Codruț-Costin C.’s Post

A public affairs consultancy is a type of firm that specializes in managing and influencing public policy and public opinion for its clients. These consultancies typically provide a range of services, including: 1. Policy Analysis and Lobbying: They analyze government policies and legislation, and lobby on behalf of their clients to influence these policies in a direction favorable to their interests. 2. Stakeholder Engagement: Public affairs consultancies help clients engage with key stakeholders, such as government officials, regulators, industry groups, and the media. This involves building relationships and crafting messages that resonate with these stakeholders. 3. Strategic Communications: They assist in developing and executing communication strategies to shape public opinion or to respond to public policy issues. This can include media relations, social media campaigns, and other forms of public communication. 4. Issue Management: These firms help clients manage and respond to public issues that could impact their reputation or business operations. This includes crisis management and proactive measures to build a positive public image. 5. Research and Intelligence: Public affairs consultancies conduct research to understand the policy environment, public opinion, and political risks. This information is used to inform strategies and decision-making. 6. Advocacy Campaigns: They design and implement campaigns to advocate for specific policy outcomes, which can include grassroots mobilization, public relations campaigns, and direct lobbying efforts. Clients of public affairs consultancies can include corporations, non-profits, trade associations, and other organizations seeking to influence public policy or improve their standing with policymakers and the public. The goal is often to create a favorable regulatory and policy environment, manage potential risks, and leverage opportunities arising from the public policy landscape. #publicaffairs #advocacy #publicaffairssolutions #lobbying #governmentrelations

🚀 What is Public Affairs? 🚀 Public Affairs is all about building strategic relationships with policymakers, navigating regulations, and shaping the environment in which organizations operate. A Public Affairs agency helps companies influence policy and foster partnerships that ensure long-term success. 🔍 PR vs. Public Affairs: While PR focuses on managing public image and engaging with the broader audience, Public Affairs is about influencing decision-makers and ensuring that organizations' interests are reflected in policies. 🤔 Public Affairs vs. Consulting: Management consulting is about advising businesses on operational strategies and business intelligence focuses on data-driven decision-making. Public Affairs goes beyond that—it's about understanding the political landscape and ensuring your business voice is heard in regulatory discussions. 💡 Public Affairs ≠ Lobbying It’s not just lobbying! Public Affairs involves transparent communication and stakeholder engagement to ensure ethical, long-term advocacy. 🗞️ "In a world of constant regulatory change, public affairs is not a choice but a necessity." - Business Review Today #PublicAffairs #BusinessStrategy #Transparency #PolicyShapers #PublicAffairsSolutions

This peer-to-peer discussion highlighted best practices and strategies for overcoming the unique challenges we face in our field. These discussions provided invaluable insights and practical advice. #PublicAffairs #AdvocacyStrategy #Advocacy #GovernmentAffairs

🌐 The Internal Side of Public Affairs: Exclusive Online Discussion 2 🌐 Yesterday we had our second ‘Internal Side of Public Affairs Exclusive Online Discussion’. We were joined by around 20 Public Affairs professionals from all sectors, several different countries and with varying levels of experience. It has the makings of a strong community of Public Affairs professionals who all share the common desire to get better at managing the internal challenges in their work. So, some take-aways from the discussion; ✅ The place of Public Affairs in an organization – and how to best work with this - The critical factor here is how to show value - You need to determine what ‘value’ is for all of your key internal stakeholders - You need to take those stakeholders on the value journey – and deliver the value for them - To do this you should build an internal Public Affairs strategy….stakeholder mapping / key messages / value articulation / reporting on progress - In parallel to this journey you should involve these key stakeholders in your world – invite them to your workshops / strategy sessions and take them out in the real world with your teams - You need to carefully consider how to communicate to this group of key stakeholders (not too much and the key balance of what they need to see value coming to life) - Any articulation of value is likely going to be premised on the ability to speak the language of your business (P&L and more) ✅ How to work with adjacent functions - This is all about how you go about your work – and you need to work with many functions - This can be different depending on whether you are in the central or local teams - You need to identify overlaps and openly discuss them as there will be overlaps - There are opportunities here as Public Affairs is such a horizontal function   I hope I have done justice to what people said. If not (or if I missed something critical) please shout in the comments below! As you can see this time we managed to really get into the two issues and the above does not fully do justice to what was discussed. If you want to know more just drop me a line. Otherwise look out of the next event in the series that will take place in June – and also for an ‘Internal Side of Public Affairs Barometer’ that I will be launching in about 10 days – to help us really take the pulse of the profession. The more we can do to understand, discuss and share ideas around the challenges of building Public Affairs visibility and recognition in our organizations the better. #publicaffairs #AdvocacyStrategy #Advocacy #GovernmentAffairs Anders Kopp Anna Aleksandra Koj Wouter Lox Felix Meyer-Horn Tom Banks Raphaël LETOURMY-GIRAULT Jessica Feil Laila Pinheiro Michel Ehrlich Jenna Paladino Jimmy Bastings Jorge Espinosa de Los Monteros Romero Sonila Metushi Dimitris Vartholomaios Dominic Byrne Aurica Pripa Pär Nygårds Samuel Maubanc  

