Balance

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,

One of the first and ongoing coalition activities is planning. Whether you are working on a strategic plan, an action plan or an upcoming meeting plan, you are constantly planning something. When you are considering hiring for a coalition position, you need them to be great with people and skilled at planning. As you are

Coalitions focus on different topics, causes and are often related to improving a health or social outcome. They focus on achieving results that can only happen when people work together rather than on their own. While this may appear clear, simple and straightforward, the real impact happens when the coalition takes action together. And what

Have you ever been in a coalition where you were not sure why you were there or what you were going to do? Have you been in a coalition that was clearly focused and seemed to be functioning smoothly? Coalitions, like other groups (think Tuckman’s stages of group development) have stages of development. And the

In the public health world, the word “coalition” is pretty common. When I try to describe my work to others, I often get confused looks and questions about what I mean by “coalition.” Without realizing it, many of us may be involved in coalitions but we don’t necessarily call them  “coalitions.” If you have ever

When we are in the position of doing it all and are always the one to answer the questions, solve the problems or handle the decisions, we rarely have an opportunity to take a break and rejuvenate. When we don’t delegate or take a break, we are well positioned for a continual place of overwhelm.

Over the past several weeks, we have been diving into delegation and one of the biggest reasons that we try to do it all ourselves is because we have had experiences when delegation did not work. We tried to delegate and it did not go well so we gave it up and decided it would

When it comes to delegating, one of the hardest parts is figuring out where to begin. When you are overwhelmed and juggling a thousand different things, how do you choose which one to share first? Do you start with the easiest? Or the one that is keeping you up at night? As I am practicing

In our coalition work, there are a ton of big and little details involved in building partnerships, developing plans, reporting on progress, maintaining progress. From meeting planning (which has at least 25 tasks in itself) to prioritizing, strategizing, implementing and evaluation, there is a lot. And if you have been doing this work for a