Small Government Affairs Teams, Big Impact: How Policy Pros Scale with Less

If you’re like many government affairs professionals, you’re probably juggling legislative strategy, external relationships, and fast-moving bills with a team small enough to count on one hand. The upside: You’re faster, more focused, and closer to the work. 

The bad news? Priorities pile up. And with limited bandwidth, burnout is never far behind.

Still, if you’re on a small team, you can make a big impact. The teams that succeed collaborate across departments, set clear priorities, and let tools scale what they can’t staff.

That’s exactly how Jake Braunger operates — along with many others doing solo work. As vice president of the Electronic Security Association, he monitors legislation across all 50 states and the federal level with just one teammate. “We can’t be everywhere at once, so we have to work smart,” he says. 

Here’s how he — and other lean government affairs leaders — make it work. 

Work Smarter, Not Harder

ESA is a fully remote trade association with 25 staff. To make that model work, Braunger says the team has to be made up of self-starters who take real ownership. When there’s a deadline, they meet it — no excuses, no reminders. 

But mindset isn’t enough. Tools like FiscalNote help Braunger’s team monitor legislation, setting up search terms and specific issues to track and rank in importance. VoterVoice turns internal policy analysis into ready-to-send, member-friendly messages that can activate grassroots advocacy at scale. 

“I'm just one person, or with my team member, two, and I need to get 2,000 more people engaged on this issue to really multiply the effort, so that's where VoterVoice comes in and helps us,” Braunger says. 

Other lean teams are seeing similar results with tools like PolicyNote, which can streamline research, surface timely alerts, and save hours of manual tracking. 

“PolicyNote has transformed our small policy team into a key player in contributing to revenue opportunities and helps us demonstrate tangible business impact,” says Lauren Glickman, vice president of policy and communications at Encore Renewable Energy, a Vermont-based clean energy company. 

The American Society of Addiction Medicine is another small team making a national impact. With just a few staffers supporting 6,000 members, ASAM uses FiscalNote to track policy across all states and identify what matters to its 39 state chapters. 

“The FiscalNote tool allows a very small team to show that we can be very on top of things happening at any time, all across the nation,” said ASAM Chief Advocacy Officer Kelly Corredor. “Our members know that they have support, backup, and institutional knowledge.”

Simple Systems, Big Payoff

Across the Atlantic, Stuart Thomson, founder of CWE Communications, is an example of how solo professionals can stay influential without losing flexibility. “I like lists,” he says. Writing things down helps him map out what’s urgent, what’s coming up, and what needs to move. 

Thomson also leans on tech, but keeps it simple. For teams dealing with volume, AI can pick up the slack. Tools like PolicyNote help by summarizing legislation, flagging potential impacts, and generating first drafts of talking points and messaging. Instead of spending hours on bill review or starting from a blank page, AI tools pull reliable, relevant insights fast. AI can also compare bills, track trends, map stakeholders, and synthesize large volumes of information. 

For Thomson, monitoring systems catch emerging issues or unexpected developments, especially in political environments. He tracks what politicians say, what Parliament or Congress is discussing, and compares that against the strategy and stakeholder list he's working from.

Media and social media monitoring also matter, especially for reputation tracking. Thomson also uses CRM systems to log meetings, follow-ups, and deadlines. Ideally, he says, the CRM integrates with emails or calendars so you get reminders. 

Internally, communication is a mix: Slack, Teams, and notably, WhatsApp. “It’s so much easier to set up a little WhatsApp group amongst a client team,” Thomson says. “You’re reading the paper in the morning, you see something relevant, and you just ping it around the team.”

Stop Strategy Drift Before It Starts

If you’ve ever had a project go sideways, you know it’s rarely intentional. It usually happens when a team meets with stakeholders and starts heading down a path that feels right but might not match the larger strategy. 

That’s not a failure — it’s a sign that better communication could have caught it sooner, Thomson says.

Your best bet is to build trust early. Take the time to understand how policy, legal, marketing, and sales actually work. When things shift — and they will — you’ll already have the relationship to course correct quickly. 

Show and Share the Wins 

When you’re a small team, it’s easy to stay heads down and forget to celebrate your wins. But wins matter, especially when you’re stretched thin. 

For Braunger, a win is simple: pass a favorable piece of legislation or block an unfavorable one. But at ESA, success goes beyond policy. When the organization’s national training program gets recognized in new states, it opens doors for members, and that counts, too. 

The organization shares its wins through Teams and board updates, but the real focus is on following up with members who took action. If someone sends a message to a lawmaker and never hears what happened, they’re less likely to engage next time. Closing the loop keeps people invested and ready to act when it matters again.

Consistent follow-up is the multiplier. It builds trust, strengthens your network, and helps small teams keep hitting above their weight. 

Don’t Go It Alone

Solo, you can’t do it all, but you can expand your reach by pulling others in. Rather than banking on one meeting to move the needle, Braunger taps into ESA’s member network. Many already have strong relationships with lawmakers, and that personal connection goes further than any cold outreach.

That’s where tools like VoterVoice can help. ESA handles the messaging, sends it out, and lets members take it from there. Instead of two people doing the heavy lift, they mobilize hundreds. 

“I'm just one voice,” Braunger says. “But when I say I represent these people over here, it strengthens my voice, it gives me credibility.”

If you’re running a lean team, the question isn’t what you can do but how far you can take it. “If you want a small team that can do big things, you have to have the tools that allow them to multiply their efforts and really grow,” Braunger says. 

PolicyNote brings together policy tracking, curated alerts, stakeholder intelligence, and AI support in one platform. With the right tools, you can extend your reach, manage more with less, and focus on strategic growth.