Why aren’t you
being heard?
Generally, the decision-makers in politics and government are incredibly overworked and just as time constrained. We know because we’ve sat in those chairs. Getting their attention is not easy. Securing a seat at the table where policy and funding decisions are made is a major challenge.
It’s a challenge we are up for, on behalf of our clients, and on behalf of the causes they represent and the good they construct.
In Shirley's footsteps
Seat At The Table takes its cue – and name – from an expression coined by Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, a ground-breaking member of the US Congress who served from 1968 to 1983. Shirley’s stop-at-nothing determination to achieve her social justice goals is encapsulated in her famous phrase: “if they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair”.
We have adopted this as our guiding principle – a dogged persistence in the way we deploy our knowledge, mine our networks, develop strategies, and implement them creatively for our clients.
Many of our clients are new to politics and government, and are unsure how to navigate a world where customary business strategies and negotiating tactics often don’t apply.
We are open in sharing our knowledge of how the political system works, and provide our clients with a clear rationale behind any recommended strategy. This extends to formal and informal training programs that give our clients the skills to interact with government and media, and the confidence to do so.
New to the world of
power and influence?
If you have hired advocacy consultants to lobby on your behalf, you’ll know the difference between those who only have one available path, and those who attempt every feasible route to deliver the result you want. We come from that second group.
Our strategies typically include multiple initiatives, running either concurrently or sequentially. Each is aimed at building medium and long-term relationships with the people you are targeting, which makes future programs easier to design and implement.
Experienced players