April 2011

Building and Sustaining Effective Coalitions

Presented by Jonathan PoisnerFor the State Environment

Leadership Program

ABOUT JONATHAN POISNER STRATEGIC

CONSULTINGServices:

Strategic and Campaign Planning

Facilitation

Coalition Development

Fundraising

Communications

Organizational Development

Executive Transitions

Executive Coaching

WHAT WE’RE GOING TO COVER

Best practices for launching

Different types of coalitions

Best practices for sustaining

WHAT WE’RE NOT GOING TO COVER

Why coalitions

Details on governance

Differences between large and small coalitions

Many other topics that could turn this into an all-day webinar

WHAT IS A COALITION?

My plain english definition:

A coalition is a set of organizations that have chosen to work together for some shared purpose.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A MEETING WHEN SOMEBODY

SAID:

“We should form a coalition!

BEST PRACTICES FOR LAUNCHING

DETERMINE THE CORE

This is the list of people who need to be in the launch meetings. It’s not your ultimate coalition

membership, but it’s the essential players

TAKE THE CORE’S TEMPERATURE

Series of 1 on 1 conversations to take the temperature Prefer 1 on 1 because you want

candor and no group-think and peer pressure

If there isn’t enthusiasm, be prepared to pull the plug

IF IT’S STILL A GO, MEET TO ANSWER 5 KEY QUESTIONS

Not a single meeting

Could be anywhere from 2-4 meetings

QUESTION 1:

WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF THE COALITION?

Is the coalition about a specific piece of legislation, or an ongoing issue where the group wants to make progress over time?

Is the coalition about building the capacity of its members separate from any specific policy goal?

QUESTION 2:

WHAT TYPE OF COALITION MAKES SENSE GIVEN THE PURPOSE?

More on this in a minute

It can be good to put the answers to Questions 1 and 2 in writing.

QUESTION 3:

GIVEN THE PURPOSE AND TYPE OF COALITION, WHAT SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE MAKES SENSE?

QUESTION 4:

WHAT ARE THE INITIAL PRIORITY OR PRIORITIES FOR ACTION? Don’t come together if there isn’t at least

some initial action item for you to collectively take over the next 1-12 months

QUESTION 5:

WHERE DO YOU GET THE RESOURCES FOR COLLECTIVE WORK?

MORE ON QUESTION 2:

WHAT TYPE OF COALITION DO YOU WANT?

FIVE TYPES THAT ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY GROUPS TYPICALLY USE

Networks

Associations

Coordinated Project

Campaign Coalition

Ongoing Partnership/Strategic Alliance

Adapted from materials created by Institute for Conservation Leadership

NETWORKS

Groups coming together

Primary purpose is sharing information

Ad hoc help where interests overlap

Decrease duplication of effort

Very informal governance

ASSOCIATIONS

Membership-type alliance

Primary purpose is to serve the long-term interests of the membership

More focused on capacity building than policy goals

Tends to have formal governance and separate incorporation

Example: SELP

COORDINATED PROJECT

The primary purpose is a specific project.

Examples: passing legislation, stopping a bad “thing”, creating/publicizing a report

Coalition members tend to take on specific tasks within the project

Rarely involves formal governance or separate coalition finances

CAMPAIGN COALITION

Primary Purpose is a specific action you want some outside entity to take. Such as voters passing a ballot measure,

the legislature passing a bill, or a corporation to take some action.

Usually with an end-date (election day?)

Shared, written plan for what needs to happen e.g. the campaign

Usually a pooling of resources into single campaign budget

CAMPAIGN COALITION

Usually centralized staff or volunteer campaign leadership who’re accountable to the campaign, not individual member groups

Tends to have own governance, bank accounts, and campaign-specific fundraising

Continued

ONGOING PARTNERSHIP/ STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

Longer-term around an issue or goal

Example: Reduce use of toxic chemicals in Oregon over the next 5 years.

Shared “strategic” planning

Tends to develop Campaigns or Coordinated Projects as appropriate to meet long-term goals

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHICH IS APPROPRIATE?

Identify the potential coalition parties Identify why the coalition is being

proposed Pick the most appropriate type of

coalition collectively; don’t prejudge before you talk to potential coalition partners

Be flexible – don’t feel you have to pick one of these; you can create your own model

WHY DO SOME COALITION LAUNCHES

FAIL?

Number one reason: Lack of individual leadership!

That’s why the temperature taking is so important.

I’ll give you two examples from my own experience.

GROW OREGON PARTNERSHIP

Started with a general meeting of folks interested in sustainable food systems after a series of 1 on 1s

Brought in outside facilitator to talk about whether to form an agenda to pursue a common legislative agenda

Did 2 more meetings that formalized the coalition governance and selected initial priorities

The Partnership is thriving.

SMART GROWTH COALITION IN A STATE

I WON’T NAME

Had me facilitate two meetings of a set of individuals/organizations who were interested

The participants agreed upon forming the coalition, its purpose of the coalition, its governance, and an initial policy priority

But then it fell apart.

WHY DID IT FAIL?

BECAUSE NOBODY WAS PREPARED TO STEP UP AND LEAD.

The group instigating the initial meeting wasn’t prepared to lead

They just hoped somebody would “step up.” Had not done 1 on 1s to take the temperature.

Nobody wanted to be chair of the coalition or make it a major focus

SUSTAINING COALITIONS

FOUR KEYS :

Communications

Power

Planning

Behavior

COMMUNICATIONS

Failure to communicate can lead to schisms

Insiders and outsiders

Systems to make sure that those not in the core know what’s happening

Enough meetings for all to feel engaged. But not so many that things bog down.

POWER

Coalition partners aren’t all equal

Especially if the coalition has groups of dramatically different size

Acknowledge and think about this openly when setting up the governance.

There is no one right solution to power imbalances.

PLANNING SYSTEMS

Failure to plan can lead to problems Just like with organizations

Really important to agree upon strategies Not all the organizations in the

coalition will have the same strategic thinking

You may have coalition partners who mostly pursue legal strategies in with partners who mostly pursue grassroots strategies.

PLANNING SYSTEMS

Need a conscious plan/strategy regarding coalition membership Before growing, ask why you want a

larger coalition membership The “why” should tell you who to invite,

if anybody Need to build in planning processes that

engage coalition members if you want them to invest in the coalition Can be long-term strategic plan Short-term campaign plans And everything in between

Continued

BEHAVIOR

Transparency

Share information broadly within the coalition

Don’t mask disagreements within the coalition

Confidentiality

Keep plans of individual groups confidential

Don’t air dirty laundry

BEHAVIOR

Taking and sharing credit

Dispute resolution procedures

Codes of Conduct as potential mechanism.

Continued

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS ARE

YOUR TRUMP CARD

TO CONTACT ME:

www.poisner.com – for email newsletter signup

Twitter.com/jpoisner

Via phone: 503-490-1234

Via email: jonathan@poisner.com