The Importance of Public Affairs for #Businesses! As the business landscape becomes more complex, the value of excellent public affairs initiatives cannot be underestimated. Public affairs services help businesses navigate the complex web of government regulations, community interactions, and stakeholder management. Building and maintaining good relationships with key decision-makers, regulators, and influencers is central to public affairs. By proactively connecting with these stakeholders, firms can: Public affairs experts closely watch the legislative and regulatory landscape, allowing businesses to anticipate and prepare for developments that may affect their operations. This allows them to take a proactive approach rather than a reactive response to new laws and standards. Strategic lobbying and stakeholder involvement can help public affairs teams shape the rules and regulations that impact their sector. This gives compaines a voice in policymaking and ensures that their interests are represented. Building trust and goodwill in the communities where a company operates is a key component of effective public affairs. Companies that engage with local stakeholders can better understand and handle neighbourhood concerns, establishing themselves as responsible corporate citizens. When unforeseen events or issues occur, public relations specialists play an important role in controlling the company's reaction and reputation. They can assist in developing message, communicating with the media, and coordinating with necessary authorities to safeguard the company's interests. In today's fast changing business world, having a strong public affairs strategy is no longer a luxury, but a requirement for organisations looking to thrive and preserve a competitive advantage. Investing in public affairs services allows organisations to ensure that their opinions are heard, their interests are safeguarded, and their reputations are preserved. #Hegazy and Partners can help your organization navigate the complex landscape of #government #policies, #regulatory affairs and community outreach.

The Internal Side of Public Affairs (15) Engaging with Extremes: The dilemma for companies & associations In last month’s European Parliament elections far-right groups gained unprecedented representation. For Businesses and Associations this poses a dilemma: how to engage with these new stakeholders. At a Best in Brussels event in June Mark Dober revealed that around 50% of survey respondents would NOT engage the far right. So, should you engage with them, or avoid them? Perhaps you should look to your Associations to do this? This post shares some thoughts on this situation: Why Engagement is Necessary Influence on Policy-Making: Far-right parties now have a tangible impact on legislative processes. Ignoring these stakeholders could lead to unfavourable policies and means you have no influence. Stakeholder Relationships: Effective stakeholder management requires working with all relevant parties, including those with differing views. You need insights into their priorities and concerns so you can navigate the political landscape and maintain a competitive edge. Champion vs. Support: You can work with stakeholders to gather support and help influence positions without having them as your champion (which may be a step too far). How to Engage: Some Considerations Reputation Management: Engaging with far-right stakeholders carries reputational risks from corporate reputational risk to the local political risk that by associating with the far right you alienate support from other political groups. Clear Ethical Guidelines: Establish clear ethical guidelines for engagement, ensuring that interactions with far-right parties do not compromise any of your positions and values. Focus on Common Interests: Identify areas of common interest, such as economic growth, job creation, and technological innovation. Building dialogue around these topics can lead to constructive engagement without endorsing controversial positions. Public Communication: Maintain transparent communication with other stakeholders (and the public) about the nature and purpose of engagement with far-right stakeholders. This helps in managing public perception and mitigating potential backlash. Engaging with these new stakeholders is out of your comfort zone and fraught with complexities. It is, however, necessary and important. The job of Public Affairs professionals is to find the right ways to engage stakeholders for their organization. In an increasingly polarized environment engaging across the aisle will become more and more of an advantage. Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below! 👇 #PublicAffairs #StrategicImpact #StakeholderEngagement   Pär Nygårds Per-Erik Wolff Dr. Stephen Massey Dimitris Vartholomaios Anders Kopp Paul Shotton Aaron McLoughlin Andras Baneth Wouter Lox Claudia Breure Pieter Walraven Carmen Muñoz Jodar Michel Ehrlich Mickey Langley Kelly Langley Jorge Espinosa de Los Monteros Romero

