rule of 7's matt fletcher presentation

THE RULE OF 7's

Determining Advocacy EffectivenessA Presentation by Matt Fletcher

© Matt Fletcher, 2011

Introduction.

Is it passage of legislation you've advocated for?

A vote tally that shows a majority of lawmakers in support of your cause?

THE RULE OF 7's

How do you know if your advocacy is effective?


!!!

While exclamation marks emphasize an expression of excitement, they don't occur on the printed page very often.

Your advocacy "exclamation marks" will likely be singular, somewhat rare events that are the end result of a great deal of long-term and ongoing advocacy momentum.

THE RULE OF 7's

Those types of advocacy outcomes are like exclamation marks.


Be the Wave.

Truly powerful advocacy is like the never-ending waves that crash upon an ocean's shore.

Constant, stable, and flexible power that will - over time - completely reshape any object in its path.

THE RULE OF 7's

The level of ongoing momentum created through your advocacy efforts is the true gauge of effective advocacy.


The Rule of 7's.

Together, they're called The Rule of 7's.

7 steps you can take as an advocacy leader to build an effective advocacy base.

7 touchstones that will determine how powerful your advocacy base is.

7 hallmarks of effective advocacy that a successful advocacy base will deliver.

THE RULE OF 7's

This presentation will illustrate a simple set of

axioms that lead to effective advocacy.


Guess what?

THE RULE OF 7's© Matt Fletcher, 2011

You are a leader.


Leadership.

• What leader from history do you admire most?

• What do you feel made them a good leader?

• What can you learn about advocacy from that leader?

THE RULE OF 7's

Spend a few minutes thinking about leaders you admire.


Rule of 7:

Building Your Advocacy Base


Rule of 7: Building the Base.

Step 1: Develop an Advocacy Plan

Just telling people to go out and "advocate" isn't enough. There has to be a plan of action. A plan that you - and your advocates - can easily follow.

You advocacy plan should:

Identify the objectives of your advocacy.

Provide the tools and materials that will be needed.

Establish an easy-to-follow timeline for action.

Create opportunities for accountability.

Be regularly updated to reflect changing circumstances.

THE RULE OF 7's

How does one create the waves that will eventually

overpower anything in their path?


Rule of 7: Building the Base.Step 2: Create Clear, Simple Messages

The heart of all advocacy is the message. The more complex or abstract the issue is, the harder it can be for grassroots advocates to communicate clearly.

It's easy to get lost in the numbers, the statistics or the line items. Powerful advocacy begins with clear, simple messages.

Your job as an advocacy leader is to give your advocates the framework for clear and simple messaging. However, you also must allow your advocates the flexibility to customize the message to best reflect - and project - their own experiences and circumstances.

THE RULE OF 7's

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Step 3: Construct an Advocacy Infrastructure

Reliable advocacy bases have structure and accountability.

You must stress that your advocates create a structure through which they will carry out their advocacy efforts. That structure begins with a core team in the community that will agree to a regular schedule of meetings in order to plan out advocacy activities.

Teams are important in advocacy. A team of supportive individuals can accomplish much more than just one person. It is important to stress that this is a team, not just a group.

A team implies a shared sense of purpose, and a sense that performance - both individual, and as a group - will lead to accomplishing goals.



Step 3: Infrastructure, Cont.

THE RULE OF 7's

Regular meetings are wonderful tools for encouraging accountability. People tend to follow through on assignments if they know they'll have to report on them during the next meeting.

As your advocacy infrastructure grows and matures, advocates should be encouraged to build even broader networks including other interested stakeholders in the community, and, eventually, regional collaborations focused on common advocacy goals.



Step 4: Sharing Promising Practices

A vital element for the continued growth of your advocacy base is the ability to share promising practices.

You will find that advocacy teams will come up with creative and innovative ideas as they carry out advocacy.

Create opportunities for advocacy teams to communicate across your advocacy base, and share their promising practices with other teams.



Step 5: Develop Easy-To-Use Tools

Provide your advocacy base with the tools it needs to carry out effective advocacy.

Tools may include:

Talking points

Easy-to-understand facts or statistics to aid in advocacy

Letter-writing templates

News release templates

Legislative testimony templates

Names and addresses for policymakers

'Turn-key' advocacy event packets



Step 6: Keep Your Advocates Informed and Up-To-Date

When it comes to politics and governance, circumstances can change quickly.

Keep your advocacy base informed and investedby scheduling regular opportunities to share updated information.

