Securing Influence and Impact

How to manage relationships, knowledge and opportunities

In order to have influence in the world, organizations may need to change their starting point. Too often, groups begin with what they know, or what they want to know, and then do the research. Only when this is done do they consider how this knowledge might be communicated to others for application to conservation and development problems.

IISD is experimenting with a different approach: having influence begins with determining what exactly it is you want to influence—what decisions do you want to influence?; what specific changes do you want to see in the world. From there, you determine whom you need to influence—who is in a position to make or influence that decision or effect that change?

Only then do you consider the knowledge question: what knowledge does that person need?; what do you need to know in order to advise them? And how are you going to share that knowledge with them? Having influence involves shifting the emphasis from knowledge itself to relationships and interaction. Communications work similarly shifts from an emphasis on publication and release of findings to a broader perspective on the management of opportunities to engage and influence.

The following model presents the IISD influencing framework. IISD is continuing to test and refine the model with its own partners:

We are developing training materials with UNEP to help managers ensure that integrated environment assessments have impact.
We are working with the Lake Balaton Development Coordination Agency to develop a strategy to influence stakeholders to improve the management of Lake Balaton in Hungary.
We are a member of UNEP's Global Environmental Outlook Outreach Working Group.
We have advised IUCN – The World Conservation Union (PDF - 451 kb) on strengthening its own influence through this approach.

Step 1. All of our work must be anchored by the decisions or changes in the world that we are seeking to effect, recognizing that there are many other external influences that may also lead to those decisions or changes. Our starting point in every project is a clear understanding of what the anchor for the project is—an articulation of the decision or change that must be made. The decision or change we seek must be grounded in reality, but focused on positive action.
Step 2. Next, we need to identify those who are in positions to make the decision or effect the changes; those who can influence the decision-makers directly (the people who whisper advice into the ears of the decision-makers); those in civil society who can bring pressure to bear on decision-makers; those who can support, reinforce and strengthen our recommendations, in particular the academic community and other research institutes; those in the media through whom we reach the public, who can also influence decision-makers; and the donor community, who can finance and support our efforts. Central to determining whom to reach is the concept of relationship management: maintaining our connections and our influence over time.
Step 3. Once we have articulated who will help with achieving the decision we seek, we need to analyze what they need to know, and what we need to know, that will help them take or influence the decision. This includes the provision of existing information, policy analysis, original research and collaborative research through knowledge networks. This is the knowledge management process—the identification, analysis and packaging of existing knowledge and the generation of new ideas, concepts and applications.
Step 4. Next we need to determine how to move that knowledge into the hands of those we want to influence. We have many tools available to do this: training and capacity development; the products we release; the conferences and workshops we hold; the partnerships we foster; and our amplifiers, including our electronic mailing lists and Web sites, which get replicated throughout much wider audiences than we may have targeted. At the heart of the tactics and strategies that we develop is our creative management of opportunities: both taking advantage of key windows to move our work into the hands of others, and creating opportunity directly.
Step 5. We know that in most our work, we cannot easily demonstrate that our efforts have led directly to the decision we were seeking. But we can look at incremental changes in attitudes, actions and behaviours that are a direct outcome of our work. Monitoring and assessment mechanisms must be in place so that we can identify and map these incremental changes that will lead towards the decisions or changes we are seeking.
Step 6. Finally, our work contributes to the larger environment of sustainable development knowledge: both strengthening our internal understandings and supporting the broader community of researchers and practitioners.

» Themes

» Initiatives

» Networks and Communities

» Concepts and Principles

» Governance

» Management and Sustainability

» Influence, Engagement and Communications

» Evaluation