How to Create Change in Policy

The past few elections it seems at least one candidate for each party has campaigned promising change. The two most recent U.S. presidents used the idea of change in their campaigns effectively, ultimately leading to their elections.  The candidates convinced the citizenry that change was necessary, and the citizens elected those candidates.  Now, the citizens want to see change. The citizens want to initiate change. However, they are unsure how to make sure change happens. Politicians, lobbyists, special interest groups, and even change-makers have a method for creating change and affecting policy in American society. Outlined below is a method that can be used for how one person, one group, one community, one citizenry, can affect change in policy in this country.

1. Center on One Issue. One thing lobbyists and special interest groups do really well is center, or focus, on one issue.  An environmental lobby is not going to spend its time discussing healthcare, just as a gun lobby is not going to spend its time discussing farm subsidies. The groups are very centered, very focused, on the issues that they support. The beginning of any good change campaign is to pick an issue and focus on that issue.  Trying to address too many issues at a time may result in some, if not all, of the issues being lost in the confusion.

2. Have the Facts. Politicians, lobbyists, and special interest groups have a lot of facts at their disposal. Remember the old saying that "knowledge is power?" Well, it's true. Elected officials, lobbyists, and special interest groups have a lot of power over issues because they have a lot of knowledge about those issues.  Moreover, they know those facts inside and out.  When anyone argues for or against their issue, these groups have a pile of facts to use in support of their claims. Gathering reliable, valid facts about an issue will give a policy changer knowledge about an issue and make them feel empowered about the issue.

3. Analyze the Facts. Once the facts are collected, the data should be analyzed. Data usually tells a story when looking at methods, trends, and outcomes. What has worked in the past? What hasn't? How does this fact, this piece of information, need to change? Does a particular statistic need to go up or down? What methods or techniques can be used to make those facts change? What is behind those facts, anyway?

Photo by Jeanette R. Harrison

4. Narrow Down the Goals. At this point of creating change, the plan, or platform, is developed. This is the stage where the person, the group, the community, and the citizenry, decides on a list of goals, or changes, they would like to accomplish. This is the stage where the person, group, or community decides what changes they want to make happen. The list should contain several small, achievable goals first. Remember, every step in the right direction is a step in the right direction. In the story of the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise won the race by taking small steps forward to reach its goal. Two or three large goals, at the most, should be added to the plan. Once some of the small goals are achieved and at least one large goal is, then additional goals can be added.  The intent is to create change, planting and plodding one step at a time.

5. Gather Support.  Chances are if one person cares about an issue, other people care about it, too. Finding like-minded people is important when championing a cause and trying to initiate change. In this stage, the person, group, or community wants to find other persons, groups or communities who share their goals and their desires for change. Key stakeholders in the area should also be identified in this stage. Who exactly is being targeted to make the change happen? A key stakeholder may be a company, a school, an individual, parents, or those affected by the issue. When looking at policy, the key stakeholders generally include local, state, and federal politicians, administrators, or organizational leaders. Gaining support from key stakeholders also adds credibility to the claims that change needs to happen. Writing letters and calling the school board, city council, mayor, state representative, Congress, and the President are examples of gathering support from key stakeholders. Getting their support is important because those are the very people who will be making the policies that the person or group is trying to change.

6. Educate, Engage, Execute. Once the group (hopefully, a group has been formed by this stage), has centered on one issue, has the facts, has analyzed the data, has narrowed down the goals, and has gathered support, the group should then educate others who may not know about the issue. This is the stage where the group tells other community members why their issue matters and how they want to see changes take place. The group explains the facts and gathers more support from more people. Those people then engage with the group and contact the key stakeholders they know and ask those key stakeholders to create change. The key stakeholders also should be engaged with the group to keep the requested policy change as one of their top priorities. This can be done by also educating and re-educating the key stakeholders about the particular policy. At this stage also, the group should execute the plan, or the change, they developed. This can be done by having a prepared plan or change to give to the stakeholders. The stakeholders can then amend or adjust the plan to make the plan, or change, fit into the existing system. Perhaps, there are other groups who have similar change plans. Those two change plans may then be merged together to meet the needs of more than one group at a time. When a plan, or change, is executed, the result is generally a change in procedure, policy, or law.