Monitoring legislative activities is surely one of the greatest challenges for Institutional and Government Relations professionals.
But it is a worthwhile investment.
After all, a good part of the matters proceeding through the National Congress – or even in state assemblies and city councils – has broad potential to significantly impact your company's business.
In addition to sectoral issues, several topics of a tax, environmental, or labor nature, among others, deserve monitoring.
The key to success lies in identifying, in advance, all kinds of threats or even opportunities. For this, it is essential to structure an efficient legislative monitoring process.
Here at Sigalei, we have been dedicated to studying this subject in depth. In the following text, our goal is to help understand how a good GovRel team works.
See the five main profiles and check which one you fit into:
1. Director
Everything starts, of course, with whoever commands the institutional area of the company or institution. It is the 'Director' profile who will form the GovRel team, empower people, understand the guidelines of the Board of Directors or the CEO, transforming these main lines into clear objectives. The 'Director' profile will not only handle the approval of the strategy but will be the leadership in managing the most critical issues, evaluating course correction proposals.
2. Strategist
It is a multidisciplinary professional with a 360º vision.
We dubbed 'Strategist' whoever has the role of understanding the general objectives, designing a matrix of strategic fronts, and defining tactical actions to achieve the established goals.
It is also up to this profile to give a sense of priority to the fronts, guiding the performance: what relationships need to be nurtured? What are the key messages for each stakeholder? And the communication channels? And the goals and deadlines?
3. Monitoring Analyst
This is an essential figure in GovRel work.
Their duties require daily dedication. We call them 'Monitoring Analyst'. This profile has the role of identifying possible new issues – that is, sensitive issues that may offer risks or opportunities for the institution.
In this work, the 'Monitoring Analyst' has the duty to follow the processing of bills and detect new propositions that impact the company's business -- directly or indirectly. They also need to observe the movement of important stakeholders and point out speeches by parliamentarians that affect the sector or represent attacks on the company's reputation. They must also be tuned in to any inflection point that appears in the news or in posts on social networks. Another task is to point out relevant agendas, such as committee meetings and parliamentary fronts, public hearings, and public consultations.
4. Intelligence Analyst
It is who has the role of evaluating the inputs generated in the monitoring.
The role of the 'Intelligence Analyst' profile must dive into the context, understanding risks and opportunities related to previously gathered material.
Basically, the 'Intelligence Analyst' profile needs to expand the understanding of relevant topics and the developments of sensitive issues, which often can happen with companies from other sectors, but later on may even splash on the company.
One of their functions is to collect and condense all information related to bills. It is from there that they will have elements to extract insights, evaluate what is the evolution of the themes that impact the institution, and support those who have the power of decision-making.
This craft requires a more panoramic view. It is necessary, for example, to confront the positions of parliamentarians, the respective impacts, and how this affects the stakeholders who will be decisive for the business of your institution.
Finally, it is essential to analyze the probability of the evolution of a discussion in parliament, mainly based on a political context that, as we all know, can easily change overnight, depending on the facts.
5. Actor
It is up to the role of the 'Actor' profile to do the fieldwork.
This is the profile that will implement the strategy on a day-to-day basis.
Their role is to promote and participate in meetings, gatherings, and webinars, in addition to following or speaking in committees and other forums.
It is a daily work, almost round-the-clock, that involves the correct recording of activities not only for documentation (even to comply with the indispensable compliance rules), but to be able to measure the results of the strategy in each of the priority issues.
This measurement covers both the number of meetings attended and the engagements carried out, converted stakeholders, and suggested amendments approved.
**************
These are the five basic roles – and there is no rule.
There are institutions that have more robust structures – and others with leaner teams, where a single figure accumulates more than one role.
One way or another, it is a fact that monitoring the legislature is a complex task.
Firstly because the list of topics to monitor is immense. There is an infinity of bills being processed in all legislative houses.
Second: it is necessary to have a transversal look with the other powers and qualify the information, also following the repercussion of the issues in society, especially in the Press and social networks.
GovRel professionals who work with the C-Level also know how vital it is to know as soon as possible what is happening to eventually review strategies and make decisions.
And this challenge is even greater in Brazil.
It is not an exaggeration. A recent study, prepared by Senate consultant Clay Souza e Teles, and published by the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo, points out that the Brazilian legislative power is the one that has most altered the Constitution compared to 11 other western democracies – the Magna Carta has already been modified 131 times in 34 years since its promulgation in 1988.
Fortunately, today there is technology available, including artificial intelligence resources, to quickly compile and organize this information in a customized way.
At Sigalei we do this service with trained and specialized analysts.
Talk to me to know our solutions:
Frederico Oliveira is CEO and co-founder of Sigalei
frederico@sigalei.com.br