The Internal Side of Public Affairs (1) What makes the biggest difference: your Industry / country HQ or CEO? This is an interesting question that came my way this week and one I have often speculated on myself. We know that the perception and understanding of Public Affairs in an organization is influenced by many factors, and the relative importance of any of these factors varies depending on the specific context. However, the industry, the country, and the CEO are perhaps three of the biggest variables. Let’s look at each in turn before deciding which is more impactful; Country HQ: Yes, legal and regulatory environments vary widely from one country to another but what I am most interested in is the perception, professionalisation and role of Public Affairs in different countries. For example, Public Affairs is a well-recognised profession in the US, it is well understood in the EU and beyond that (outside smaller pockets) it is often a niche industry that is not well-understood at all. My view is that the country of the organizational HQ plays a very big role – given these different cultural perceptions and understandings of Public Affairs. Industry: Different industries face distinct challenges and opportunities in Public Affairs. Here I think the idea would be that industries with significant environmental impact or those dealing with sensitive issues will require more Public Affairs and hence be better accepted and understood in their organizations. CEO: The CEO's leadership style, communication skills, and personal values will strongly influence any organization. So too will their understanding and perception of Public Affairs. A CEO who is actively engaged in, and with, public affairs, will positively impact how Public Affairs is perceived both internally and externally. I think many of us know the opposite. Clearly in practice, these factors interact, and successful Public Affairs functions depend on all three to some extent. I would say though that the most important variable I have experienced is by far the CEO. You can be from a US organization in a sensitive sector (so in theory with a great understand of the need and potential of Public Affairs) but if your CEO is not onboard you will simply not progress. On the flip of this a good CEO can drive Public Affairs across any country and industry. Get in touch with me if you want to discuss.   #publicaffairs #AdvocacyStrategy #Advocacy #GovernmentAffairs Liora Kern Pär Nygårds Dr. Per-Erik Wolff Dr. Stephen Massey Craig S. Fleisher Dimitris Vartholomaios Anders Kopp Paul Shotton Peter Lochbihler Sean Conner Aaron McLoughlin Andras Baneth

Most organizations have Public Affairs roles ....But most have positioned their Public Affairs Teams for failure. Want to know how to build a successful lobby Machine? Here is my take 👇 1️⃣ Define Your Lobbying Team: Lobbying should be a cooperation between three roles; a C-Level member, the Lobbyist, and an expert. C-Level members provides political clout, the Lobbyist oversees the process and is something of a field-commander, and the expert adds substance and expertise to the lobby. I call this the holy trinity effective lobbying. 2️⃣ Roles Beyond Core Group: Consider additional supporting roles like a media spokesperson, ideally merged with the Chief Lobbyist, and a junior lobbyist or intern for capacity support and execution of errands. Management should not be part of this exeution-group, instead they should be briefed regularly so that they can help handle internal affairs, like allocating resources and communication. 3️⃣ Start with a Plan: A Public Affairs Plan is the foundation of any lobbying effort. Define key asks, analyze the political and policy arena, identify decision-makers and stakeholders, plan actions for the next half-year, and articulate roles and structures. If you don't have a timeline with action, your lobby is a hobby, not a serious effort. 4️⃣ Rules of Engagement: Establish clear rules to keep the lobby machine self-propelled. Like agreeing to give read outs of meetings with MEP' and politicians. But also how the Principal is prepared and discussing who talks to whom? Regular Public Affairs agenda points in weekly meetings keep the team informed. But also don't have too many meetings, as too many of them shift the focus on internal affairs where victory is outside, not inside the organisation. 5️⃣ Monitoring, Strategic Foresight and Internal Communications Dedicate substantial time to strategic foresight, planning actions for the coming months. While I hate having too many internal meetings, I have the feeling I can't spend enough time on monitoring and strategic insight. Regularly inform the wider organization about lobbying activities through newsletters or blogs. So I hope you have an organisation that has a plan, allows you to go outside and helps you by allocating enough resources to lobbying? What am I missing? Drop me your thought 👇

