Imagine yourself in the waiting room ahead of a meeting with the key legislator you need to advance your agenda. You’ve spent days, maybe weeks, gathering the data, building your narrative, rehearsing your talking points. Your feet are a little sore because you’ve been walking the halls all day from meeting to meeting, getting into your rhythm ahead of this, the big one.

At that point, there’s almost nothing more you can do. Just like cramming for tests in school, at some point you already know all that you’re going to know. You’re better off shutting down, thinking about something else and clearing your mind of the stressors leading into your day of advocacy.

But no matter how much you know, how firm your personal relationship with that decision maker, or how timely your request, there are six words that are going to sink your agenda.

“I haven’t heard from any constituents.”

There it is. You’re sunk. And if you think your organization’s system is immune to this poison pill, you are gravely mistaken. I’ve seen multiple legislators drop this nugget on fortune 500 companies just the same as small, community based non-profits. There has even been a time or two that I’ve had to deliver those words of reproach.

Advocates and lobbyists invest incredible amounts of time into relationship building. If you’re new to this blog, I’ve tried to raise this concept over multiple posts, and I’d encourage you to read through a few of them (maybe start here). But the concept is simple: it takes time and concerted effort to build a level of trust with any decision maker.

All of that work will fall apart when it runs into the reality that all politics is local. A member of congress, a state legislator, a governor – all are inclined to determine whether a given measure will mean anything to the voters back home. Failing to account for this reality within your advocacy plan is the sure fire way to cripple your agenda.

But what does that look like?

Over the next two months, my Thursday posts are going to revolve around developing political action plans. I hope to layer concepts together such as activating your grassroots team, leveraging existing events, PAC activity and others to show how you can build a strategic agenda that exists outside of the topsy-turvy world of daily political gamesmanship.

The goal is pretty simple – most organizations need to transition from a reactionary mindset to a proactive one. By properly weaving together your various political activities, you can prevent yourself from walking into a meeting already doomed by those six deadliest words. More importantly, you’ll be able to advance your agenda in the midst of political turmoil.

On a more personal note, I’m also going to work toward delivering content to you in some new ways. I’m much more comfortable with the written word, but, I want to continually develop this blog into greater relevancy to you. So – help me out if you can. Drop me a line, in the comments below or via email to luke@partofthepossible.com, and let me know what topics you’re most interested in having me explore, as well as what mediums (audio files, short videos, etc.) you’d benefit from most. I’m excited to stretch myself in new ways, but I want the content to add value to your life and work.

I continue to be floored, and absolutely grateful, by the number of folks who check in with me here on the blog. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and your precious time with me. I’m excited to keep growing with you as we try, together, to be part of the possible.

Those who’ve taken a moment to read the home page of this site will stumble upon a quote at the very bottom from my favorite President, Calvin Coolidge. The quote captures the core concept of this blog, that there is always something we can do to advance our causes. As I write this final installment in the Octob-her series focused on women in advocacy, I thought it would be fitting to share a bit of history about President Coolidge’s wife, Grace and her lasting lesson in the role of soft advocacy.

In modern politics, we’ve become accustomed to an activist/advocate role for First Ladies (and someday, a First Gentlemen) that we can expect to carry forward as successive spouses identify causes they can advance through the influence of that particular station. But this was not always the historical norm. Prior to Eleanor Roosevelt, advocacy from the personages within the first family was exceedingly rare. Grace Coolidge was one of the first to take an interest in the history of the preceding first ladies and once bemoaned the lack of material available on her predecessors and their activities.

In many ways, Grace adhered to the precedent laid out before her, drawing distinctions between her role in managing the personal staff of the White House and her own inclinations on involvement in public policy. Strategically, however, she was an early interpreter of how modern media (radio, early video reels) could be leveraged to appeal to the broader public without a direct call for action.

In 1924, after assuming the Presidency in the wake of Warren G. Harding’s death, Coolidge was seeking election to the office in his own right. The campaign was challenging on a deeply personal level due to the July 1924 death of the Coolidges’ son, Calvin. In the midst of her own mourning and bolstering her taciturn husband, Grace used her office to reinforce the importance of women participating in voting. In a non-partisan event, she filled out her personal absentee ballot on the South Lawn of the White House grounds while the press photographed her in the act. This simple, lead-from-the-front gesture was an early example of her mastery of soft advocacy.

