Well, here we go!
Big news in Ohio last night as Governor DeWine announced a formal return to normalcy on June 2. More than a year into our fight against COVID-19, folks across the Buckeye state will get back to it. But what does that mean for advocacy organizations?
Within my own planning for this year, I opted for a conservative approach to advocacy agendas. I had no idea in January that vaccination rollouts would reach this point by now, and accordingly, opted to plan on the worst case scenario. Now that there is clear view of the horizon, we need to re-think our plans.
Are you prepared to take an operational pause to reset on your advocacy agenda?
I’ve written about this before – strategically placed operational pauses allow us the space to reflect on what’s been accomplished, and project into the future what could fall into the realm of the possible. Nearing the halfway mark for this year, you and your team would be well served to rethink the 4Ts: Targets, Timing, Tactics and Testing.
You may not need the full planning process that you pursue each year. But can you take a page from the Marine Corps’ playbook and engage in a rapid response planning process (R2P2)?
R2P2 is an accelerated planning process that allows Marine Expeditionary Units to compress decision making and respond to complex situations in a much tighter window. It boils down to the following structural pieces:
Framing the problem; developing your course of action (COA); wargaming that COA from the perspective against a worthy red cell; comparing and contrasting available COAs to make a decision; develop orders and then transitioning the available force to execution.
It takes years of experience to get really good at R2P2 in the context of military operations. But within advocacy organizations, we’d owe it to ourselves to utilize a similar approach right now. Why? Because your schedule is about to get blown up.
We are on the cusp of a knee jerk reaction in a lot of communities who have yet to return to normal routines. In Columbus, we’ve seen our statehouse exist in a near ghost-town state through the entirety of our budget season. Come June 2nd, I think it’ll get very crowded very quickly. But with that increase in participation, you’re likely to see a commensurate increase in extracurricular activities, site visits, fundraisers, etc. Your team could be on the edge of event overdose.
Right now you need to pause. Restate your just cause and evaluate your 4Ts within the bounds of that cause. Begin setting priorities for the remainder of 2021 now, well before the frenetic activity starts in earnest. You will never be wrong to opt toward proactivity over reactivity. After all, in reactive environments we tend toward prioritizing too much. And if there’s one universal truth in planning, it’s this: if everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority (another gem from the USMC).
You’ve got this. But pause and think before we jump back in. Try a compressed planning process to reevaluate where your plan can change moving forward. It’ll be worth it.
Part of the Possible 