It’s not intuitive and, unless you’ve been in it, it’s like navigating a foreign land in a foreign language.

Here’s my best advice:

Get to the point. Quick.

When I was chief of staff to the Governor of Florida, I did meetings in 15-minute increments. That’s lots of meetings on a wide variety of topics, all while fending off issues of distracting urgency throughout the day. If you can’t answer two questions within the first two minutes, you’ve lost. Those questions are: 1. Why am I here? 2. What do I want?

Know your audience.

The people you meet with are most focused on the problems already on their desk. If you can help solve one of those, you’ll keep their attention. If your ask or solution is not solving a problem they are actively facing, you’ll get little reception. Even if it’s a great solution!

Don’t ask government to take risks or be an early adopter.

That’s not to say government, and people in government, can’t be innovators. But it does mean, in general, they’re not going to spend taxpayer money by going first. They want tested and proven. Take innovation to the private market. Take tested and proven solutions to the public market.

Every decision government makes has far more facets than you can see or may appreciate.

There’s a bureaucracy to be fought or managed. There’s the media who scrutinizes and finds fault with every decision. There are legislators and/or commissioners who have a preferred solution or vendor. And there’s a public that is low on trust and high on skepticism. All of that has to be factored in when making decisions. The more you can help address all of the above, the better.

Avoid good meetings.

You can have lots of meetings with political leaders and government officials. But, unless you ask for the vote, the sale, or a clear outline of next steps, all you’ve had is a “good meeting.” Not a productive meeting. And, remember, your time will be short and the opportunities for future meetings will be limited. Get clarity at the end of your time together. Make the ask.

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