Strategic Storytelling: It’s Time and It’s Necessary Patricia A. Morrissey, Ph.D. Commissioner Administration on Developmental Disabilities U.S. Department of Health and Human Services March 13, 2007 PacRim, Honolulu THE CONTEXT & THE BASICS The Target Group: Policy Makers * Each wants to be distinguishable from colleagues, recognized for doing good, and viewed as responsive to customers * Impacting on a policy maker is a personal process * Policy makers identify with individuals The Strategies * Visit the policy maker’s web site * Attend an event * Visit them at work * Invite the policy maker to an event * Profile the policy maker in a newsletter * Give the policy maker an award Calendar and Process * Learn when in the year things are important to the policy maker * Usually there are multiple opportunities to affect things – but try to get in at the beginning Policy Makes Have Varying Jobs * Ideas * Money * Implementation * Oversight Implications * Real opportunity to affect things * An established relationship gives us more access and influence * Policy makers only have time to talk to a few people * Policy makers rely on even fewer The Message * It is not enough to have access to a policy maker * We must know what we want The Basics * The message -- a phone call, a letter, or a fact sheet -- should include several things: – A clear statement of what we want – Supporting facts on what the request would accomplish – Examples of what the program or funding has affected in the past – An explanation of the consequences of no action on or contrary action to the request – Indication of the availability of back up information; and – Our address(es) and telephone numbers Responsibility: Implications and Need for a Code of Conduct * A policy maker does not necessarily see the limits of our expertise * Policy makers and their staff think we know everything about disability policy * Questions we can answer should be answered honestly in "user friendly" language * When we can answer only partially, admit our limitations * When we do not know the answer, volunteer to attempt to find it * When we do not know the answer, but know a reliable source, supply the information STRATEGIC STORYTELLING Challenges * What we think we see is not necessarily accurate * What we know we said is not necessarily heard * What we understood to be said, may not be what was meant * What we wrote has more power if it emphasizes context and relevance (transferability/potential use by the reader) Purposes of Strategic Storytelling * To establish credibility * To recruit partners * To change something for the better * To promote replication * To educate * To sustain what we know is important * To persuade What We Want: Opportunities Through Advocacy, Capacity Building, and Systems Change… In… * Early intervention * Education * Employment * Health care * Housing * Transportation * Child care * Recreation Which result in… * Access * Inclusion * Independence * Choice * Participation * Control * Engagement * Contribution A Strategic Story… General Approach * Goes from the personal story to the broader impact * Goes from what is to what could be * Includes context information – demographics, politics, timing, opportunities, and compelling need * Using numbers in the story adds credibility Components * Has a visual, concrete elements * Identifies/recognizes partners * Tells what it will take to get there -- is unit-based – we had this or did this, we reached 100 families, 6 counties, 15 policy makers. A Strategic Story Is Placed… * In the right hands * In the right format * At the right time * For the right reason MAHALO! patricia.morrissey@acf.hhs.gov (202) 690-6590 http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/add/