Try and find at least two different methods of keeping your advocacy base up-to-date, in order to keep as many advocates engaged as possible.



Step 7: Break Down What Worked and What Didn't

In order to gauge the effectiveness of your advocacy efforts, you - and your advocacy base - should have the opportunity to regularly assess advocacy successes and challenges.

Build an annual or biannual opportunity to collect information from your advocacy base regarding the effectiveness of your advocacy strategy, tools and activities.

Encourage advocacy teams to self-evaluate their effectiveness as well.

Remember - it's very important in this process to celebrate all successes, no matter how small!


Advocacy Bases in Action.

Spend a few minutes thinking about famous advocacy movements.

• What is a famous advocacy movement that comes to mind?

• Was that movement a success or a failure?

• Did that movement have an advocacy base?

• How do you think that base was formed?

• Did they accomplish their goal quickly, or gradually over time?


Rule of 7:

Touchstones of Powerful Advocacy Bases


Rule of 7: Touchstones of Powerful Advocacy Bases.

How do you know if you've built a powerful base of advocates?

Advocacy bases that carry out effective advocacy are:

Invested

Strong

Stable

Responsive

Nimble

Confident

Leader Collaborators




Your advocacy base is invested if you see widespread involvement in advocacy opportunities, as well as innovation being initiated from the local advocacy team level on up.

Your advocacy base is strong if policymakers know your advocates by name, view them in a positive light and consider them to be 'experts' regarding the issues for which you advocate.

Your advocacy base is stable if it exhibits a constant, steady level of advocacy activity.




Your advocacy base is responsive if it exhibits widespread follow-through on advocacy objectives that have been established.

Your advocacy base is nimble if it successfully pivots in a timely manner in response to fast-changing events dictated by outside influences.

Your advocacy base is confident if it is enthusiastic in embracing its leadership role in educating and influencing policy makers.

Your advocacy base is a leader collaborator if it is instrumental in building larger collaborative efforts among interested stakeholders on common advocacy goals.


I/DD advocacy in action.

Spend a few minutes thinking about advocacy on I/DD issues in Kansas.

• How would you describe the advocacy base for I/DD issues in Kansas?

• What are the I/DD advocacy base’s strengths?

• What are the I/DD advocacy base’s weaknesses?

• How can the I/DD advocacy base be strengthened?


Rule of 7:

Hallmarks ofEffective Advocacy


Rule of 7: Hallmarks of Effective Advocacy.


#1. Building Relationships

Your advocacy is effective if, through your advocacy base, you have developed strong, positive relationships with key policymakers. These legislators understand your issues, and are invested in helping you accomplish your advocacy goals.



#2. Becoming an Expert

Your advocacy is effective if policymakers look to you and your advocacy base as experts on your issues. You and your advocates are trusted sources of information. The materials you provide are disseminated and digested by legislators without skepticism.

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#3. Inventing Opportunities

Your advocacy is effective if you have placed yourself in a position to make opportunities happen for your cause. If you're in regular communication with policymakers, and if they know and trust you, opportunities can -and will - present themselves.



#4. Hearing Your Own Words

Your advocacy is effective if you hear your own words being used by policymakers. If legislators use the terminology, phraseology and facts of your advocacy, you know you've made an impact.

THE RULE OF 7's





#5. Singing in a Chorus, Not Solo

Your advocacy is effective if the voices singing your advocacy message are more than just that of your advocacy base. Prominent members of communities, editors of newspapers, bloggers and policymakers who vocalize the issues you advocate for are excellent indicators that your advocacy messages have spread to a wide audience.



#6. Creating Heroes

Your advocacy is effective if you've created opportunities for policymakers to become "heroes". If your advocacy messages have truly impacted legislators, you will find some who are not only invested... they're willing to work to convince their peers of the need to support your issues! These heroes can become key in any effort to introduce a legislative initiative.

THE RULE OF 7's





#7. Leaving Doors Open

Your advocacy is effective if you've left doors open to those policymakers who didn't initially support or embrace your advocacy goals. Just because they didn't support you today doesn't mean that they won't be an ally tomorrow. Ineffective advocates close doors that later could lead to success.


Conclusion.

Effective advocacy is a long-term and continuous process.

Building a successful advocacy base is the key to creating effective advocacy. The investment in this must not be under-valued. A strong and powerful advocacy base IS the key to successful cause-based advocacy.

Those who follow the Rule of 7's will find that they have developed successful and effective advocacy - not just for today - but for a continued prosperous future in advancing their cause.


rule of 7's matt fletcher presentation

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