Making A Personal Connection with Mike Doyle
By Michael Doyle MBA ATC
I am passionate about political advocacy, so it pushes this introvert far enough that I reach out to my elected officials on a regular basis. If you want to make a connection, it really does help to make it personal. Help your elected official understand the “how does this affect you” and the “why does it matter”.
I will give you a couple brief stories from the state and federal level that I have experienced. Washington, D.C. and history are fascinating to me. So, I have made several trips to D.C. to advocate for health care issues with various professional organizations. The top Legislative Assistant (LA) for my congressman was from my town, and we connected easily because of that connection. I would not only update her with issues before I came out to DC but also throughout the year. When I took my family to DC, she made sure that my son was able to go into the Representative's office and take pictures along with making him feel special.
About four years into regular communication, an issue came up that directly affected us, and we were getting the runaround locally on how something was being interpreted. This happened to be a month before I already had a scheduled advocacy trip to DC. When I went for my visit after completing my organizational advocacy, I brought up our specific trouble. One phone call was made from the Representative's office, where I explained the situation. This Director said they would make sure to pass down to our local person how “they” interpreted our situation. When I got back home, I had a message for our local person saying that there was just a misunderstanding and things would be corrected right away. They also followed up and said I didn’t have to go to DC I could have just talked with them, which I had to no avail.
My second example just happened at the start of our state legislative session this year. I have a state Representative who has helped us on licensure and practice act updates. I have had this relationship for a long time as our area has been redistricted multiple times, and she no longer is my representative, but we stay in regular contact (in person, email, and text message). I have hosted a fundraiser for her and supported her campaign. She knew we were bringing a practice act update this year. She was attending an event and was approached by a group that was opposing our update and spreading false information. She called me as she was leaving the event to let me know they were actively speaking out against our update. When our House File was introduced several weeks later, she was happy to sign on in support.
Building personal connections usually takes some time. Sometimes you get lucky with a connection of a town or school or someone you knew. Take advantage of these networking opportunities and build connections. You never know what will happen or how they can help you out.