🌐 Internal Side of Public Affairs: Barometer June 2024🌐 Understanding and addressing our internal challenges is crucial for advancing Public Affairs. To achieve this, I am excited to announce the results of our first quarterly 'Internal Side of Public Affairs Barometer'. Take a look at the overview to see more - but the main takeaways are; 👉 Public Affairs professionals are aware of the internal challenges they face but they are not able to dedicate the time and resources needed to address them 👉 Public Affairs professionals flagged a number of challenges as being common to everyone in the profession. The top two were: - A lack of understanding of what Public Affairs is / does / can do for an organisation - A lack of alignment between Public Affairs and other functions 👉 The number one challenge that Public Affairs professionals face today is that of unclear and/or unrealistic leadership expectations / objectives for Public Affairs 👉 By far the two main ways that Public Affairs professionals are addressing these challenges is by improving reporting and internal communications to showcase success Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond. This is some great data for us all to work with. Upcoming posts and Internal Side of Public Affairs webinars will delve into this data in more detail so stay tuned for those. If you want to discuss any of this directly just DM me. #publicaffairs #AdvocacyStrategy #Advocacy #GovernmentAffairs Pär Nygårds Per-Erik Wolff Dr. Stephen Massey Dimitris Vartholomaios Anders Kopp Anna Aleksandra Koj Paul Shotton Aaron McLoughlin Andras Baneth Wouter Lox Claudia Breure Pieter Walraven Carmen Muñoz Jodar Irene Matías Campano Jorge Espinosa de Los Monteros Romero Kelly Langley Mickey Langley Tom Banks Laila Pinheiro Michel Ehrlich

The Internal Side of Public Affairs (16) Internal Challenges & Opportunities: What Next Some months back I decided to start looking more into the the Internal Side of Public Affairs - the challenges and opportunities that we face with our internal stakeholders and organisations. That has led to 15 posts, 3 webinars and one barometer and so many interesting connections and conversations. I have really enjoyed this process to date and it has really demonstrated to me the interest and appetite to do more in this area. Here is what I have posted to date: 1. Having a Public Affairs Way/Method 2. Why Reporting Lines Matter 3. Public Affairs Onboarding (Internal) 4. The Curse of Public Affairs Professionals 5. Public Affairs Professionals need to speak P&L 6. Why all Public Affairs teams need an internal role 7. Measuring Public Affairs Success: Key Metrics and Limitations 8. Chat GPT and Public Affairs 9. Breaking the Silence: Why Failure Needs to Take Center Stage in Public Affairs 10. Public Affairs and adjacent functions: Friends or foes? 11. Why Reporting Lines Matter: Direct or Indirect Reporting Lines? 12. What is Value in Public Affairs Work and How to Find it? 13. The Power of Vision and Mission Statements in Public Affairs 14. Protecting and Enhancing Trade Association Value 15. Engaging with extreme politicians: A current dilemma for companies & associations + 3 Internal Side of Public Affairs Webinars + 1 Internal Side of Public Affairs Barometer It is now time for a summer break - but to help my autumn planning I want to know if you have any ideas for posts / webinars / surveys in the autumn around the Internal Side of Public Affairs? What would you like to discuss? What have I not covered yet - or not done in enough detail? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below! 👇 And as usual DM me if you want to discuss any of this as I would love to hear from you. #PublicAffairs #GlobalStrategy #PolicyInfluence #Advocacy #GovernmentRelations   Pär Nygårds Per-Erik Wolff Dr. Stephen Massey Dimitris Vartholomaios Anders Kopp Paul Shotton Michel Ehrlich Peter Lochbihler Sean Conner Aaron McLoughlin Andras Baneth Wouter Lox Claudia Breure Pieter Walraven Carmen Muñoz Jodar Irene Matías Campano Laila Pinheiro Tom Banks Anna Aleksandra Koj Mickey Langley Kelly Langley Jorge Espinosa de Los Monteros Romero