m now breathing a sigh of relief looking at my calendar for the next few months and realising I may finally manage to get my hair cut, book that Christmas-voucher massage and treat myself to a café brunch with a book.
Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash