The need to pay attention in interim years

This is the time of year when business owners and executives reflect on their accomplishments and failures of the past year and what influenced those successes or failures.

It is also the time when business executives contemplate the execution of competitive strategies that will allow them to leverage past experiences and strengths to maintain focus and succeed in the year and years ahead.

Often times laws and regulations interfere with the ability to execute strategies only because the laws and regulations have not kept pace with the competitive markets.

Government affairs professionals can provide business with the tools necessary to affect changes in those laws and regulations.

Successful business leaders have an appreciation for external influences that impact their ability to compete, succeed and grow and develop plans to manage those influences.

Almost without exception, every business is impacted by external influences such as availability and cost of labor, financing, education, energy, transportation, health care, and natural resources, to mention only a few.

All of these external influences are impacted by public policy and the political process that creates that policy.

Forward looking and thinking executives will integrate into their business plans those strategies and approaches that reflect the impact of the political process and address political influences on their ability to succeed.

They value the importance of the political process and leverage its impact to support their ability to execute business strategies.

Identifying, anticipating and influencing changes in public policy are attributes of being competitive and successful.

This year, 2006, is a period of time in the state legislative cycle where the Legislature meets through study committees and examines issues to identify necessary changes in public policy it is more commonly referred to as the interim period.

It is also a time when businesses, constituents and other stakeholder groups meet with citizen legislators and candidates to expose them to issues and challenges affecting their interests and recommend solutions and change.

The interim period is very busy and a necessary period of the legislature that potentially has broad implications in a business' ability to succeed or fail.

It is also a time when citizens of Nevada seek public approval to retain their position in the Legislature or to become members of the Legislature.

Taking the time to evaluate and reflect upon laws and regulations that impact one's business and their ability to compete will pay dividends, particularly if some of those laws and regulations have fallen out of touch with the market place.

Recent changes in technologies, new and modified federal programs, population growth and trends and many other factors may make obsolete laws and regulations that govern business.

Trade associations generally do a fine job of being the watchdog for many of the updates we see in laws and regulations.

But, oftentimes it is the businesses or the business leaders that are first to anticipate a need to change a law or regulation and communicate that need for change with elected officials.

This function of assessing necessary changes in laws or regulations is often performed by legal and government affairs departments in very large corporations.

In the absence of a government affairs department, business managers can meet with and develop government affairs strategies using the support of government affairs professionals.

A government affairs professional should be able to assist business executives in helping them evaluate their business from a public policy perspective and help them identify those laws and regulations that should be examined and perhaps updated.

The government affairs professional should be able to help you understand the legislative or regulatory process and advise you of other factors that impact the process of updating laws and regulations.

Consultation with a government affairs professional will help the successful business executive maintain a competitive edge, better understand the external influences of public policy and support the execution of their business strategies.

Federal, state and local government continues to influence the success or failure of business.

Successful leaders of business work to understand the impacts of that influence and also work to influence government.

A government affairs professional provides business with the capability and ability to influence necessary change in government.

Jim Endres, president of the McDonald Carano Wilson government affairs group, serves as a non-lawyer political consultant.