Start from the Conceptual: Jan Techau on Think Tank Operation 

By Zhang Hanqi

On March 23, Mr. Jan Techau, Director of Carnegie Europe came to our class and shared his valuable insights on the operation of a think tank. His own experience in directing the European center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as his well-organized and enlightening speech, together provided the audience with a new understanding on the operation of a successful think tank and offered practical guidance that will prove useful in the operation of any think tank, including the NexGen Global Forum.

​Mr. Techau first presented the class with a diagram showing two phases, the conceptual phase and the operational phase of thank tank management. The first piece of advice: When you start a think tank, do not start with the operational side. Instead, think about why you are doing this. In other words, the conceptual phase comes first. 

卡内基欧洲中心Jan Techau先生谈智库建设

张涵奇供稿

3月23日，卡内基欧洲中心主任Jan Techau来到智库模拟课课堂，分享了智库运营管理中的经验。Techau先生对于智库管理的独到见解在他清晰的讲课结构下展现在同学们眼前，作为青思智库发起人的所有同学在本次讲座中对于智库的运营之道有了更高层次的理解，受益颇深。
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Techau主任首先将一张流程图呈现在黑板上。他将智库的运营管理分为两大部分：概念形成以及实际运营。Techau先生开宗明义：在投入实际运营前先将智库核心思想稳固下来。也就是说，概念的形成先行于实际的运营。在举办每一个活动前，我们必须扪心自问：我们究竟所为者何？
 

​This process involves three steps: 1. Developing the philosophical core of the organization 2. Setting strategic goals that serve the philosophical core 3. Determining operational goals to practically achieve the strategic goals. Take Carnegie Europe for example, its philosophical core is to promote world peace. On a more practical level, the goal is to make Europe a better foreign policy player. This strategic goal specifies how world peace is to be achieved but is still somewhat abstract. Therefore, on the operational level, Carnegie Europe sets a goal of improving the relationship between the EU and China, for instance. Of course a think tank can always create more detailed sub-goals, but it is helpful to remember to follow the route from the philosophical core and the strategic goal to the more practical ones. 

Now think tankers can enter the operational side of the diagram. When a think tank organizes an event, it should go through the following list: 1. What messages to deliver through the event 2. What drivers or methods to mediate the messages 3. Who is the target audience? These are the very first issues to think about before organizing an event. Drivers could be a webpage, a press release, giveaway flies, blogs, tweet, testimonials from famous people, etc. What drivers to use sometimes depends on the target audience. If the target audience is the press, then press releases or simply a conversation with journalists would be effective drivers. 

Next, a team or some specific staff should be assigned with specific tasks. After a plan is created, a timeline needs to be developed in order to check the progress and have something to refer to throughout the whole operation of the plan. After a plan is completed, it is time to measure impact. This is an integral part of the operational diagram and regarded as especially important by the donors and the communications team. However, Mr. Techau believes it is not productive to be too obsessed about ex post impact measurement and that learning from the problems from one event to improve the next one is the actually the right attitude. This also constitutes the last step of the operational diagram and makes the whole process a feedback loop. 
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Mr. Techau took several questions after the lecture. Regarding how to evaluate impact, Mr. Techau believes the best way is to get into the target audience because their perceptions constitute the most accurate indicator of the think tank’s public impact. Go to lunch with the major papers or wire services that attend the events regularly and ask them for their assessment. But to some degree, a think tank never fully knows its influence because the feedbacks it receives are “perceptions” collected from the audience. The feedbacks are merely indicators of the real impact, and when the think tank analyzes the feedbacks, it reinterprets them and might fail to recreate the true perceptions of the audience.

Another question frequently asked is what affects a think tank’s objectivity. Mr. Techau’s replied thought-provokingly that the three factors are: 1. Internal factors—researchers should be honest with themselves and write what they believe to be true 2. Mainstream thinking—it is hard not to be affected by mainstream views on an issue 3. Donors—A think tank has to decide whether to be the mouthpiece of its donors or to be purely knowledge-based. Being the former will make the think tank popular among some groups but it will suffer low access and research quality. Being the latter is even harder because telling the truth will displease some peers in the field. Think tanks will always have to deal with split loyalties and the director has to make hard decisions.
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Objectivity and independence is the biggest difference between think tanks and advocacy groups. The Carnegie Centers for example, receives 4 stars out of 5 (because some donors wish to stay anonymous) in terms of independence. Advocacy groups, on the other hand, are more predictable in how they organize and what they advocate because of their specific missions. 

概念部分分为三个层面：第一，形成智库的核心主旨；第二，确定具体的战略目标，以服务抽象的智库核心主旨；第三，决定服务于战略目标的操作性目标。以卡内基欧洲中心为例，其核心主旨为世界和平，作为指导一切智库活动的主旨重要性极高，但是难免过于抽象。为此卡内基欧洲中心制定了优化欧洲外交决策的战略目标。战略目标指明了核心主旨的实现方式，但更具体的操作性则需要通过制定操作性的目标来提供。对卡内基欧洲来说，该层面的目标可以是促进中欧关系的发展，也可以是其他类似的目标，并且在此基础上还可以继续细分成更小的目标。然而，重要的是，无论进行多少层次的细分，都必须从最抽象的主旨出发，才能时刻保持目的性。

确立了概念主旨和战略之后，智库可以进入到实际的操作阶段。在组织一项活动时，第一个环节包括以下3个部分：第一，确定活动要传达的信息；第二，确定传达该信息的媒介或手段；第三，确定目标观众。在举办任何活动之前，这三个问题都必须有清晰的规划。媒介手段可以是网页、新闻发布会、宣传册、博文、微信、借大人物之口等等。针对不同的目标观众应该使用不同的媒介来达到最佳效果。例如，目标群体如果是媒体的话，发布会或者邀约记者参加午餐会进行交流会是比较有效的方法。

下一环节是具体任务的指派和执行。任务指派完成之后，应该配上相应的时间节点用以确保任务进程，同时在整个组织过程中提升条理性和大局观。在活动圆满结束后，有必要对该活动的影响力进行衡量和评估。评估环节对于整个活动组织意义重大，赞助方以及公关部门也都对于活动的影响力十分看重。不过，Techau先生指出，如果一味纠结于影响力评估，有本末倒置之嫌，不如将更多地精力投入到吸取经验当中，改进下一次的活动。这样一来，评估与改进推动了整个操作环节形成了完整的反馈机制，首尾相连，良性循环形成。
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讲座后，Techau先生回答了同学们的问题。关于具体如何评估活动影响力，Techau先生回答道，深入观众中去是最好的方法。因为目标受众的评判是最直接的也是最具说服力的。比较常见的做法就是，联系经常出席本智库活动的报纸或电视台，诚恳地请教他们的看法，并从中吸取经验。