Tips for Dealing with Government

31 Jul Tips for Dealing with Government

My passion to improve Australia one law or decision at a time lands me in all sorts of interesting conversations.

Most often, people complain about their dealings with bureaucracies and ask “what would you do?”

So, here are my top tips for dealing with bureaucracies, with simple examples. Association examples are often more complex, but the same tips apply.

1. Be nice
Whether you are dealing with a corporation that you pay or a government department, being nice will get you further than being rude. Always remember that you are dealing with humans (unless you are chatting with an online bot).

2. Be honest
We all have an inbuilt lie detector of some sort. Skirting around an inconvenient truth will often come back to bite you. If you forgot to pay a bill, just own it and be human.

My association clients generally want to build ongoing relationships with government. In this case, it is even more important to be honest. It is not worth losing the war to win a battle based on incorrect information. You lose credibility and sacrifice relationships.

3. Be human
A few months ago, my credit card was compromised and replaced. I managed to change all my bills over. Except my monthly business insurance bill. Every month, I received a robo-email telling me to open and read the attachment, which told me my payment had bounced and my insurance would be cancelled. Every month, I rang and was hung up on, then passed around until someone (supposedly) took my new credit card details.

I felt like I was lost in the system. Eventually, several months later, after being hung up on, I rang the company’s switch. By this time, I was in tears of frustration and I said “I just want to pay my bill. I have been hung up and in a robo-loop for months. Please. Please. Put me through to someone who can help!”

She felt sorry for me. And it was done.

4. Be helpful
Bureaucrats are just people like you and I. Sometimes, you can see something that they can’t. Sometimes, you have access to people or data that they don’t. Ask them how you can help them make the best decision for you and their bureaucracy.

5. Be proactive
Have some solutions up your sleeve. Nobody needs to know about more problems.
Just because someone works in a bureaucracy, that doesn’t mean they know the best solution for your situation.

Like everyone, bureaucrats have bad days and brain freezes.

For example, a government decision was going to adversely impact one of my association clients. The government department had consulted, but not with that association. While we were negotiating an outcome, we arranged for the association to sit on the department’s consultation committee. This meant this association could add their issue to the committee agenda and have input to future decision-making. By the way, the outcome was that government reversed its previous decision, to the benefit of the industry that association represented.

6. Be resourceful
There is more than one way to skin a cat – try other ways of resolving the issue.
When a government department advised an association member they had been selected for a full verification, we tried to talk to the auditor. However, she was just a junior bureaucrat doing as instructed.

We contacted the complaints department and requested the reason for the full verification. We stated that full verifications are extremely time-consuming and reserved for cases where fraud is suspected.

2 weeks later, we received an email advising that the scope of the verification activity had been reduced to requiring documentary proof of one item. And the issue was resolved.

7. Be knowledgeable
Do some research on the possible consequences of the bureaucratic decision. Understand what has, and hasn’t, worked elsewhere.

For example, a client was substantially overcharged by a car hire company for repairs. By the time the issue came to me, the company’s finance department had issued numerous threats and it had been going on for nearly two years. Clearly, the finance department wasn’t where we would find a solution. We bypassed the finance department, went straight to the top and the “debt” was wiped.

8. Be concise.
Before you contact anyone with your complaint, work out what you want. And tell them as soon as you can. More often than you might expect, they will just give you what you want.

They don’t always need to hear your life story. Or to hear how you might feel taken advantage of.

Recently, I rang my bank for some information. The information they gave me was outdated and, now, incorrect. Following their incorrect advice cost me money. I lodged a complaint with the bank, stated the facts simply and requested a refund of the costs. Within a week of lodging the complaint, I had the refund in my bank account.

This article was written for AusAE – the Australasian Society of Association Executives – advocacy month in August 2024.