by Meredith Turney and Emily Wismer

Most of us know that working as a team amplifies our efforts, but sadly in the hustle and bustle of everyday work, organizations often face the pitfall of allowing teams to sequester themselves into silos. One team advances its own goals and metrics, while other teams do the same, striving to meet daily demands. This type of hazard can lead to tension in the workplace and missed opportunities.

But when communications and government affairs teams work together, they blend their unique strengths, resources, and perspectives to offer a clearer vision of what can be accomplished and opportunities to maximize their teams’ impact. They work side by side before, during, and after legislative session. Here are some tips for creating greater synergy between your organization’s communications and government affairs work:

Before Session:

• Bring both teams to the conference room table to share the communications and government affairs goals for the year. When it’s laid out in writing, each team can identify the areas of synergy and how to leverage efforts to achieve them faster.
• Talk about the resources government affairs will need at each point of the legislative session. Your team generally knows legislative deadlines for committee hearings, floor votes, bill signing, etc. So create a legislative editorial calendar to help identify potential workflow issues for both teams. Then plan accordingly; to have the right content when needed. Sure, there may be some last-minute opportunities that arise, but for the most part, you’ll have the content you need for each point of the legislative calendar because you planned ahead.
• Find out which legislators districts need to be targeted to achieve legislative goals. This can help you focus your energy on a specific audience that will help your teams win their issue campaign.
• Map out media goals for the session. Which member of the teams will talk with reporters? Who will write op-eds? What legislative districts will be important to focus on for sharing information with lawmakers and the public?
• What kind of polling or market research needs to happen based on government affairs and communications goals?
• For those who hold pre-session or candidate policy briefings, consider all the communications tools you’ll need for that event. Policy briefing books? One-pagers for legislative floor debates? And consider the type of media coverage you may want for the event. There are often shared goals for government affairs and communications at such an event.

During Session:

• Many groups with collaborative government affairs and communications teams have a system for quickly conveying information during session. For example, Beacon Center has their government affairs team texting their communications team as things happen, sending photos and quotes, so that the communications team can quickly get information to supporters and reporters. This helps them shape the narrative around what’s happening in the legislature that day. And it helps them understand the messaging tools government affairs may need to effectively share information with lawmakers.
• Have a rapid-response media plan ready. Who will talk to reporters at the capitol? What kinds of press releases or op-eds can communications have ready to go when something critical happens during a floor debate?
• Have regular (ie, biweekly, weekly, or daily) meeting between government affairs and communications to assess how things are going. During session, things can change quickly and strong teams are able to pivot quickly. Did a bill die in committee? What a bill gutted and amended to include a harmful policy issue? These regular check-ins are critical to keep the team on target, and nimble in its response to the shifting circumstances.
• Remember to prioritize. During the craziness of session, teams can be tempted to start chasing bright-and-shiny objects that pop up. But keeping government affairs and communications focused on the key outcomes for the session will help rein in the desire to comment, write, or testify on issues that don’t pertain to the organization’s overall policy priorities.

After Session:

• Conduct an after-session audit. What went well? What didn’t? How can your teams better plan for the next session? Be honest.
• Convene government affairs and communications teams together to discuss which bills and sponsors will need defense in the media. You can also use your marketing platforms to thank lawmakers and influencers who helped achieve positive policy outcomes during the session.
• Then make plans to improve your collaboration and content for next session.
• Identify next year’s policy goals.
• Determine what kind of budgets both teams will need (and where they can share costs) to reach next session’s policy goals.
• Give credit where credit’s due. Acknowledge the ways your teams worked well together and continue building on the practices that were effective. Reward staff that went above and beyond to accomplish the organization’s goals.
• Work together to create a session recap that can be shared with supporters, donors, lawmakers and media. This is an excellent way to show the effectiveness of your organization and its government affairs/communications teams.

This type of collaboration between government affairs and communications can quickly and efficiently accelerate your organization’s policy priorities. Consider all the ways your teams can be far more effective by sharing goals, developing shared systems, and sharing the credit. Think about what is truly important and necessary, and eliminate all the extra busywork.

If you have additional ideas for government affairs and communications collaboration, we encourage you to share them with the rest of the network so that we can all continue to improve this critical alignment within our organizations.

Meredith Turney serves as the Senior Director of Leadership Development & Strategic Communications and Emily Wismer is the Government Affairs & Policy Specialist at State Policy Network.

Before engaging in any legislative education and outreach activities, please ensure opportunities align with your current strategy and seek legal counsel before weighing in on a specific piece of legislation.