Coalition recruitment, Participation and maintenance

1. Coalition recruitment, Participation and maintenance Coalition 101

2. Southwest Region Coalitions usually begin with a small group of interested individuals brought together by a catalyst event or by common needs or values. All participants have a stake in leadership and in the outcomes. As the coalition grows, new participants need to feel a sense of responsibility for the success of the group.

3. Benefits of collaboration: • Personal growth (encounter multiple perspectives) • Increased productivity & enhanced motivation • Advanced thinking, creativity; quality of work • Combined insights and wisdom to help solve more complicated issues • Access to resources/additional sources of funding • Access to and development of data • Increased visibility, recognition

4. Coalitions can also help communities: • identify gaps in current services and help fill them • avoid duplication of services • develop a greater understanding of community needs by seeing the whole picture, not just a snapshot provided by one provider • become enriched by diverse perspectives that different members from varied backgrounds bring to the table

5. If you only have the same kind of people with the same kind of views, you are only going to get predictable solutions. • There is a direct correlation between diversity and strong coalitions. • The face of the coalition should match the face of the community. • Characteristics could include geography, gender, age, socio-economic background, educational level, ethno-cultural background, and physical ability.

6. Recruiting Actively recruit from the two power extremes: • Most powerful – business, clergy, city hall, etc. • Least powerful – neighborhood groups, youth, minorities, low socio-economic, etc.

7. Recruitment barriers: • Lack of awareness of the coalition and its activities • Lack of knowledge about how to become involved • Lack of written criteria for membership • Unclear member roles, responsibilities, and expectations • Belief that consumer members are “tokens” and not taken seriously

8. Recruitment barriers • Fear of disclosure as a consumer • Financial cost of participation • Limited physical capacity • Distrust of public programs and providers • Lack of understanding of and/or discomfort with formality and complexity of a coalition planning process

9. Recruitment ideas Coalitions must develop a formal membership plan that addresses inclusiveness, diversity, and a recruitment process. • Invite a member from the media to be a coalition member. • Have each member bring a guest to the meeting. • Recruit members in teams. It’s not as intimidating to attend a meeting if you have someone else to go with you. • Send a postcard to a potential member signed by a member who knows them.

10. Recruitment ideas • Let chairs be responsible for recruiting members for their committee. • Give potential members a coalition brochure. • Have a representative from a group whose members don’t want to attend meetings (such as youth, rural residents, etc.) • Those with special expertise can be recruited to join the coalition in an advisory capacity with limited duties. For example, reviewing a health plan and giving feedback.

11. Orientation • New members should be oriented to their roles and responsibilities, the coalition’s work plan and timeline, and topics that will be addressed at the next meeting. • Explain the structure of subcommittees, when they meet, and their leader’s name and contact information. • Provide written information or binder with past minutes, bylaws, policies and procedures, etc.

12. Mentoring • Mentoringhelps new members, especially consumers, feel welcome and comfortable. • Some coalitions assign each new member to a “veteran” member who takes special responsibility for making sure the new member understands the background and context of the discussions and actions. • Mentoring typically lasts for about three months.

13. The 6 “R”s • Respect- People want their values, culture, ideas and time to be respected and considered in the organizations activities. • Role-People want a meaningful role that makes them feel valuable and in which they can make a contribution. • Results-People respond to visible results that they can clearly link to their participation in the group.

14. The 6 “R”s • Recognition-People want to be recognized for their contributions. • Relationships-People want the opportunity to establish and build networks both professionally and personally for greater influence and enjoyment. • Reward-People expect the rewards of participating to outweigh the costs.

15. Planning When it’s time to develop an intervention plan, look at who is at the table. • Make sure your group is diverse so you will have many points of view included in your problem solving and decision-making. • You will save time and energy by involving someone in the decision rather than having to sell the decision to them after the meeting.

16. Make sure you include: • People who will be impacted by the results • People who have experience with the problem or those who are affected by the problem • People with relevant expertise and/or skills

17. Tip: • Build relationships with people with different cultural backgrounds to get a different perspective. • Build relationships with people of power and influence to help make things happen.

18. Participant motivation Make an effort to connect with members, especially those with limited voices. • Remember their name! Get to know them, their values, priorities, issues, needs, etc. • Recognize their need to connect with others and to be part of the effort. • Recognize that they are influential in affecting their community. • Recognize their efforts, strengths, donation of time, knowledge, perspective, skills, etc.

19. Participant motivation • Ask their opinion. • Make them feel welcome. Make sure they feel they are a part of the group and feel good about participating. • Ask them individually to participate and give them a responsibility. • Make it easy for them to participate- provide a meal, transportation, carpool, day care, convenient meeting time, etc.

20. Participant motivation Building relationships takes time and risk but should be planned into all projects. • Show appreciation for their contribution. Tell them or write them a note. • Provide incentives- certificates, plaques, “member of the month” recognition, track their volunteer hours, etc. • Plan an event and recognize their talents with announcements and certificates.

21. Maintenance Cause (vision) Task (duties) • Most long-term members sign up for the cause and if they stick around will contribute to the tasks. • Individuals who sign up just for the task rarely become long term members.

22. Maintenance • Keep the vision, mission, and activities clearly defined. • Communicate with members regularly and avoid assuming that everyone is informed on coalition business. • Spend time getting to know each other. Schedule time for information sharing and team building on a regular basis. (Introductions and Ice Breakers) • Develop clear roles for members and leaders that outline expectations.

23. Maintenance Acknowledge that everyone has an equally important contribution to make and not everyone must be an expert in every aspect of the coalition process. • Don’t avoid turf issues and hidden agendas. Encourage negotiation and communication. • Plan activities that are fun. Celebrate coalition accomplishments. • Recognize member contributions and reward their accomplishments. Also, recognize successes of members and member agencies even when not directly related to coalition business.

24. Conclusions • There is a process to membership recruitment, participation, and maintenance. • Broad-based, culturally diverse membership must be encouraged. • Membership recruitment should be ongoing.

25. Thank you! For more information please contact your local HHI Coalition.