In a time when the vote was still new, and in some ways unfathomable, to women across the country, Grace found a way to elevate awareness in a way that testifies to the power of pursuing what is possible.

But she didn’t stop there.

Prior to marrying “Silent Cal”, Grace served as a teacher at the Clarke School for the Deaf in Massachusetts. According to an online biography available through firstladies.org, Grace steered clear of using the station of First Lady to become a spokesperson for the Clarke school. Yet, public knowledge of her past as an educator for the hearing-impaired drew attention to the issue – as we would undoubtedly expect in the age of modern media.

In one event, without an overt ask presented to the public, Grace Coolidge and Helen Keller brought the dilemma of hearing and sight impairment to the forefront of the national consciousness.

As always, a picture is worth a thousand words. Above, you see Grace Coolidge allowing the visually and aurally impaired Keller to read her lips in, I believe, one of the most intimate examples of empathy ever demonstrated on the national stage. This one moment, captured for posterity through the press corps, spread across the country in an early demonstration of what it means to go viral.

I was never taught about Grace Coolidge in school. The Coolidge administration as a whole is largely overlooked when classes turn to the broader topics of the time such as prohibition and the, by puritan standards, lasciviousness of the 1920’s. But here, in the midst of all that made the ’20s “roaring”, we have a soft, quiet moment captured solely through silent imagery, that conveys a clear message of humanity and decency.

Despite her restrained activism, Grace’s soft touch inspired a nation. She was a tremendously popular public persona throughout Cal’s time in office. Quietly, and with a clear separation between her role as First Lady and her personal life, she raised more than $2,000,000 toward an endowment for her former employer, the Clarke School for the Deaf. Converted to today’s dollars that’s more than $30 million.

Dollars are easy to capture as a metric, but how much more priceless is the impact of bringing the challenges of physical disability to the national stage, and demonstrating such…grace.

I’m floored by this story. There is much more to learn about Grace Coolidge, and I’d encourage you to look her up. She was renowned for her sense of style and her approachable demeanor. More importantly, I think we can all learn a little more about how to succeed as advocates if we remember the power of a soft touch in advocacy.

In today’s politics, bombast seems to win the day. I remain hopeful and trust the pendulum will swing back toward decorum in public life – but that starts with each of us. If enough of us commit to being just a little bit better, we’ll push that pendulum a little further, a little faster. After all, circumstance may not allow us do do everything at once, but we can always do something at once.

I’ve spent the last couple of hours in conversations with folks who are frustrated because they feel limited in their options to effect change right now. I get it. We’re in the part of our political cycle where the general election steals attention away from the long game of advocacy.

However, there are still things we can do right now that will lay the groundwork for effective advocacy in the future. Today, we should be working on building our coalition. Building can mean educating our members, or providing them more tools of the trade, but most often it’s about growing our ranks.

Right now, let’s focus on sheer numbers. How do we grow our advocacy networks? One tactic you can leverage right now is taking action on behalf of those whose interests align with your organization’s.

Act is not a passive verb. There are immediate steps you can take to build good will within your network. And in modern advocacy, powered by the data economy, those steps are easy and accessible to all. But, as you consider this tactic, understand that you are committing to the long game of relationship building.

First – do your homework on the agenda items of advocates in your network. I’m in the agriculture sphere, but work extensively on energy issues, technology and broadband issues, tax policy, and environmental policy. In the midst of my own priorities, I work to identify groups with overlapping interests and endeavor to identify opportunities where we can further their efforts in ways that don’t conflict with our own interest.

It boils down to the old 80/20 rule. If someone agrees with me 80% of the time, that doesn’t make them my enemy 20% of the time.

(I’ll get you started with a shameless little plug for one of my top priorities, which you can learn about HERE.)

Second – identify a specific initiative they are working on right now, and help amplify their message. In today’s world, individuals often default to the social media sharing approach. But this is a passive approach. If you want to stand out in their efforts, participate in their formal calls-to-action then personally ask your network to do the same.

Within my own operations, we leverage a voter activation tool that allows folks visiting our website to send form letter emails to their legislators on any active campaign we are pursuing at the time. Social media likes and shares are fine for educating your network, but when push comes to shove advocacy organizations need you to participate in their formalized messaging. So, on their active campaigns take the 1-2 minutes necessary to add your name to their petition or send their form letter email to your representative. You’ll probably be surprised how easy it is to participate in the system.

