Build Your Team

Who To Know | Identifying Team Projects

Gathering a team of people to support a project is often a key ingredient in making a change happen in your neighborhood or community. Someone acting alone is often viewed with skepticism, while a group of people will often have more credibility. In addition, a group bringing real-world experiences to a project can divide their efforts and move the project forward more quickly. Who you invite onto a team depends in large part on the scale of your project.

A Well-Defined Goal Invites Participation
People are attracted to campaigns that have a well-defined goal. This could be something like solving a speeding traffic problem in front of a particular elementary school, or pushing for sidewalks along an important route to a transit station. Limiting the initial focus does not mean ignoring the potential for future growth. In fact, it can help assure that growth.

For example, the traffic calming program in one Western community started in one neighborhood. Residents in that neighborhood were willing to try something new to reduce speeding on their local streets. The city installed an attractive "mini-traffic circle" and in one problem location. Once folks got to see how it worked, people in other neighborhoods started asking for mini-traffic circles near their homes. In this manner, the neighborhood traffic circle efforts on one street grew into a major program that spread throughout the community.

Diversity
It's also vital to have people from many backgrounds helping in the effort. If all your supporters are just like you, that's a sign that you've got some groundwork to do. Search out folks who can speak to – and for – different constituencies. For example, ethnic and economic diversity are key ingredients for success. It's crucial that your group NOT be seen as elitist and the best way to keep that from happening is to become truly diverse.

Divide & Conquer
Once you have a group of people gathered around an issue, divide the work according to individuals' strengths. One person may be good at speaking in front of a group, another may be good on TV or radio. Yet another may be good with graphics, writing, research, or web design. Others may want to help with the basic but very important tasks that keep a group moving:

- getting mailings out
- making phone calls
- posting flyers
- attending meetings

Keep in mind that people who want to stop change often have a powerful advantage in terms of patience. They probably don't expect your group to stick with an issue for very long.

So, they're happy to listen (or pretend to listen), confident that you'll disappear soon. They may always seem to know why what you want is impossible, impractical, too costly, or against well-established rules or laws.

You can spot these people because they almost never have ideas on how to accomplish your goal, but only reasons why your project can't happen. The best defense is keeping a team of persistent people focused on your cause.

Resources

- Active Facts: Getting Youth Involved In Planning | PDF 250KB

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