Lobbying the wrong person
A company wanted to build a chemical plant in a highly sensitive area. The authority which would give permission for this was at county council level. Naturally, the company set about wooing the local county councillor, a Mr Johnson, who was a member of the Liberal Democrat party.
He attended a site visit meeting with other councillors and seemed outwardly noncommittal, but was probably antagonistic about the project.
The company was briefing us on another project and mentioned this en passant. Our curiosity roused, we did a little investigation and undertook a mini-diagnostic. First, we found that the Liberal Democrats were not in power at county level, it was the Conservatives.
Second, from a cursory perusal of the company's correspondence with local people, it seemed that the district councillor, Mrs Smith, was running a major campaign against the project. She was a Conservative. The question now was: How much power will the district councillor have over her colleagues who serve on the county council?
Third, Mr Johnson's power base was not in the area where the plant was proposed at all. (County councillors cover a much wider area than district councillors: in fact there were four district councils within the county councillor's area.) Mr Johnson's areas of support were in other districts. This explained his lack of real concern. However, he had nothing to lose by opposing the project, so would do so.
Finally, Mr Johnson was not the key player: his party was not in power. In effect, the company was trying to influence the wrong person.
Analysis:
This had a number of implications:
By missing out the district councillor, Mrs Smith, the company was missing out on a key player who could probably either make or break the project.
By ignoring (as she would see it) Mrs Smith, they were further entrenching her in her antagonistic position.
The company looked like they did not know the local scene. This naïvety was translated into a lack of concern for local people.
Politicians like to deal with people who understand them and their drivers; this company was not showing this.
(Postscript: Following our intervention, contact was made with the district councillor; modifications were made to the plan, for which she took the credit, and the project proceeded.)
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