“Be bold. Be brief. Be gone.” It’s a phrase I first heard as a young lieutenant. Like many graduates of liberal arts colleges, I’d mastered the art of adding more than enough fluff to any presentation to fill my allotted time. But what my classroom instruction failed to convey was the lack of patience the real world has with filibusters.
Especially in a Marine infantry battalion, violence of action is prized. Efficiently communicating issues and resolutions is key for young staffers. The officers who droned on, skirting the issues they faced, failed to make the necessary connection that their commander needed. Those commanders wanted an issue boiled down to its core, not debated and explored in the meeting room.
Now, that’s not the case in all organizations. But in advocacy, I’d argue the same principle still rings true. Delivering a clear ask concisely is an invaluable skill set. And frankly, most aren’t very good at it.
I was speaking with a legislator yesterday who brought the concept into stark relief. I’d asked him to share some observations with aspiring advocates and one of his key tips was pretty straightforward: simplify your ask, and fit it onto one page.
In my own staff experience I can assure you most advocacy groups still don’t have this down. In an effort to “maximize” their time in front of an official, they minimize their impact in three key ways:
1 – they try to cover too many issues at once
2 – they provide reports instead of stories
3 – they don’t make a clear connection to the legislator and his/her priorities/district
But here’s the real mistake: they haven’t invested the time in educating officials, earning their trust, and becoming valued sources of information before making an ask.
You’ve heard this from me before, and eventually you’ll be sick of it. But it bears repeating as often as I can – until you develop that influential relationship, you won’t have the authority to be bold, the trust to be brief, or the impact for your stories to keep resonating when you’ve left the room.
If you look back to previous posts on political action plans, you’ll see these themes running through the content. After hearing this legislator’s perspective, I hope you’ll take a step back and evaluate if your plan needs revisited.
Part of the Possible 
Even in my profession I had to develop influential relationships before the physicians or colleagues would listen to a change in patient status, or for me to bold enough to call a colleague or physician out for not following protocol with a patient procedure. Trust is key, legacy of great work and impact keeps stories resonating when one leaves the room.
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