Wouldn’t You Agree? Getting Your Coalition on the Same Page
My hubbie and I are very different.
I am a reader and crafter. He is a chronic TV watcher.
When it comes to movies, I like history and rom-coms. He likes sci-fi.
On vacation, I like to go-do-and see. He likes to sit and chilax.
So as anyone married more than 5 minutes will tell you, for your marriage to survive, you have to compromise. Our vacation agreement is that we take different styles of vacations every year. One year we take an adventure vacation. The next year, we do a sit on your butt vacation. We pick a beach and park ourselves for the week.
The most important first task for community coalitions is to come to agreement on what they are all about and how they will create the change they want to see in their community.
Most community coalitions I have worked with are passionate people who want to make a difference in their communities. They really don’t want to spend a lot of time creating vision and mission statements or talking about the work. They want to DO the work.
But just like you wouldn’t hop in the car and not have a plan for where you are going and how you are going to get there, a coalition needs to come to agreement on the work. Setting priorities, understanding root causes, and understanding who needs to be involved, are part of coming to common agreement.
That is why “Agree” is the first level of my Coalition Framework.
Are you a coalition or a collaborative leader struggling to get traction? Or maybe you are an evaluator who works with coalitions. My new Coalition Assessment Tool can help focus your work and get you moving towards success.
Let me know where your coalition struggles.