This article is written by Doug Hattaway, president of Hattaway Communications, a Washington-based firm that helps government agencies use the power of strategy, science, and story-telling to communicate effectively

Policy experts invest a lot of time and energy crafting policies and programmes to achieve meaningful change in government.

As seasoned government professionals know, designing a new policy or programme is only the first step on the journey from inspiration to implementation. To complete that journey, you have first to convince decision-makers and stakeholders to embrace your basic premise. This hinges on the art of effective communication.

I’ve spent the last three decades learning about effective policy communication. I’ve worked with senior members of the US Congress, with the White House, with governors, state legislators, government agencies, and policy advocacy organisations.

Whether working with a policy-maker, implementer, or advocate, the way you “package” your idea is critical to making it a reality. Obstacles to this abound — just put yourself in the shoes of the people you need to persuade. They are bombarded all day long with competing demands.  Only a few ideas will manage to cut through the noise and leave a lasting impression on them.

Story-telling is the most powerful form of communication, because it allows you to speak to both the heart and the head

So how do you power your idea to rise above the rest? Cognitive science says you must communicate in a way that first motivates your audience to stop and think about your idea and, second, makes it as easy as possible for them to process the information.

Your winning strategy might be to combine communication science with the art of story-telling. Here’s how that checks out in practice.

Frame it first

Don’t begin your policy pitch with analysis, facts, and figures. You need to “frame it first”. The first thing you say about a topic shapes every perception and judgment that follows, so be strategic about the words you choose to introduce your idea. Framing a complex topic with a few key concepts focuses people’s minds on the ideas you want to emphasise, and enables them to process more detailed information that follows. If those initial ideas reflect the hopes and values of your audience, they are more likely to care about your topic.

Tap the power of aspiration

Our aspirations are our ideas about the kind of people we want to be and the kind of lives we want to live. They drive our decision-making and behaviours. The science of Aspirational Communication suggests that connecting your idea to people’s aspirations will motivate them to invest the mental energy required to understand the details. Showing how your policy or programme helps people achieve their authentic aspirations makes it truly meaningful to them. That’s key to standing out from the competition in the crowded marketplace of ideas.

Create an aspirational narrative

Story-telling is the most powerful form of communication, because it allows you to speak to both the heart and the head. A story puts people squarely in the picture, which creates emotional responses that make ideas memorable. Organising key concepts in the form of a narrative shows how they can become a reality and what this will mean to your listeners in the long-run.

Narratives that connect issues to the aspirations of your audience are particularly powerful. The image below shows a simple but powerful framework you can use to do that. Your aspirational narrative begins with the people whose lives are improved by your policy or programme. The goals are their aspirations in life. The problems are challenges or needs they face in realising those aspirations. The solutions are the things your policy or programme does to meet those needs and help people achieve their goals.

This is a simple framework you can use to create a narrative about your policy that helps people quickly see its relevance and understand its value. You start by putting “People” in the picture and describing the aspirational “Goals” your policy helps them achieve, then explaining the “Problems” addressed by your policy and the “Solutions” it offers. Source: Hattaway Communications, Inc. This is a simple framework you can use to create a narrative about your policy that helps people quickly see its relevance and understand its value. You start by putting “People” in the picture and describing the aspirational “Goals” your policy helps them achieve, then explaining the “Problems” addressed by your policy and the “Solutions” it offers. Source: Hattaway Communications, Inc.

An aspirational narrative wins support for anti-poverty programmes

Former US president Barack Obama’s administration created an aspirational narrative to equip government agencies to communicate effectively about the “Ladders of Opportunity” initiative, which included a wide array of programmes and policies designed to fight poverty.

The narrative described those served by anti-poverty programmes as hardworking, responsible people who “work hard and play by the rules”. The vast majority of US voters and policy-makers can “see themselves” in these words. Seeing their values reflected in the message motivated many to support these policies and programmes.

The aspiration of the people in these programmes was to achieve financial security and economic mobility — to “find a good job” that would enable them to “support a family” and enter the “middle class”. Again, most US voters and policy-makers share these goals, so the narrative reflects their own aspirations in life.

Of course, poverty is a complex issue with myriad causes. But you need to avoid overwhelming your audience at the outset by diving into the complexity of the issue. The anti-poverty narrative framed th_e problem_ as a “lack of opportunity,” pointing out that we don’t all “start out in life” with the same opportunities. That language puts the focus on children born into poverty, which puts people in an altruistic frame of mind.

Your message should make a simple, straightforward connection between the problem and your solution

Message-testing research found that US voters and policy-makers agreed that unequal access to opportunity was at the heart of the problem. Obama echoed that idea in a major speech by saying, “We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else.”

Your message should make a simple, straightforward connection between the problem and your solution. The Ladders of Opportunity narrative presented government anti-policy policies and programmes as providing “tools” that helped people lift their families out of poverty — things like job training, financial literacy and education savings accounts.

“Tools” is a metaphor of empowerment, suggesting that the programmes equipped people to “work their way” out of poverty. The idea that people served by government programmes were making an effort was key to winning the support of policy-makers and the public.

The key ideas in this narrative framework can be communicated in a few short sentences:

Children born into poverty don’t have equal opportunities, because their families struggle to make ends meet. Government anti-poverty programmes provide tools to help hardworking people find good jobs, so they can support their families and join the middle class.

In national message-testing research, seven out of ten US voters said the narrative convinced them that the government should, indeed, provide these policies and programmes to fight poverty.

There is of course more to effective policy communication, like avoiding expert jargon and making strategic use of visuals and stories. But you can start strong by creating an aspirational narrative to introduce any topic, before you start delving into analysis, facts, and figures. – Doug Hattaway

This article is adapted from a policy communications training curriculum Hattaway created for the US State Department, US Department of Agriculture, and other government agencies during former US president Barack Obama’s administration.

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