How to think like an evidence-informed policymaker

I’ve spent the past 11 years working closely with policymakers in the United Kingdom and internationally on many issues to do with evidence. During that time I’ve noticed that, although everyone has a different way of doing their job, those policymakers really putting evidence to good use share certain ways of thinking, which might stand you in good stead in other careers. Here’s a few of the most useful ways to approach your work: 1. Sometimes, you need to think a bit like a boxer. As a senior policymaker, you need to be ready to defend your policies. Sometimes this means helping your minister or head of state defend policies in public, sometimes it means arguing over resources with other departments or the treasury. Like a boxer, you need to be fit to duck and dive the politics of the issues, ready to go in with the evidence at the right time. One policy team I worked with held onto a research report for about six months, waiting for an internal policy window to open up so they could use the evidence effectively. Your evidence is your boxing gloves. It tells people that you have a detailed understanding of the situation, of the underlying need for change, and rigorous analysis of what could be done to bring about change and what the risks are. Flimsy gloves won’t get you far in the ring. But policymaking isn’t just a combat sport. 2. Sometimes, you need to think like a ship’s captain. Implementing policy nearly always turns out differently from how you thought it would. Sometimes you might be thrown a little off course; sometimes you hit very stormy seas. Policymaking is like a voyage of discovery and, if you’re the captain, evidence is like your captain’s chart, compass and weather forecast. Together, they help you ask and answer important questions: are we heading in the right direction? Is the weather about to change? What does it look like ahead? Who else has made a journey like this, and what happened to them? You don’t use your evidence once and put it in a cupboard for the rest of the voyage: just like a ship’s captain, you need to think about evidence pretty much constantly. And you can’t sail a ship on your own. You need to communicate with and listen to others throughout the journey. 3. Sometimes, you need to imagine you’re managing a wildlife park. There’s a lot of evidence out there. And as a senior policy official, it’s your job to manage your evidence base, to ensure that it contains all the evidence you need to make decisions. It’s a bit like looking after a wildlife park with lots of animals: the evidence won’t always be where you want it to be — some of it will be easy to find, but sometimes you’ll have to work hard to get at it. You can’t sit on the sidelines, waiting for the evidence to come to you; you need a good pair of binoculars to find where it is, and then you have to get close to it to understand what it’s saying. And this won’t always be what you want to hear. Sometimes evidence can feel quite intimidating, coming to conclusions that threaten your policy. But it is all valuable. Even if they consider their animals to be dangerous, wildlife park managers look after them. Likewise, even if you don’t like what the research is telling you, you need the courage to go out there, listen to it, understand it, and then make your own informed decisions. Another policy team I worked with in the U.K. changed the job descriptions of two of their staff to allow them to spend three days a year going out and talking informally to researchers about what they were working on. These individuals came back full of ideas and a renewed enthusiasm for their work. 4. Above all, thinking like a policymaker means thinking like an artist. Art isn’t just about painting pretty pictures; great art makes us think differently and ask questions about how we see the world. Evidence helps you look at things from a different perspective. You use evidence to ask fundamental questions, such as: What are the big ideas and arguments at stake? Are we engaging fully with them? Can we look at the issue from a different angle? Can we use different materials to represent it? In evidence terms, how can we best use qualitative and quantitative research, modelling, evaluations, evidence from citizens, and all the administrative data we have at our fingertips? But remember: Other people will always see things differently Evidence helps you understand the big ideas and arguments, but it can’t provide a single answer. You have to acknowledge that there will be other opinions and other voices, and be prepared to engage with the politics of the decisions you are taking. You can’t use evidence to force people to disregard their points of view and see what you’re seeing. People see things differently based on what they value, on their experience, on what they believe in. As a senior policy-maker your job isn’t just to make sure that your evidence tools are used, it’s also to ensure that the people you work with are widely engaged so they respect and incorporate different points of view into policy. I’ve facilitated workshops whose specific purpose was to uncover the “lines of argument” put forwards by different stakeholders about how to design policies around sustainability. Some surprising interpretations emerged, and these proved immensely valuable to the policy team. You need to use your wisdom and experience to make your own judgements about how to use evidence as effectively as possible. But if you can think a bit like a boxer, a ship’s captain, a wildlife park manager, and an artist, you’ll be able to stand by those judgements when you need to. This blog was delivered as a short presentation for the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice. You can watch it online here. Devex Professional Membership means access to the latest buzz, innovations, and lifestyle tips for development, health, sustainability and humanitarian professionals like you. Our mission is to do more good for more people. If you think the right information can make a difference, we invite you to join us by making a small investment in Professional Membership.