Prioritize

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.

An important role of coalitions 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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

When I describe a coalition, it is a group of people. A coalition is not an individual. The name of the group may differ, but there must be more than one person in the group for it to be a coalition.

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.

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 all work better if we did it by ourselves.

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?