The Internal Side of Public Affairs (39). What I’ve Learned from Quantifying Public Affairs Work

Alan Hardacre, PhD

Co-Founder Advocacy Academy, Advocacy Strategy

June 2025

In my last post, I broke down the mechanics of quantifying Public Affairs risks and opportunities. But the real value? It comes from what happens around the numbers. Here are four lessons that have reshaped how I think about Public Affairs impact:

1. Quantification Transforms Conversations

Trying to put numbers on Public Affairs issues forces clarity. It deepens your understanding of policy impacts and sharpens how you speak internally. Suddenly, you're not just “flagging issues” — you’re talking about actual business exposure, opportunity, and risk in concrete terms. So, objectives become clearer (and tangible), alignment gets real (other people understand you) and cross-functional collaboration starts to click (you get buy-in). Even if the numbers aren’t perfect, the process itself elevates your role.

2. Risk Mitigation Wins are Real — but Short-Lived

Quantification helps show what you’ve prevented from happening. Avoiding a negative outcome is a win. But in many organizations, those wins fade fast. That’s why:

·      You must document and communicate these wins proactively

·      But also know they rarely build long-term visibility

·      Think of them as reaching base camp — not the summit

3. Bottom-Line Opportunities Are What Stick

The real breakthrough? When Public Affairs helps unlock new markets, accelerate product approvals, or improve cost structures – or generally just add value to the bottom line. That’s when people see value and really buy-in to your work. It is also a game-changing moment for your resource requests and internal visibility and credibility. Summary – you need to be working on at least one issue that has the potential to directly add to your bottom line.

4. You Have to Stick With It t Build a Decision-Making Tool

Quantification isn’t just a spreadsheet exercise. It’s a discipline. It takes iteration, collaboration, and constant alignment with internal stakeholders. But if you keep iterating, refining, and bringing others in, it does become a decision-making tool. And that’s the point. The whole quantification exercise is about supporting better decision-making and resource allocation.

Quantification is a mindset — not just a metric. It’s about helping your organisation make better decisions, allocate resources wisely, and understand the value you bring. Have you tried something similar? What’s worked — or backfired — in your organization?