Calendar

Last week, we began our thankfulness in our coalition series. Thankfulness begins with reflection and recognition and then leads us to taking specific action. One of the reasons we often struggle with practicing thankfulness is that we think it needs to be something big in order to be meaningful. Think about the times when you […]

One of my favorite holidays has always been Thanksgiving. Since our rainbow baby was born just a few days after Thanksgiving almost six years ago, I am especially thankful this time of year. In our coalition work, we can easily become overloaded with a never-ending to-do list, unrealistic expectations (of ourselves and others) and the

When you are new to coalition building, assessing roles and responsibilities is a natural first step. You spend time figuring out what you need to be doing and what others are doing. If you have been leading coalitions for a long time, you may find yourself stuck doing the same things just because you have

In coalitions, saying “yes” can be easy, but actually doing the work is much more difficult. Even if you have clarified who is doing what and connected people to meaningful roles, follow-through can be challenging. Common barriers to follow through include: busy schedules, competing priorities, unrealistic expectations of how much time it will take and

While most people who participate in your coalition are interested in the coalition and probably even passionate about the topic, the ability for them to contribute varies considerably. Depending upon your current funding situation, staff, leader and member competency and capacity, what is realistic will also vary. Although the need is always great when you

Although sometimes in our coalition work, we have to work together to just “get it done,” if we are always approaching our work this way, we will quickly become overwhelmed, weary and burned out. This approach will also impact all of those working with us in the coalition. If you want to recruit and maintain

One of the most important and challenging aspects of leading a coalition – or really any team – is getting clear on roles. When we find ourselves overwhelmed by all of the work or frustrated that no one is volunteering, unclear roles and realistic expectations are likely part of the problem.  While our vision for

When we bring together multi-passionate people toward a common cause, there is an endless number of things that we could be doing. No matter what your area of interest and focus is, there are so many needs and opportunities that it is easy to become overwhelmed by all of the possibilities. When you try to

Although building, repairing and restoring get most of the attention in relationships, one of the most exciting aspects of coalition-building is maintaining relationships. These are the relationships that continue for years and often extend beyond a particular position or role. When you maintain coalition relationships, you are able to see the power of working together

When we experience relationship challenges, we often want them to be fixed immediately. While we can practice the three recommendations from last week’s post that help us repair a relationship, the process of restoring a relationship can take more time. The amount of time and work needed depends upon the foundation of the relationship prior