Deep Dive Breakout 1: With a Little Help from My Friends: Effectively Using External Coalitions and Internal Teams

To complete your surround sound advocacy experience, you will need to coordinate across departments and utilize outside industry coalitions. How do we navigate different personalities, priorities, and expertise when working with internal and external teams? How can we identify and connect with potential allies, build strong relationships, and leverage the power of collective action? What are some lessons that we can learn from our successful (and unsuccessful) collaborative experiences?

Speakers:

• Adam Katz – Society for Neuroscience
• Mary Gardner Coffee – CTIA The Wireless Association
• Dan McCarthy – National Recreation and Park Association
• Abbey Schroeder – American Trucking Association

Notes:

Coalition:

• A tool for the visibility of shared issues between organizations and groups.
• An expansion of a portfolio that you cannot take on.
• Coalition: Use them as signers for joint letters to Congress, emphasizing the number of people in their district who care about the XYZ issue. 
• A force multiplier to increase internal and external impact for issues that you care about. 
• Coalitions can go rogue and off-track

Sharing strategies for winning over tough internal departments

• Examples from the audience on horror stories of coalition
  • One is in the process of dissolving a coalition
  • One doesn’t want to be associated with a coalition publicly 
• How to win people over: start small, create buy-in
  • Let people shine in their strengths
  • Collaboration is key
  • Teach people skills and give them a purpose
  • Track everything 
• Knowing when to step forward, support, or step back
  • Have an internal matrix of coalitions that internal staff are working with to ensure alignment and transparency. Use your organization’s internal matrix to determine which coalitions your organization should prioritize. 
• Be a value-add when considering joining a coalition
  • Plan and have strategies on how to get a coalition from the ground up and make sure senior leadership understand how coalitions can benefit your organization. 

Establish different coalition experiences, levels of leadership, and structures

• Internal group example
  • Women in Motion Coalition: created a mission statement to distinguish itself from other organizations, created 3 pillars to drive change (programs, advocacy, and influence) 
  • Secured buy-in from members and showed they can play a role in the coalition
• State-level coalition
  • MA Hunger Free Campus Coalition: Boston Food Bank formed a coalition with other MA food banks to make change happen at the state level. Realized halfway through that the coalition was working for students and not with students. 
  • Decided to stop forming the coalition, restarted, and reached out to students at different campuses and schools. Built trust and invited students into a new coalition as founding members. 
  • The new coalition: founded and lead by students with the support of local food banks.
  • “Sometimes you don’t have to tell my story, you just need to pass the mic.” 🡪 the power of advocates
  • The MA Hunger Free Campus Coalition continues to this date. 
• Chain of Command
  • Funders
  • Stakeholders
  • Vendors
  • Grassroots advocates
  • Grasstops advocates
  • Important to remember: know your role within an effort, when to push back, offer support, or take direction. 

Examples of wins and losses

• Women in Motion Coalition: created a small booklet of personal stories from 23 states and was a powerful tool during fly-in meetings. The booklet was used by a Member of Congress during a Congressional hearing. 
• Food Bank example: the logistical challenge faced by students when it comes to breakfast before school. The Boston Food Bank started a coalition with diverse anti-hunger groups from the area and called it Rise and Shine Massachusetts. The coalition experienced a last-minute backout from an important partner, restarted the conversation with united buy-in, and passed the legislation to ensure free breakfasts at schools.

Management successes and failures

• Independent voices are valuable because they are independent
• You can’t force success. Stay nimble and get creative when dealing with challenges and changes
• Tailor individual communication and fostering personal relationships can go a long way

Managing expectations around internal departments and external coalitions

• It’s important to determine who gets to be in the room where the major wins happen
• A delicate dance of letting people be involved in important events but also making sure that the major takeaways are reiterated
• Egos can get in the way so make sure your groups understand specific roles
• Plan for success 
  • Advocacy should be at the beginning of the conversation, and not at the very end
  • Make sure all internal departments are on the same page when working towards a goal in advance
  • Advocacy should be a part of every department’s work
  • Set parameters for all stakeholders. Don’t overpromise.
• Draw the bigger picture

Managing egos and infighting

• Whole of advocacy: you need everyone!
• When infighting and egos happen, it’s important to remember that everyone is on the same team. 
• Keep seeking ways to improve communications, understanding, and collaboration
• Shared victory is a double victory, shared defeat is a half-defeat
  • Make your success everyone’s success. Work with your departments and not against them. 
• A common goal in mind. Secure buy-in at all levels to ensure success. Determine everyone’s roles from the beginning to make sure it’s an open line of communications

Closing thoughts

• Incorporating more people is always a good idea. 
• You can’t overcommunicate something.
• Don’t think that you know everything and seek out other departments’ perspective.
• Ask yourself: who isn’t at the table? Take a beat to make sure you have all the right materials to start the campaign.