Three times you need to look at your public policy work

In a previous post where I introduced our work and provided quick explanations of what we do, I also discussed the support we provide for organisations when looking at their public policy requirements.

As a reminder, this is the Cambridge Dictionary's definition of policy in Business English:

“a set of ideas, or a plan of what to do in particular situations, that has been agreed officially by a group of people, a business organisation, a government, or a political party”

Public policy and strategic planning focuses on the external environment, and how this impacts you as an organisation, sector or profession. While this often goes hand-in-hand with research and insight, you focus particularly on this when external forces affect your operations more than your own internal forces because your work is heavily regulated by public policy and legislation and/or your work is deeply affected by the long-term (particularly for nonprofits and larger companies that see themselves as industry leaders).

When should you prioritise public policy work?

When I describe public policy to people who could find it interesting, but are just at the beginning stages of building their nonprofits or businesses, I recognise it feels like a distant future task rather than something they'd be interested in right now. To make this more real, there are three times I believe you should absolutely prioritise public policy work instead of leaving it for "one day":

1. Legal and regulatory changes:

This one feels fairly obvious but really, it's not always obvious what one should do when there are changes in laws and regulations. Laws are broad rules passed by legislatures and set out general principles. Regulations are detailed and specific rules created by government agencies under the authority of those laws to explain how to comply, both carrying the force of law but differing in origin (legislature vs. agency) and scope (broad vs. specific). Think of a law as the "what" (e.g., protect the environment) and regulations as the "how" (e.g., specific emission limits for cars). Regulation is easier to change than law, though changes in both can affect our everyday lives and ways of working.

You might need our help if... you need our help in understanding how legal and regulatory changes affect your work, your community and your organisation. We'll take what we see, make sure we understand it correctly (by checking in with public sector staff) and make it clearer for you and your stakeholders.

2. Window of opportunity:

Influencing policy is all about timing. A policy window is a moment in time when an issue gains traction and a decision-maker is open to considering new solutions. These windows can open due to:

1. Political changes, such as a new government or a change in ministerial roles. Example: when the Labour party came into power after 14 years of Tory governments

2. A focusing event, like a major incident or a new report that brings an issue to the public's attention. Example: The American XL Bully dog breed triggered the policy change in the UK in 2023 due to a rise in serious incidents and fatal attacks linked to the breed

3. Agenda-setting, where a key group or individual successfully pushes an issue onto the political agenda. Example: when the campaign group For Women Scotland brought forward the case challenging the legal definition of "woman" under the Equality Act 2010.

Image: Kingdon’s Policy Streams and Windows of Opportunity. Source: Original Work Attribution: Kimberly Martin License: CC BY-SA 4.0. Sourced from 4.6 POLICY STREAMS AND “WINDOWS” OF OPPORTUNITY, Maricopa Community Colleges web page

You might need our help if... you think you might have a window of opportunity to take advantage of, or you're looking for a window of opportunity. We can help you find it or help you take advantage of it; and help you understand your options for action there.

3. It's been a while and you need to evaluate how current policies are working out

This is particularly important when your work is affected deeply by the long-term, because your organisation is working on long-term goals. I particularly say this for organisations investing in socioeconomic and/or environmental change such as charities, nonprofits and/or social impact businesses and for multinational and larger companies who see themselves as industry leaders.

Monitoring and evaluation (or M&E) is the systematic process for tracking progress and assessing success in projects, programs, or policies, combining monitoring (ongoing data collection to check activities and outputs against plans) with evaluation (periodic, deeper assessments of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and impact). This is where Shumaila's data expertise really comes in so she can speak to this too, but I'll summarise this as the time when you need to see if your policies and approaches are working for your organisation; or whether it's time to face the truth that things need to change. You might need our help if... you need to evaluate current policies and implementation to understand whether these are working in your organisation's best interests.

If you feel any of this speaks to you, contact us at hello@stridesinsights.com and let us know what you need help with today.