Few projects match the pressures of a political election I campaign—a tight timeframe, a legally mandated deadline, massive ranks of stakeholders, resource constraints, intricately choreographed activities taking place on several crit-I ical paths at once. And then there are the attacks from rival campaigns, intent on disrupting your plans. Yet an election campaign is indeed a project. It may have undeniably distinct characteristics, but that doesn't mean project managers can't pick up a trick or two from campaign managers and vice versa.
Tapping into effective project management processes can mean the difference between a winning candidate and a losing one.
“I've seen well-recognized and well-funded candidates who appeared to be well on the way to success tripped-up by the ineffective management of their campaigns,” says David Tom. As a deputy assessor, county clerk and recorder, he manages the county, state and national elections in San Mateo County, Calif., USA.
The relationship works in the opposite direction, too. “I've also seen highly effective campaign management transform the fortunes of candidates once regarded as likely to lose,” he says. “And that's as true for elections for the highest office in the land as it is for smaller local elections.”
Like any well-run project, campaigns rely on planning and process. “The key to a successful election campaign is massive discipline—nothing more and nothing less,” says Gavin Megaw, associate director at communications firm Fleishman Hillard, London, U.K. A former Conservative Party press secretary and spokesperson, he has witnessed several British election campaigns from the inside.
MESSAGE MANAGEMENT
As election days get closer, the pressures mount. Tempers fray. Candidates and their spokespeople get tired and make mistakes. And there's less time to correct erroneous impressions. An early gaffe or poor showing is bad enough, but it can prove deadly in the final days and hours.
“One of the hardest parts of an election campaign is dealing with the unexpected—when people say something they shouldn't, and it takes over the story, becoming the day's headlines,” says Gavin Megaw, a former Conservative Party press secretary.
Unexpected is one thing—unprepared is quite another. These days, he says, major election campaigns are armed with rebuttal teams, poised to jump in and stem the bleeding. Mr. Megaw himself headed up the Conservative's rapid rebuttal operation during a recent election campaign.
The moral for project managers is that disaster may strike. But risk management not only helps avoid trouble, it can assist in deftly dealing with those woes if they should happen.
Even so, rebuttal carries dangers, warns Glenn Newkirk, InfoSENTRY.
“Election campaigns can involve staying ‘on message’ to an extent that can deny reality,” he notes.
This can be one case in which project managers may not want to imitate their political brethren. “At their worst, campaigns will lie, fabricate and distort,” Mr. Newkirk says. “In project management, that can be catastrophic. You need open, free-flowing and dynamic communications—not lies and deception.”
THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL ELECTION CAMPAIGN IS MASSIVE DISCIPLINE—NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS.
—GAVIN MEGAW, FLEISHMAN HILLARD, LONDON, U.K.
THE BIG DAY
Election days in Australia aren't the same as election days in most places. While politicians and campaign managers in other countries focus on getting people to the polls, their Aussie counterparts work within a system in which voting is compulsory.
As a result, “the emphasis isn't so much on getting the vote out, as connecting with voters—especially undecided voters. The finale of this operation is when they arrive at the polling station,” says James McGrath, an Australian political operative currently working as chief of staff to Britain's Conservative Party chairman.
THE EMPHASIS ISN'T SO MUCH ON GETTING THE VOTE OUT, AS CONNECTING WITH VOTERS—ESPECIALLY UNDECIDED VOTERS.
—JAMES MCGRATH, AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL OPERATIVE
Elections happen on Saturdays, and usually take place in public buildings, such as schools. In target and marginal constituencies, there's fierce competition for the best place to pitch, with rival party workers setting up stalls and decorating the site with core messages. They then need a roster of people to guard their work overnight until voting takes place in the morning.
The project then moves into spin mode—and no one can elect to opt out.
That discipline can involve a degree of planning that might surprise outsiders. Walkabouts and photo ops, for example, must be carefully reconnoitered and rehearsed. A pratfall in front of the world's media can merit days of coverage. British television still plays footage of former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock being soaked by a huge wave during an impromptu beach walk for the press.
