‘Government Agencies & other Regulatory bodies’ is one of the most significant elements of the Business Ecosystem because every business has to correspond with the Government Officials for various purposes through different mediums like email, letter, memorandum etc. While the medium and purpose change from case to case; some of the established ways (also termed as ‘protocols’ in some instances) should be considered for effectively corresponding with (various authoritative levels at) the Government so as to achieve the desired goal.
- Harmonizing helps!- Alignment of your business goals with those of the Government: Though you are humbly writing to the Government for seeking a support for an initiative, event or activity carried out by your organization; uniting the goal of that particular activity/initiative with the macro level socio-economic objectives of the Government makes it more convincing and realistic.
Ex. iVIPANAN, being the pioneer of Digital Marketing Services in South Gujarat, is contributing towards the Government of India’s campaign of ‘Digital India’ and thereby indirectly supporting the Government in realizing the goals set under the ‘Digital India’ campaign. Thus the correspondent can mention such correlation with other campaigns of the Government like Make In India, Skill India etc.
- It mainly depends on whom you’re corresponding with?: Being informed about the right person at an appropriate department is the next important step after defining purpose for initiating correspondence with the Government, irrespective of your intent to communication.
- Linking with previous correspondences/documents as a reference: Like general correspondence etiquette, it is essential for the communicator to mention and enclose the previous correspondence (done with the same or other Government department/s for the same or related issue) so as to let the receiver navigate the linked correspondence quickly and motivate the concerned officers to act upon it.
- Flow matters the most and so does the length: Seamless Flow of correspondence is what keeps the receiver interested and that is why the ‘sequencing’ of your correspondence has to be logical as well as to-the-point when you’re corresponding with the Government. Especially if the content to be put across is complex and the entire message requires good amount of detailing.
- Try to include probable solutions & required course of action: When you’re writing to the Government for representing issue/s faced by your industry, don’t forget to include the probable solutions to resolve those issues before concluding the correspondence. This not only gives the Government an idea as to how crucial the issue is but also let us convey our feedback & suggestions to the Government, which can ultimately lead to better governance. The same is applicable while writing a letter of Proposal to the Government. However it is very important to check that tone of the language used while following this tip is ‘modest’ and not ‘authoritative’.
Managing Correspondence well with the Government can only work wonders if it is followed by proper ‘Follow up’ system.
