Being Supportive and Inspiring Action

Have you ever been in a place where you’ve agreed to do things that you didn’t do? Similarly, have you ever been on the other side of this equation, where someone has agreed to do something to help your group but that doesn’t happen? Connecting to CCL’s fifth pillar of Transformational Organizing, this webinar provides support, perspective and ideas for CCL leaders responding to coaching situations in a manner that embodies our values of relationships, personal power, integrity and optimism. This training provides advice on what to consider before, during and after having these conversations. If we are intentional about our responses and aware of what comes up for us when a miscommunication happens, it’s more than possible to respond in a supportive manner that inspires action.

Check in with your people

Supporting the people in your group does not have to take hours and hours of your time, but it is essential. When someone is first getting to know CCL, having a guide or mentor is really helpful to them and communicates that their participation is valued. When someone has taken on a role, it’s really helpful to them to have a chance to periodically reflect on how it’s going, solve problems, or figure out the next steps.

Doing this does not have to take hours of time and does not have to be done solely by the group leader or a state or regional coordinator. In fact, it’s a role that someone who enjoys empowering other people might love to take on. It can be as simple as asking someone at the beginning or the end of a meeting “How’s it going as our chapter host? Is there anything you need?” 

You can also take a more systematic approach and plan to call your most important role-takers monthly to check in with them. For example, a monthly or quarterly call to your team leaders or committee chairs, can make a huge difference to them. 

Coaching Calls

A check-in call is like coaching. A quick review of coaching is provided below, which has three interconnected domains:

• Motivation: Providing encouragement, getting over discouragement, helping people articulate their commitment to their objective.
• Skills: Helping volunteers decide if they have the skills they need to accomplish their objective and what resources (including people) you can connect them with.
• Strategy: Identifying a clear path for achieving goals and making a plan of action.

In a coaching conversation you are doing three things: finding out what they need (is it a skill, motivation or a strategy?), finding a way to fill the need, and then coming back to reflecting on how things went. 

Ask open-ended questions like “How are you feeling about your progress on __________” and “Is there anything you need to be able to be as effective as possible?” Listen for what kind of support is needed and think together about how to meet that need. Plan how and when you’ll check in again to see how it’s going.

Intro & Agenda
(From beginning)

Before a Conversation
(4:20)

During a Conversation
(14:06)

Creating a Successful Follow-up
(27:22)

Tamara Staton

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Intro & Agenda (From beginning)
(From beginning)

Before a Conversation
(4:20)

During a Conversation
(14:06)

Creating a Successful Follow-up
(27:22)

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Find the episode on CCL’s iTunes channel.

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