Extension to Communities

If you're conducting a planning session of more than two hours, you will now be at mid-stream. It's an ideal time to take a break and then resume by launching into the How.

If, on the other hand, you have less time or are leading a "town meeting" of sorts, it's best to now wrap up and pick up on the how at a subsequent session. Your concluding remarks should challenge and motivate the audience. Emphasize that there are several keys to success:

1. Focus on a few key goals. All too often, well-meaning efforts fail because of excessive expectations. It's critical to focus. Concentrate on a few goals and do them well.

2. Achieve a quick, visible success. Success breeds success, and the best way to build momentum is by quickly accomplishing something, however small in the larger scheme of things, that people notice and value.

3. Commitment is the key. Involve people who will commit and follow through. Don't sign on unless you are committed. A sure-fire formula to failure is to pressure volunteers who aren't really committed -- they'll drop the ball and set off a chain reaction of fumbles. If people aren't sure that they can devote the time or aren't really all that interested, the best favor they can do is to be up front and decline involvement.

4. "The Community Action Pyramid." Success requires sustained commitment. Ideally, you would like to have an overflow of highly motivated volunteers and a keenly interested public. But don't count on it -- if you do you're setting yourself up for unrealistic expectations. In today's world people are short on time and bombarded by thousands of messages every day. If you delude yourself into excessive expectations, you will soon become disillusioned and burn out.

   Draw the community action pyramid on a transparency or newsprint. Start at the top, filling in the blanks as you move downward.

   Now draw red diagonal lines downward to expand the space in the make things happen section. Stress that if all the people currently in that section would each recruit one additional person, the commitment would double. Close by challenging all who have signed on to the process to keep moving forward. If they stop now, all they've accomplished is a "feel good meeting." To use a baseball metaphor, the group is now leading off first base and in a good position to score.

On to the next section -- Choosing Projects
Back to Facilitating For Results Content Outline

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Extension programs are available to all without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability. Questions or comments? Contact the Extension to Communities Secretary, lindaek@iastate.edu last updated Thursday March 01 2001