White Paper: Optimising the Value of Government Relations

Corporate Government Relations (GR) teams can make a significant contribution to a business. They can both mitigate the cost of and capitalise on government intervention, highlight and mitigate political risk, advantageously differentiate the business from competitors, and even open up new revenue streams.

However, corporate GR is a challenging environment: the decision process of policy makers is complex and exerting influence on government stakeholders can require a significant time investment, with no certain outcome guaranteed. Additionally, GR teams operate within a highly competitive environment as various interest groups attempt to push and pull stakeholders' attention during the policy development process. Moving the dial takes a patient team dedicated to managing relationships across the political spectrum.

Business leaders who work outside the function don't always understand the machinations of government and the complex political environment that must be navigated. So when restructures come along - as they inevitably do - sights are set on non-revenue generating functions like GR first. This is despite the potential for GR teams to bring enormous business value when they are optimised for success.

The latest instalment in the Advoc8 White Paper Series, Optimising the Value of Corporate Government Relations, has been prepared with two objectives: to help GR teams measure and articulate the value they bring, and to communicate that value to business leaders.

The paper is based on extensive engagement with top performing GR and stakeholder engagement teams, which typically track their progress and articulate success to the business by:

 
• Ensuring the GR team has quick and reliable intelligence about stakeholders and issues;
 
• Aligning GR key performance indicators (KPIs) with overall business strategy; and
 
• Implementing systems that support both GR KPIs and broader business objectives.

Download the white paper here.