With their intense involvement in legislative and regulatory
developments at the local, state and federal levels, many corporate
public affairs departments set their priorities in reaction to the
timetables or priorities of governmental and legislative bodies.
One major East Coast utility, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. ,
found that by looking inward to establish its public affairs
priorities, it was able to bring its operations into closer alignment
with the goals of operating managers.
BGE's public affairs department began working last year with
public affairs consulting firm Laird & Associates, Chevy Chase, Md.,
to implement a "Quantifying Impacts" (QI) approach to setting its
public affairs agenda (see box). This process involves detailed
interviewing of operating staff about their goals, and ways in which
public affairs can support its most critical goals with the greatest
financial opportunities.
Interviewing Staff
BG&E began the QI process in the summer of 1995. Typically two
members of the public affairs team were present for each executive
interview. To encourage executives to think "outside the box," they
were asked what options they would pursue if external constraints no
longer were a factor.
According to Judy Pensabene, director of federal affairs,
executives were encouraged to think of those opportunities that came
to mind as they were in their business planning process, but were
discarded because of legislative constraints or the current regulatory
environment.
For each of the initiatives listed in this "perfect world"
scenario, the public affairs team worked with the executives to place
a dollar value on the business opportunity.
Allows Proaction
The "beauty" of the QI approach is that it has allowed BG&E's
public affairs department to be proactive rather than reactive, said
Mary Dempsey, director of state affairs. Typically, BG&E's public
affairs and government relations staffs focused on developments in the
Maryland legislature or in Congress, and developed priorities and
action plans based on legislative priorities.
The QI process allowed BG&E to "look at things we might like to
change legislatively," focusing on those possible changes with the
greatest bottom-line impact, said Dempsey.
Helps Relations With Managers
Beyond the obvious benefit of focusing public affairs and
government relations efforts on crucial areas with bottom-line impact,
another benefit has been one of perception: "I think executives were
pleased that we were out soliciting their ideas...Departments like
being asked what is important to them," said Dempsey.
Echoed R. Clayton Mitchell, manager of public affairs: "It shows
that we are interested in them. That makes them want to step up to
the plate [and support the process]."
Looking ahead to its merger with nearby Washington, D.C.-based
utility Potomac Electric Power Co. [POM] next year, Mitchell predicts
the QI interview process will serve his department well as it
establishes relations with managers at that company. (BG&E, 410/234-
5534)
Interviews Are Key to 'Quantifying Impacts' Approach to Public Affairs
The "Quantifying Impacts" (QI) approach used by Baltimore Gas &
Electric's public affairs team came about through BG&E's work with
Laird & Associates's Nick Laird.
Interviews of operating and staff managers by the public affairs
staff are the key to the QI process, according to Laird.
As he described the QI approach in a chapter of "Practical Public
Affairs In An Era of Change," (published recently by the Public
Relations Society of America), the goal of interviews is "to identify
profit-generating or cost-reducing issues and potential projects that
would not be identified by operating and staff managers in the normal
course of business."
These interviews will be most effective at generating a list of
possibilities to the extent that managers believe public affairs
staffers are committed to helping units achieve profitable objectives.
In light of this, Laird recommends that interviews obtain gross
earning impact numbers for issues or projects that are suggested by
managers in the interviews.
When looking at potential issues to be addressed, the QI process
requires asking other questions, such as who is affected?, when might
effects be felt?, and what methods might be used to solve the problem?
When these are coupled with probability assessments, public
affairs departments can make decisions about which issues or projects
are the most promising to pursue. (Laird, 301/657-9238)