Critical resources are also planned down to the smallest detail. “In an ideal world, there will be a grid in place showing the location of key spokespeople and candidates-such as the party leader—for every hour of every day of the campaign,” with backup resources positioned to step in when any of those key players are unavailable, even when they're flying to one city to another, he says.
Resource management proved to be a persistent challenge when Sue Haswell ran as a Liberal Democrat candidate in the 2005 British general election. Operating with a limited budget and only a handful of loyal party workers, the campaign was up against an incumbent member of Parliament, who had significantly more funding. “It meant we had to work harder, smarter and more strategically,” says Ms. Haswell, now managing director of public relations company Haswell Holden, Bromsgrove, U.K.
THE OVERALL STRATEGY OF THE
CAMPAIGN IS KNOWN AND FIXED.
THE BROAD DIRECTION OF THE
CAMPAIGN IS CLEAR—YET THE
PRECISE ROUTING WILL BE INFLUENCED
BY OPPORTUNITIES THAT EMERGE AS
THE CAMPAIGN UNFOLDS.
—SUE HASWELL, HASWELL HOLDEN, BROMSGROVE, U.K.
The campaign tried to limit the resources expended on activities that weren't directly voter-facing, for example. At a number of meet-the-candidate events, other campaigns showed up en masse, with candidates typically bringing along entourages of party workers. Ms. Haswell, by contrast, took along just a scratch team or went alone. “I'm strong enough to stand up for myself, and we needed everyone out on the road leafleting,” she explains.
Ms. Haswell also stretched resources by paying special attention to a stakeholder group she dubs the influencers. She defines these people as “members of the community who had links to others and who could therefore carry my message further: school leaders, hospital management and even local shops.”
Both election campaigns and projects must be able to define what success will look like, says Glenn Newkirk, president of InfoSENTRY, a Raleigh, N.C., USA-based project management and IT consultancy with experience in election systems.
“Clarity of vision is critically important, as is clarity regarding the amount of effort that needs to be deployed,” he says. “In the project world, we've seen a lot of examples where there's no shared vision among the project team as to what the endeavor is all about.”
In election campaigns, it's a flaw that can prove fatal. Seasoned politicians and their campaign managers understand a lack of focus doesn't play well with voters. On the stump, prevarication isn't an option. Candidates must be able to articulate the platform for which they stand—and do so in language that resonates with voters. One of the most striking examples of this idea happened during the 1992 U.S. presidential race when Bill Clinton's campaign adopted the mantra, “It's the economy, stupid.”
If that shared vision is vital, so too is the need to resist attempts to subvert the core message. “Staying on point and staying focused is crucial,” Mr. Newkirk stresses. “It's vital to avoid any scope creep that can see you expend your resources on things that don't contribute to that success.”
That's easier said than done, of course, as many project managers would attest. In the world of elections, candidates and campaign managers must master the fine line between scope creep that will ultimately prove unproductive—and scope creep that represents a genuine twist in the campaign, altering or crystallizing voter opinion.
“You've got to be flexible. You've got to see opportunities and seize them,” Ms. Haswell says. “The overall strategy of the campaign is known and fixed. The broad direction of the campaign is clear—yet the precise routing will be influenced by opportunities that emerge as the campaign unfolds.”
During her run, for example, Ms. Haswell highlighted themes from the national Liberal Democrat campaign, including the party's unequivocal stance on British involvement in Iraq. At the same time, she was addressing her local stakeholders by tapping into growing opposition for plans to build a supermarket on a soccer field in the town center. “There was a real groundswell of dissent,” Ms. Haswell explains. “Right up until polling day, there was everything to play for.”
Come election day, Ms. Haswell's hard work and smart tactics didn't unseat the incumbent. She did, however, increase her party's share by 25 percent—not too shabby a deliverable. PM