Last spring I had the opportunity to teach a course on advocacy and public policy for graduate students. This was a great opportunity to engage in dialogue about an important, but not necessarily well understood aspect of leadership. In my experience policy and advocacy are frequently confused with electoral politics. While this can sometimes be the case, it is not always. Learning more about advocacy and public policy can help to remove some of the mystery around these topics and make leaders feel more empowered. This is often an important set of tasks within agriculture and the food system, where effective leadership goes beyond managing resources and people—it also requires the ability to navigate and influence policy. Agricultural leaders need to understand the broader policy landscape to more effectively advocate for their industries and communities, help inform regulations, and support systemic change. Based on a research project I undertook with several amazing colleagues we developed the proposed Policy Leadership Framework to help provide a starting point for those interested in more effectively engaging in advocacy and policy discussions. The framework is intended to help leaders understand and participate with the policy process at every level, from setting the agenda to evaluating outcomes.
Key Recommendations and Model Highlights:
Policy Agenda Setting: Effective leaders play a crucial role in setting the policy agenda by representing their industries and communities and establishing clear goals.
Policy Formulation: Leaders contribute to policy formulation by providing technical guidance and ensuring policies align with their vision, values, and needs.
Policy Adoption: During the adoption phase, leaders maintain focus and support to ensure that policies are approved and ready for implementation.
Policy Implementation: Leaders assist in translating goals into actionable rules and coordinating resources to bring policies to life.
Policy Evaluation: In the final stage, leaders evaluate the effectiveness of policies, ensuring they meet the intended goals and and vision.
Challenges and Opportunities:
Integrating Policy Leadership into Education: Agricultural and leadership educators should look for opportunities to incorporate policy leadership into their curriculum to prepare future leaders for the challenges of navigating policy environments.
Context-Specific Leadership: As policies vary widely across local, state, national, and even international levels, leaders should be acknowledge and seek to understand and adapt to context-specific factors. Similarly, across industries, agricultural or otherwise, it is important to understand the context for any advocacy or policy activities.
Our hope is the Policy Leadership Framework can serve as a tool for agricultural leaders, educators, and policymakers. By understanding and engaging with each step of the policy process, leaders can more effectively advocate for their industries and communities and drive meaningful change in the agricultural sector. Please be sure to share your insights using the comments below. I've also included a copy of the full manuscript if you would like to read more.
Lamm, K. W., Randall, N. L., Lamm, A. J., & Carter, H. S. (2019). Policy leadership: a theory-based model. Journal of Leadership Education, 18(3), 185-191. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.12806/V18/I3/T1/full/html
Amazing piece.