My approach to campaigning
Over the last decade I have sought to support people around the world to campaign for change. These 12 questions, the foundation of all my work and my approach to campaigning, are what I think you need to be able to answer before you can start campaigning. I hope that these questions can help your campaigning. If you are interested to know more about my approach to campaigning, there is a list of my resources below or do contact me.
1. What is campaigning and why is it important to you?
For me, campaigning is very simple: it is all about having a problem that you haven’t got the power to address; having a solution; knowing who has the power to make this change; and then seeking to influence them. Having a common understanding of campaigning and knowing why it is important to you is such a vital foundation for campaigning.
2. What is your problem? But why is it a problem?
You then need to be clear on your problem and why this is a priority issue. But you also need to explore why your problem actually exists – what is the real cause? Asking the ‘but why?’ question here is another vital building block.
3. Is there a common understanding of your external environment?
So often ignored by campaigners, but this is another vital building block. Don’t just assume that you all share the same understanding of your external environment. Have an explicit conversation. Test your assumptions. And then keep this external assessment under regular review as your learning expands as you campaign.
4. What evidence have you got or do you need?
Evidence of your problem (and of the impact of your solution) can be fuel for your campaign. But wary: it can be a massive excuse for delay. Rapid and revealing research combining both macro (numbers) and micro (human stories) can be a vibrant energiser for your campaign.
5. Do you pass the TEA test with your solution?
Does your campaign touch (stir the soul or gain interest in the problem), enthuse (with how change will help), and get action? Make sure your campaign message passes the TEA test.
6. Can you do the elevator pitch?
Imagine that you step into an elevator, and the one person you have been waiting months to speak to steps into that very same elevator! How do you use the next 15-30 seconds? Can you develop an elevator pitch that will pass the TEA test? This sounds so simple but requires so much practice – so that you are always ready!
7. How credible are you and what are the risks?
As your campaign develops momentum, you may well find yourself attacked and often on the grounds of your credibility to speak out. Make sure from the outset you are clear on what makes you credible to speak out. Also face up to your risks. List them, assess their likelihood and impact, and discuss how you can reduce such risks. And include a risk register in your campaign plan.
8. Do you know who your target is and how to reach them?
Who is the person with the power to make the change you wany to see? Can you approach them directly? What do you know about them and what/ who influences them? What are the different routes you can use to reach your target, and who are the most effective messengers for your campaign?
9. How are you using opposition to help you?
Opposition is like gold dust for a campaigner. Opposition messages are what are holding your campaign back. Do you know what they are? And then what are your most effective responses. Campaigners are often guilty of using the messages that motivate them, and not the most effective responses to build new support.
10. Have you got a theory of change?
So, you have your message, your evidence, your target and your messengers. But how is change going to happen? What is your theory of change or future story, grounded in your understanding of your outside world (so it’s not a fantasy campaign), which shows the stages that will bring about change? Remember, no battle plan ever survives the first contact with the enemy, so keep your plan under regular review.
11. Have you got a plan for success?
What are you going to do when your target agrees with your campaign message? Campaigners often don’t think about their next steps, and are often caught off guard (as has happened with me!). Make sure that you have a plan for dealing with success.
12. When are you next going to review progress?
So, you’ve answered all of these questions and you are ready to start campaigning. Great! But remember how vital it is to schedule regular review meetings with your team. No matter how busy you get in your campaign, make sure you have time to stop, review your actions, reflect on your learning, make changes to your future story and then press on! I hope my approach to campaigning helps you.
What is campaigning?
The cookie story
What is campaigning? The best definition of campaigning that I have ever heard was given by a guy called Mark Lattimer at a conference that I attended many years ago. As I remember it (and you can also watch my video below), he was asked how he would define campaigning. He invited the audience to picture the scene of a small girl at home in her kitchen with her mother.
The little girl had a problem. Her problem was that she was hungry. But she knew the solution to her problem: her mother had a cookie jar on the top shelf. And she wanted a cookie. She also knew that her mother had the power to give her a cookie. So she tried the direct approach and said, “Mum, Mum, can I have a cookie?” Her mother said, “No”. She then said, “You gave me a cookie yesterday.” So she was using historic precedent – she was a very clever girl. Her mother again said, “No”.
