Managing government relations and public affairs is a fascinating and challenging task… just ask any public affairs specialist! But they will also tell you how satisfying it can be to know your efforts are making a real difference in your organization and industry.
That said, building trusted long-term relationships with government stakeholders and other policy influencers can be time-consuming and downright difficult – especially in an ever-changing political landscape.
Here are 5 areas to focus on to improve government relations and public affairs, as well as some tips and best practices to simplify your day-to-day engagement efforts.
The Importance of Stakeholder Mapping in Government Affairs
The need to remember details about government representatives and policy shapers
The significance of understanding the interconnected relationships of stakeholders
Knowing how all these key stakeholders are linked is just as important, as it tells you who weighs in the balance and who doesn’t. Failing to understand these interconnected relationships can lead to a lot of wasted time and resources. Stakeholder mapping is therefore a crucial first step to building a constructive relationship.
The Digital transformation in government stakeholder engagement and public affairs
The digital transformation is another area that can improve efficiency of GA teams. Digitalization means that most companies have long abandoned the old pen-on-paper approach. Initially, this transition was largely to emails and Excel spreadsheets. But these tools have some pretty debilitating shortcomings for managing stakeholder engagement. Today, most companies that take a systematic approach to shaping public opinion and government policies rely on software designed for managing public affairs and government relations.
Borealis stakeholder software for public affairs and government relations makes it easy to centralize, manage, and track your growing piles of stakeholder information and related engagement activities without changing the way you work. By keeping data always available to all team members with access rights, Borealis minimizes oversights, and information gaps to support your work processes. Its powerful reporting tools also enables you to share relevant data with management and demonstrate the value of your efforts.
CN continuously strives to be a good neighbor to the thousands of communities we operate in and through. At the heart of that effort is effective communication with our federal, state, and local stakeholders. For the last two years, Borealis has been a critical tool in tracking and amplifying our varied communications. From tracking one-on-one engagements to organizing and managing broad issues and developing smart communications to large and diverse, yet targeted groups, CN has found Borealis to be an essential tool.
Ensuring Data Accuracy and Reliability
If knowing and understanding your key stakeholders is vital to efficiently building constructive government relations, then being known for consistently bringing up-to-date and reliable information to the table is the secret to maintaining them.
If you frequently attend events and meet new influencers, you’re probably constantly capturing important information to support your engagement strategies. Working with incomplete data is certainly frustrating, but sharing inaccurate information with key stakeholders is downright risky to your reputation.
Building long-term stakeholder relationships in the rail industry
CN is a Canadian Class I freight railway that works hard to be a good neighbor to stakeholders in thousands of communities. See how Borealis contributes to their goal of establishing and maintaining productive, long-term relationships with communities and governments.
The role of software in improving stakeholder data management and accuracy
Borealis streamlines data entry to reduce errors and boost productivity. Rather than tediously inputting stakeholder contact information manually, users can simply snap a photo of a business card with the Borealis mobile app to create a new stakeholder record. This innovative feature is just one example of how Borealis empowers users by automating repetitive tasks, saving time and ensuring data quality.
What if that stakeholder already exists in Borealis but some key contact information has recently changed, such as the person’s title? Borealis will recognize and flag the duplicate, helping you to keep your data clean and up-to-date, while at the same time retaining a history of changes over time. This is a great benefit for organizations as team members come and go.
Organizations that operate in the United States can gain even more efficiency with the US Elected Officials Database. This subscription-based add-on includes records for federal, state, and local government representatives, and it’s updated every 30 days so there’s no need to manually create or modify records after an election. The database allows teams to quickly identify the officials they need to reach out to and plan appropriate strategies to educate them about a project, request input, and address concerns. Engaging efficiently and proactively in this way helps organizations cultivate stronger relationships with government officials and achieve better outcomes.
Data Security in Stakeholder Engagement
The importance of safeguarding confidential stakeholder information
Features of Borealis that ensure data security
With Borealis stakeholder software, you can limit access to stakeholder information on a need-to-know basis and build data segregation between teams, business units, contractors, and partners.
It takes more than a spreadsheet to properly and securely manage stakeholder data
Effective communication with government stakeholders
The need for personalized communication with government stakeholders
Let’s paint a picture. Yesterday was election night and new mayors have been elected in every city of your state. You want to reach out all new representatives simultaneously by email or letter to congratulate them. While it’s important to personalize your communications, you also want to minimize manual work. Ideally, you’d also like to start keeping track of all your communications with these new stakeholders. Imagine if you could access the entire history of communications with a given individual with just one click!
The benefits of the Borealis mobile app in facilitating stakeholder communication
Public and government affairs teams are constantly on the move and must be able to engage meaningfully with key stakeholders anytime, anywhere. The mobile app in Borealis lets you easily access a stakeholder’s record, enter new information and communicate with them in a variety of ways: SMS, email, social media… whatever works best for that individual. Everything you do will be automatically entered into Borealis, simultaneously keeping all other team members with access rights in the loop.
Measuring ROI And evaluating performances
In the realm of Governmental Affairs, success is often measured not only by the effectiveness of advocacy efforts but also by the return on investment (ROI). Demonstrating the tangible impact of these endeavors can be challenging without the right tools in place. This is where a fit-for-purpose stakeholder engagement software like Borealis can be a game-changer.
The advantages of real-time data tracking and analysis
A key advantage of stakeholder engagement software like Borealis is its ability to capture and analyze real-time data. This includes tracking interactions with government stakeholders, monitoring the progress of advocacy campaigns, and assessing the impact of policy changes. By aggregating and visualizing this data into an engagement plan, Governmental Affairs teams can gain valuable insights into their activities’ effectiveness and even link it to a cost. Managers can see which strategies and tactics yield the highest ROI, enabling data-driven decision-making and resource allocation.
Customized Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Reporting and performance dashboards
A robust stakeholder engagement software system typically offers reporting and performance dashboard features. These features enable Governmental Affairs teams to generate comprehensive reports showcasing their achievements and ROI. Such reports can be shared with executives and stakeholders to transparently demonstrate the value of advocacy efforts. Furthermore, performance dashboards provide at-a-glance insights into the team’s progress, making it easier for management to evaluate performance on an ongoing basis.
Driving efficiency and resource optimization
By streamlining communication, automating administrative tasks, and centralizing information, stakeholder engagement software enhances the efficiency of Governmental Affairs teams. This efficiency translates to cost savings and resource optimization, further contributing to improved ROI.
Borealis software: fit for purpose & configurable
Need a highly configurable tool that will help ensure you’re targeting the right government stakeholders, reduce manual work, and enable team members to access data anytime, anywhere – all while keeping it safe?
Request a demo and see how Borealis can help you engage stakeholders, secure their acceptance of your project, and shape the regulations and policies that matter most to your organization!
