Strategy Survival Guide

Most Departments will have good international contacts and should be able to point you to the relevant
institution or person. The Foreign Office (FCO) will also be able to provide contacts in the relevant countries.
However, the FCO receives a large number of requests for assistance from different departments. It is
therefore important to use the FCO only when essential and to be very specific as to the information
required. For example it may be possible to obtain the information required from other projects or ongoing
work. If it is necessary to go through the FCO, see below for guidance on working with embassies.
The following points should be noted when considering international trips
• The value of a trip can be greatly reduced if insufficient research is carried out in preparation
beforehand.
• Difficulty in identifying people to meet/key players – this can be far harder than it might appear - ask
as widely as possible, both here and in the country you are planning to visit. It is far preferable to
have too many contacts than too few! Also important to identify what information and data you would
like to obtain from each of the individuals you meet based on their specific areas of expertise.
• Actual practicalities of undertaking a trip – in preparation and for the trip itself can both be very time
consuming and tiring. Plan well in advance and be realistic about the number of meetings able to be
accommodated on a trip.
• Follow-up after a trip – making sure lessons are learnt are integrated into mainstream work, including
disseminating them effectively to colleagues. This can be difficult because some information/lessons
will not be needed until much further down the line. Recording all information (writing notes of all
meetings during the visit), keeping good contact lists and filing all papers is essential – it is
surprisingly easy to forget the detail once you are no longer immersed in it!
4. Interpret relevant evidence
When interpreting international evidence it is important to bear in mind that whilst international experience
can serve to inspire new lines of enquiry or, in some cases, constitute strong evidence that a particular policy
idea is likely to be succeed or fail, it cannot itself give us the answers – potential solutions also need testing
in the domestic context.
Tips for Undertaking International Comparisons
• Building in international comparisons at the most useful stage in the project – you need to have
developed your own thinking sufficiently in order to ask detailed and focussed questions (especially if
you are visiting in person) but it also needs to be early enough in the project to allow comparative
international experience to shape your subsequent thinking
• Need to specify carefully a limited number of countries (around 6) and what is required in the
comparison; context is very important.
• The team should be prepared to take the comparison work forward – academics (if you ask one to
do the study) are often not best placed to draw out the issues, gaps and implications for the UK.
• Difficulties in getting anything other than anecdotal evidence even from 'experts’. The quality of
evidence available internationally may be fairly patchy, especially when there is a lack of
comparability in data sets etc between countries. Lack of familiarity with a different policy setting,
and lack of time available to devote to international comparisons, makes unpicking research carried
out overseas more difficult than analysing the findings of UK research.
Working through UK embassies abroad
Staff at UK embassies abroad can be incredibly helpful in providing background information, finding
appropriate contacts, setting up meetings and providing cultural commentary on emerging conclusions.
However, each embassy individual has to cover a wide portfolio and is having to juggle a wide range of
requests.
The FCO has produced best practice advice for working with posts in EU capitals, which is also appropriate
for working with posts world-wide:
• Explain the background to the requests/instructions.
• Write clearly, and if your note is to be handed over, write for a non-English speaker.
• Identify which posts you need to approach.
• Allow time.
• Set out our position/thinking, and highlight key points
• Include a speaking note where possible.
Strategy Survival Guide – Strategy Skills
Page 147