She then said, “You gave my little brother cookie.” Her mother again repeated, “The answer is no.” She then thought for a while and ran next door to the lounge where her father was watching television, and she said, “Dad, Dad – Mum won’t give me a cookie.”
So what is campaigning?
This story is the most basic yet effective definition of campaigning that I have ever heard. The little girl was clear on the problem, she was very clear on the solution to that problem, she was also very clear who had the power to make the change she wanted to see and she then sought to influence that person.
What is so critical about this story is that she was so focused and also she didn’t give up despite her initial failure. When I ran a campaign training workshop in Tanzania a few years ago, their challenge that went out at the end was to find out what was their cookie. To run an effective campaign you must know what your cookie is!
When I think about campaigning, I try to put it very simply in terms of the key things to think about: you need to be clear on the problem, clear on the solution to that problem, clear on who your target should be who has the power to make the change you want to see, and then you seek to influence that person.
If you’re interested to know more about how I seek to define campaigning, why not check out my new MOOC (or Massive Open Online Course) on what is campaigning now available on the Udemy training platform
So now, how about reading about identifying your Problem & Solution …
Problem & Solution
A key technique that will help you define your problem and your solution is the elevator pitch. This is quite simply thinking about stepping into a lift or elevator, and the one person, maybe it’s a politician, who you have been waiting months to see, steps into the lift or elevator with you.
How do you then use the next 15 to 30 seconds? How can you distil the basics of your campaign into a problem and a solution? And what might your ask be that person?
Training in Switzerland
Your elevator pitch might focus initially on your introduction before moving on to a crisp definition of the problem that you are facing, you would then move onto the solution that you think will address that problem, and you might make an ask such as whether you could meet that person at a later date.
It all sounds simple but actually it’s really difficult to condense your campaign message to those 15 to 30 seconds. It is something that really needs a lot of practice to get right. But when you have got it right, the elevator pitch becomes the basic fundamental building block of your campaign.
You are always ready for when you step into a lift or when you do a media interview, or when you meet a politician, or when you’re talking to a potential ally – you always have got your immediate starting message ready to roll.
Without a readily prepared elevator pitch you will really struggle to get going when the opportunity presents itself to you. It’s well worth the investment to practice your elevator pitch just so that you are ready.
Influencing
When it comes to seeking to influence your target, the person who you think has got the power to make the change you want to see, it is really useful to think about whether you are passing the TEA test.
The TEA test stands for:
- Touch. You need to be able to touch and stir the soul of your target. But you need to do more than just touch you need to
- Enthuse your target that change is possible, that there is a solution to your problem. And then having touched and enthused your target, you then want to get that person to
- Act. To do something to support your campaign
Training with the Sheila McKechnie Foundation
I think the TEA test gives you a great framework when you think about trying to influence someone. You are looking to touch them, to then move them on to enthuse them, but really you then focus on getting them to act. Touch, enthuse and act – the TEA test.
It is a great idea to look at campaigns already out there and see whether they pass the TEA test for you. I am always interested when I come across a campaign that touches me, that enthuses me and then gets me to act.
Momentum
Another critical part of effective campaigning is gaining momentum. I have been to so many campaign launches where an impressive report has been published and great speeches made with maybe some media work, but then nothing happens as a result.
The critical element is momentum. There’s a lot of talk in the campaigning world about theory of change. Sometimes this talk overcomplicates what should be a very simple process. But when I think about a theory of change I think about doing something so that something else happens, so that something else happens, so that…
Basically you do something so that something else happens. No activity exists by itself. Where you get real impact with campaigning one activity leads to another activity and the pressure for change builds. Those two little words – so that – are so important to campaigners.
So for example I commissioned some research so that I have the evidence of the problem so that I can brief politicians so that they can raise the issue with government so that I can hear where the government stands so that I can modify my position so that I can be more effective so that I can push a policy change. A critical element of campaigning is seeing where your activity goes and not just focusing on one activity in isolation.
I remember doing some campaign training in Nigeria many years ago and one of the people on the course said to me that he had learnt nothing new from me and these campaigning tools! But he went onto say that he now recognised the critical importance of seeing things strategically, seeing how activities joined up and not being content with doing something, stopping, and then picking up a bit later. For him his key learning was campaigning was all about momentum.