Jennifer Bleiker, Bleiker Training

What do you do when policymakers are headed in the direction of a decision you feel would be a serious mistake? That’s when your work needs more than your expertise: it needs your leadership, even if you’re not in a leadership position.

Push past the barriers

Of course, stepping forward can create an awkward—even scary— situation, because it amounts to a role reversal, and you might be accused of insubordination. And it’s all too common that before you even get to start in on a problem, you’re told not to bother, because “it’d be a waste of time.” Don’t let such misgivings dissuade you. In these situations, providing leadership is the most responsible thing you can do.

Your ability to provide leadership will be essential precisely when it’s the most difficult, unpopular, and possibly personally detrimental to you. It’ll require you to stick out your neck and speak up when there’s pressure not to do so from colleagues, superiors, appointed and elected officials, and even the public.

But the pressure to keep quiet won’t be just external. You’ll likely weigh the risk of publicly raising your concerns against your personal needs and goals. You’ll be tempted to chalk up your reservations to a lack of political savvy and reflexively think, “I just work here.” Yet when the stakes are the highest, that’s when the public you serve needs your leadership the most.

Understand differing roles

Setting aside the discomfort of going against conventions, past practices, and overt pressure, you will need to shift roles to diplomatically provide leadership to policymakers. But you can’t simply shift their point of view without first deepening your understanding of theirs. Even though both you, the subject-matter expert, and policymakers are responsible for your organization’s mission, your roles in fulfilling that mission are quite different.

Policymakers might appear powerful, as they give or deny your team the green light to work on a proposal, project, or policy. And they have the last say on whether to implement (and fund) your team’s final recommendations. But in reality, their decision-making is surprisingly limited. Moreover, they are under tremendous pressure to be responsive to the demands of their constituents and the public at large (albeit frequently to the frustration of technical experts).

It’s these differing roles that actually allow you, a subject-matter expert, to provide leadership to the policymakers. Rather than interpreting their responsiveness to political pressure as a sign of defeat or a lack of commitment to the mission, you need to understand it for what it is: a very different set of responsibilities from yours. You can use this difference as a way to provide leadership to them, even when they are making policy-level decisions.

Like you, policymakers are steeped in the pressures and constraints of their current role. Even if they have a technical background and were at one time in an advisory role as you are now, they must weigh the benefits of endorsing work that will come at a steep political cost. But that doesn’t mean they won’t follow your lead, if you’re willing to take it.

Avoiding unnecessary controversy and conflict among stakeholders is central to the role of policymakers. They are beholden to the public, and asking them to endorse an effort that will make them a political target, without a compelling reason, is putting them in an untenable position. But there is a way for you to provide leadership that lends them cover from political attack.

Appeal to a higher authority

So how do you provide leadership when you’re not in a position to? You do it by unapologetically declaring your adherence to your profession’s ethics and by earning policymakers’ respect that in your role, it would be irresponsible for you to bend to political pressure.

Let’s look at an instance you might encounter that compels technical experts to lead policymakers. If you identify an area of work as being high priority but are met with resistance from policymakers who contend it would cause too much political turmoil, is a “third rail,” or would be an exercise in futility, you’ll need to provide leadership on why, in spite of the controversies or a history of failed efforts, it would be irresponsible for you not to work on that issue before any other.

When the stakes are the highest, that’s when the public you serve needs your leadership the most.

You’ll need to help your superiors, both within the organization and political figures outside of it, conclude that given the professional code of ethics you abide by, you must work on those items that are the most central to your mission, even the seemingly impossible. You have to help policymakers understand why you cannot exclude any item from your analysis, no matter how unpopular, controversial, or politically unworkable. While elected and appointed officials are answerable to a disharmonious public with diametrically opposing views and needs; you, as a technical expert, must be held to your professional ethos above all else.

When policymakers are reminded of the differences in your roles—and they understand the basic tenets of your professional ethics, your adherence to them, and your dedication to your organization’s mission—they are likely to appreciate your willingness to speak up and provide leadership to them. There’s no guarantee they’ll agree with your perspective on how to proceed, but there’s no question you’ll have provided leadership when it was needed most.

With 20-plus years of experience, Jennifer Bleiker has helped professionals apply her firm's Consent-Building approach to gain the trust and respect of opponents, policymakers, and the public across a variety of disciplines, including transportation, natural resources, nuclear waste management, and utilities.