Election Day and Beyond

Tomorrow is election day and exercising your right to vote is an important part of being a citizen, but for business owners and leaders the need to be engaged and connected doesn’t end there.

Engaging in the political process as a business leader can sometimes be challenging and uncomfortable. Questions about how best to interact with policy makers at the local, state, and federal level; what issues you should focus on; and knowing how you to be sure your thoughts and concerns are being effectively communicated can be difficult to answer.

As a leader and expert in your field, your voice can be critical to ensure that representation by elected leaders in your region best reflects the needs of your business community. Here are a few tips for best practices after election day.

• Engage with policymakers and candidates to build relationships. Elected officials don’t want to hear from you only when you need something. Spending time building relationships and getting to know them, and their priorities can help you make a greater impact and have long-term success in helping them shape their policy decisions.
• Use your business expertise to be a resource. Elected officials at all levels have a wide variety of topics they deal with and can’t become experts in all of them. Becoming a trusted advisor in areas you are an expert can help them make informed decisions with useful information to support their actions.
• Connect with a network of other professionals. Whether its national, state, or local organizations and advocacy groups. Building connections can help you learn and strengthen you voice in numbers. Trade organizations or business groups like the local Chamber of Commerce can be a suitable place to start.

Policy making affects businesses in many ways, as a new group of candidates step forward to serve in that capacity now is the perfect time for our community business leaders to help advocate for those that will best serve the business interests of our region in Southeast Missouri.