{"id":322,"date":"2018-10-30T13:29:42","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T13:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/?p=322"},"modified":"2020-06-26T11:19:03","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T11:19:03","slug":"how-to-engage-effectively-and-speak-truth-to-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/2018\/10\/30\/how-to-engage-effectively-and-speak-truth-to-power\/","title":{"rendered":"How to engage effectively and \u2018speak truth to power\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A blogpost by Prof Paul Cairney<\/a>, University of Stirling<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>The story of \u2018speaking truth to power\u2019 comes up frequently in these science-policy debates. Many scientists describe their role in producing the best scientific evidence, seeking to maximise the role of scientific evidence in policy, and criticising policymakers vociferously if they don\u2019t use evidence to inform their decisions.<\/p>\n

Yet, as I and Dr Richard Kwiatkowski (Cranfield University) argue in \u2018How to Communicate Effectively with Policymakers<\/a>\u2019, \u2018without establishing legitimacy and building trust\u2019 such strategies can be counter productive. A more effective strategy built on individual psychology:<\/p>\n

involves showing simple respect and seeking ways to secure their trust, rather than feeling egotistically pleased about \u2018speaking truth to power\u2019 without discernible progress. Effective engagement requires preparation, diplomacy, and good judgement as much as good evidence.<\/em><\/p>\n

We also identify the obstacles associated with organizational psychology to tell a cautionary tale about speaking truth to power without first establishing trust:<\/p>\n

One solution is \u2018task conflict\u2019 rather than \u2018relationship conflict\u2019, to encourage information sharing without major repercussions. It requires the trust and \u2018psychological safety\u2019 that comes with \u2018team development\u2019 \u2026 If successful, one can \u2018speak truth to power\u2019 \u2026 or be confident that your presentation of evidence, which challenges the status quo, is received positively.\u00a0 Under such circumstances, a \u2018battle of ideas\u2019 can genuinely take place and new thinking can be possible. If these circumstances are not present, speaking truth to power may be disastrous.<\/em><\/p>\n

I have also explored this wider organisational and policy making context with Professor Chris Weible (UC Denver) in \u00a0\u2018The New Policy Sciences<\/a>\u2019. They show that, although politics appears to move at a fast pace, it actually takes a lengthy investment of time to become influential enough to provide impactful evidence-based policy analysis:<\/p>\n

focus on engagement for the long term to develop the resources necessary to maximize the impact of policy analysis and understand the context in which the information is used. Among the advantages of long-term engagement are learning the \u2018rules of the game\u2019 in organizations, forming networks built on trust and a track record of reliability, learning how to \u2018soften\u2019 policy solutions according to the beliefs of key policymakers and influencers, and spotting \u2018windows of opportunity\u2019 to bring together attention to a problem, a feasible solution, and the motive and opportunity of policymakers to select it \u2026In short, the substance of your analysis only has meaning in relation to the context in which it is used. Further, generating trust in the messenger and knowing your audience may be more important to success than presenting the evidence<\/em>.<\/p>\n

From such analysis, the conclusion is that researchers, \u2018should not see themselves as heroes to be respected instantly and simply for their knowledge. They will only effective in several venues \u2013 from the lab to public and political arenas \u2013 if they are humble enough to learn from others and respect the knowledge of other people. Speaking truth to power sounds catchy and exciting but it doesn\u2019t capture the sense of pragmatism we need to make an impact\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n

Paul Cairney<\/a><\/strong> is Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Stirling. Paul\u2019s latest book, The Politics of Evidence Based Policy Making,<\/a> identifies a complex policymaking system in which it is impossible to identify a simple relationship between evidence and policy. Follow Paul @Cairneypaul<\/a> or @undpublicpolicy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A blogpost by Prof Paul Cairney, University of Stirling The story of \u2018speaking truth to power\u2019 comes up frequently in these science-policy debates. Many scientists describe their role in producing the best scientific evidence, seeking to maximise the role of scientific evidence in policy, and criticising policymakers vociferously if they don\u2019t use evidence to inform   …Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":445,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions\/445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sps.ed.ac.uk\/skape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}