Partnerships

One of the most common challenges that I hear from coalition leaders is the struggle with engagement. How do I engage my coalition effectively? How can I get more people to engage in the work? Although there is no “one” answer to this question and challenge, there is something that will impact engagement among those […]

One of the best things about coalition work is working with people. One of the most challenging things about coalition work is working with people. 🙂  Although conflict is often an area that many of us would prefer to avoid, when we address it well, we can enhance our relationships and work better with others.

In the last post, we highlighted the reasons why we want to celebrate and that may be all you need to get started celebrating! For others, especially those who are not natural “celebrators,” you may be thinking it would be really nice to have some ideas on how to celebrate without spending a lot of

As coalition leaders, we can get caught up in the next task, meeting, activity, report or plan that we forget to add “celebrate” to the list. In my coalition leading experience, this activity is the one we most often skip. Since we are addressing big health or social challenges, there is always another need or

In our coalition work and other domains of life, our culture supports constant productivity but doesn’t praise or support rest (or play). We also struggle with having enough margin in our lives to rest when we face the unexpected. When we are constantly focused on checking one more thing off of our to-do list and

The word evaluation can elicit excitement, curiosity, confusion and dread. When working with coalitions, evaluation is a necessary part of the work, but the way we do evaluation varies considerably depending upon the experience of the coalition leaders, resources available, requirements from funders, and interests of the coalition. Join me this week as I provide

The reason many people join a coalition or get involved in a partnership is because they want to do something to make a difference in a cause or topic they want to support. While the organization they work for may be sending them to the coalition, the reason they work for the like-minded organization is

One of the most important and challenging aspects of coalition work – and sometimes life – is prioritizing. When leading a coalition, you can see all the needs and all the opportunities. There is always more to do than you have time, resources or partners who can do it. I remember the first coalition I

Coalitions are often under-funded and under-resourced to accomplish the lofty health, environmental or social goals that align with their purpose. An important role of the coalition is to find ways to catalyze and combine efforts so that collectively the coalition can accomplish much more than could be done by any one organization working independently. In

Engagement is one of the most critical components of coalition work and it can also be one of the most challenging. With our busy and overwhelming schedules, finding ways to intentionally and successfully engage our coalition is incredibly important. When I first began leading coalitions, engagement primarily happened through in-person meetings and email communication. Now,