Category Archives: Grassroots Motivation
How to Prevent Burnout of Your Most Valuable Advocates
If you have a non–stop stream of enthusiastic grassroots advocates who are willing to repeatedly contact lawmakers when you ask, read no further. If you have advocates who consistently leverage their personal legislator relationships for your cause, read no further.
If you don’t, there’s research that reveals what you need to do to keep them interested and motivated. (and it has nothing to do with plaques and awards) The surprising results are based on The Showalter Group’s proprietary research with hundreds of quality grassroots advocates— the ones who attend your annual Lobby Day events, D.C. Fly–In’s, testify before legislative committees, write and meet with their lawmakers when asked, etc. They come from a variety of professions and interests, including, but not…
Motivating Grassroots Volunteers
The Good News
There is a lot of time and effort directed at motivating grassroots volunteers. The bad news is that much of it is directed in the wrong place.
What is lacking in most organizations, most markedly in the corporate grassroots programs, are grassroots managers with the motivation and team leadership skills who can motivate your members or employees to become raging grassroots thunder activists. Like it or not, just as a CEO or department Vice President imbues a type of leadership and culture upon their organization, the grassroots manager also does this with the grassroots program. Even Fortune magazine noted the drop in Christian Coalition membership when its charismatic leader, Ralph Reed, resigned.
Why Can’t We Motivate Grassroots Volunteers?
Most public affairs…
13 Things You Should Be Doing Now For Grassroots Mobilization Success
In this video, I’m sharing 13 things you need to be doing now for grassroots mobilization success.
[flv:http://www.showaltergroup.com/videos/FLV/13_Things.flv 400 300]
Common Obstacles to Trust and How to Overcome Them: Part Three
We’re going to explore more common obstacles to trust and how to overcome them.
Negative communication
If we are truly grassroots professionals, we should embrace bottom up communication. Many times our messages only ask members to do something for us, or tell them what they should not be doing, saying, thinking, and so forth. It is important to be a carrier of good news. It affects how we are seen in the organization and how much time our advocates will give us in the future.
People attribute negative personal characteristics to those who bring us bad news, regardless of whether they were involved in creating that bad news. We generally don’t trust those we don’t like.
What is your positive-to-negative communication ratio? Ask your…
Innovate to Motivate® Success Survey: Grassroots Quality and Strategic Planning
How do grassroots professionals define “quality”? Where do they find quality advocates? How do they rate their network’s ‘quality quotient?’
For the answers to these burning questions, read on.
Grassroots Quality Quotient
Because Innovate to Motivate® conference community members are experienced, they know that there is more to grassroots than names in a database. Technology has leveled the playing field, and the differentiating factor in a winning grassroots program is one characterized by committed, strategically positioned volunteers. I know a quality volunteer when I see one, and I wanted to know how the I2M community defines it.
What behaviors translate into a valued volunteer advocate?
1. The Committed 60%
I refer to this group as the “committed” because these advocates consistently give their time…