Lastly – follow up. Modern technology lets professional advocates know when you’ve taken action on their cause. But if you want to stand out for having helped advance a cause, make sure to circle back with that team. Give it a few days – almost like waiting to call after a first date – and send a note to the organizational contact. Ask them how the campaign is going and if there is anything further you can do.

BUT – and this is a big but – you have to be genuine and humble, not seeking a quid pro quo. You must be willing, as you’re growing your own advocacy team, to give with out asking. By genuinely contributing to their efforts, you are placing them ahead of yourself, engendering good will and helping you build an infinite game mindset.

When we help others, we are in a very real sense helping ourselves. Consistently, this industry boils down to relationship building. You’ll hear this from me regularly because it’s the single most important concept to effective advocacy.

If you want a first step into building this approach into a habit, I’d invite you to check out an ongoing campaign I have in my own work. Follow this link and you can take action to support a bill my organization is working to get carried into the next Congress. If you think it aligns with your own goals, please take a moment and take action with me. Then, make sure to send me an email, drop a comment on this blog, or connect with me about it on LinkedIn. I’d be grateful for the opportunity to learn more about your own priorities and how we can work together in the future.

Last week, I kicked off a series featuring women in advocacy. Anne Thompson brought her insights in the realm of managing a national Political Action Committee, and I hope you enjoyed hearing from one of the real go-getters in this field.

But, this week, I want to share a little bit with you about the Go-To. A poorly kept secret about most political teams is that they have a short list of volunteers, activists and community leaders they can count on in a pinch. In a sprawling congressional district, they may have multiple per county or community. Regardless of depth, every political operation is dependent on this bench.

In my own work, I knew I could count on several folks to answer the phone when I called – most of whom were all but guaranteed to take action. But, even in this crew there were still those who stood out. And at the risk of inadvertently alienating others, I’m going to tell you about one of those remarkable volunteers this week. She is by no means the only go-to I’ve worked with – but she is a dear friend who has taught me a lot about local politics, and I think she deserves some thanks.

I first met April Gibson during the 2012 election cycle, shortly after congressional re-districting happened in Ohio. My boss at the time was running for election in the new boundaries which nearly doubled the size of the previous congressional district. It became immediately apparent in that election cycle that we would need key leaders across the new district lines to help us grow name recognition and identify key campaign targets.

Overnight, April became a go-to for me and our whole team. How did she become so intertwined with our efforts? She gave without asking.

Let’s lay out what that means in practical terms:

– She identified key groups of influential local voters and community influencers we should prioritize engaging.

– She organized opportunities for our team to participate in existing events, maximizing visibility without creating additional work.

– She showed up. Every. Time.

– She offered local insights in a constructive way that built trust.

– She actively looked for alignment between the candidate’s goals and her own, finding ways to work on multiple issues while placing her limited asks strategically.

As a young, green staffer April quickly became a sounding board on any issue under the sun. She became a gut check on my assumptions, and helped reframe my approach to coalition building. In military terminology, she had my six – watching my blindspots to ensure we presented the candidate effectively and avoided committing a faux pas that can hurt a candidate in unfamiliar territory.

In the years since we worked directly together on campaigns, April and I have continued to stay in touch. She continues to work diligently on the causes that drive her. She continues to motivate those around her. She continues to mentor.

The Go-To’s, as you’ll see in your own work, have developed a habitual approach to advocacy work. It’s not a novel hobby they take part in every election cycle. Rather, they commit to relationship building and just causes that motivate them year round. It’s rarely glamorous work, but it moves the needle on a generational scale – and it takes habit building. And more often than not, you don’t have to ask them to be building these habits.

As you continue to grow your volunteer advocate network, get yourself an April. Look for the following:

– Who shows up?

– Who is already taking action that overlaps with your organizational goals?

– Who is in the habit of building connections between groups?

If you can find those three in one person, abundantly, I’ll bet you’re well on your way to establishing your own Go-To.

As for me, I’m forever grateful to the volunteers who worked so hard alongside our team. To all of them, and especially my dear friend April, thank you. Your friendship, and the lessons you taught along the way, made all the difference.