Training and coaching for policy influencers

Lots of the work involved in policy influencing involves unstated assumptions and implicit theories about how change happens. Many of us spend the first few years of our careers taking risks and trying to develop an instinct for what works and what doesn’t. These sessions are a chance to make this work explicit, learn from what’s happening across the charity and think-tank world, and draw out lessons from your own practice.

The outlines below are just a starting point – I’m always happy to build bespoke courses or adapt a session to what your team and organisation needs.

“Engaging, interactive, practical — not just a diagram of the policy cycle.”

“These sessions are always super practical — you can see clear things to take away from them, and the activities bring it to life.”

“Useful for me, who’s worked in policy for many years, to reflect on how I approach things and remember there could be a different, better way.”

“Ayaz’s delivery and presence was so reassuring and supportive.”

“Everything was very clearly explained, and the compare/contrast examples gave me many ‘a-ha’ moments.”

“Ayaz helped us to think much more clearly about what our policy influencing goals should be, and offered new approaches to measuring our progress towards them.”

“I’d been feeling confused, and this gave me real clarity. I just wish I’d had the session 18 months ago.”

“Really enjoyed the time and headspace to get to grips with some of the questions we’ve never managed to answer.”

Training sessions

Courses work well for teams who want to build shared skills and a common language. Everyone in the room leaves with the same toolkit and the same reference points.

Writing an effective policy paper

This course starts from thinking about your audience – who is your paper for and what is stopping them from giving you what you want? From there it covers developing policy asks which are sharp and specific, framing evidence so that it connects with your audience, and writing about complex issues in plain, accessible and human language. Throughout, you work on your own scenarios in small groups, with compare-and-contrast examples drawn from real policy work.

Using research to influence policy

This course is designed for people with a research background who want to explore how to maximise the impact their work has on policy. It starts by looking at how research and evidence can fit into a wider influencing strategy. Next we look at how you can build influencing considerations into the design and planning of research, before practicing how to directly pitch your findings to policymakers.

Influencing select committees

This session is a focused look at influencing committees, designed for public affairs and policy people. We look at the levers committees have for creating change, routes to influencing committees (outside of lengthy written submissions) and the things that help evidence get noticed. We also explore how to prepare when your organisation has been asked to give oral evidence.

All sessions are delivered remotely via Zoom or Teams and are designed to last three hours, including two ten minute breaks.

Pricing

Annual income	Course (team, up to 15)
Under £1m	£625
£1m–£10m	£725
Over £10m	£800

Individual coaching

Coaching suits individuals facing specific influencing challenges. This can be anything from navigating coalition work to building confidence working with MPs and journalists. It can be particularly useful for people in small organisations and teams who want a space to think aloud, test their assumptions, and develop their ideas.

Pricing

Annual income	Four sessions	Six sessions
Under £1m	£325	£460
£1m–£10m	£395	£560
Over £10m	£470	£660

We’ll always start with an initial session, with no obligation to continue. Extra sessions can be added to a programme on request.

Get in touch

If one of these options looks right, you can book a call to talk it through, or email me on ayaz@ayazmanji.co.uk.

I’m also happy to adapt a session, build something bespoke, or put together a programme across all three courses, just say what you’re working on and we’ll find the right option.