Taking Care of Business:

Sound Management and Implementation

PARTICIPANTS' GUIDE

Published by:

U.S. EPA Region 4
Environmental Justice and Children's Health Section

Environmental Justice Academy

A 1-l-ftA United States

Environmental Protection
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Taking Care of Business:

Sound Management and Implementation

Module 7
Participants' Guide

Table of Contents

Preparation Materials	1

Icon Key	2

Agendas	3

Module 7 Day 1	3

Module 7 Day 2	4

Module 7 Day 1	6

Module 7 Day 1: Welcome Back	7

Module 7 Day 1: Close the Gap Recap: Module 6	7

Module 7 Day 1: Lesson 1: Piranha Bowl	7

Module 7 Day 1: Activity: Piranha Bowl	7

15-Minute Break	8

Module 7 Day 1: Who's In?	8

Module 7 Day 1: Closing	9

Module 7 Day 2: Welcome Back	9

Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 2: What Is Sound Management?	10

Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 3: Project Management	15

Module 7 Day 2: Activity: Family Reunion Breakfast	18

10-Minute Break	19

Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 4: Determining a Project Lead	19

Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 5: Documenting and Communicating Progress	22

15-Minute Break	26

Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 6: Celebrating Successes	27

Module 7 Day 2: Activity: Rapid Skits: Whose Celebration Is It Anyway?	29

Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 7: Succession Planning and Engaging Young People

Part 1	29

10-Minute Break	32

Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 7: Succession Planning and Engaging Young People

Part 2	32

Module 7 Day 2: Activity: Practical Tools and Innovative Strategies for Creating

Great Communities	39

Module 7 Day 2: Summary: Synopsis of Days 1 and 2	40

Module 7 Day 2: Homework Assignments	40

Module 7 Day 2: Closing	40

Appendices	41

Appendix A: Additional Resources	42

Appendix B: Piranha Bowl Instructions	43

Appendix C: Family Reunion Worksheet	46

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Appendix D: Instructions: Rapid Skits: Whose Celebration Is It Anyway?	47

Appendix E: Possible Challenges of Succession Planning	48

Appendix F: Youth Engagement Checklist	49

Appendix G: Quiz: Is Your Organization Ready?	50

Appendix H: Youth Engagement Checklist Part 2	53

Appendix I: Two Models of Youth Governance	54

Appendix J: Homework: Sound Management Worksheet	55

Appendix K: Collaborative Problem-Solving Element 6	56

Additional Notes:

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Taking Care of Business:

Sound Management and Implementation

Module 7
Participants' Guide

Preparation Materials

Participant Icon Key and Agendas

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Taking Care of Business:

Sound Management and Implementation

Module 7
Participants' Guide

Icon Key

Icon

Title

Meaning







Instructions to
the facilitator

This icon means there are specific instructions for the
facilitator. This content should not be read aloud.

1

s

1

Background
for the
facilitator

This icon indicates that there is background information the
facilitator should be aware of when covering this topic. This
information is presented in the facilitator's guide.







Facilitator
says

This icon means the facilitator should read the content
nearly verbatim, interjecting thoughts when appropriate.



0



Key point

This icon indicates an important point that the facilitator
should communicate to the audience in their own words.



i



Questions

This icon means the facilitator should allow time for the
audience to ask questions or the facilitator should ask the
audience questions.

|

D



Activity

This icon indicates an activity that the facilitator should
explain. The activity can be either a group or individual
activity.



.



Assessment

This icon indicates the facilitator will conduct an
assessment.





Multimedia

This icon indicates the facilitator will have students watch a
video.

|

o



Computer

This icon indicates the facilitator will have students visit an
online resource.



-



Handouts or

resource

materials

This icon indicates the facilitator will give students a
handout or other resource material.



1

Homework

This icon indicates a homework assignment.



c



Transition

This icon indicates the facilitator will provide a transition
from one topic to another.

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Taking Care of Business:

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Module 7
Participants' Guide

Agendas

Module 7 Day 1	

Taking Care of Business: Sound Management and Implementation

Date:

Time:

Location:

Contact:

Time

Day 1

Facilitator



Close the Gap Recap: Module 6





Lesson 1: Piranha Bowl





• Establish the rules of the piranha bowl





• Determine the order of the presentations





• Introduce the judges





Group Activity: The Piranha Bowl





Break





Piranha Bowl Results





• Who's Ready?





Lessons Learned and Tips





• Tips for a strong pitch





• What is the relationship between a strong pitch and
sound management?





Closing Remarks





• Short introduction to day 2





• Thanks and closing of session



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Module 7 Day 2	

Taking Care of Business: Sound Management and Implementation

Date:

Time:

Location:

Contact:

Time

Day 2

Facilitator



Welcome Back

•	Sign in

•	Housekeeping





Lesson 2: What Is Sound Management?

•	The importance of sound management for
implementation

•	Governance and management structures

•	Systems of checks and balances

•	The power of the written plan





Lesson 3: Project Management

•	The value of organization

•	Elements of project management

•	Activity: Family Reunion Breakfast





Break





Lesson 4: Determining a Project Lead

•	Project roles and responsibilities

•	Skills of good leaders

•	Managing up and down





Lesson 5: Documenting and Communicating Progress

•	What needs to be shared?

•	When to share information

•	Who gets the information?

•	How to share information





Break





Lesson 6: Celebrating Successes

•	The value of recognition

•	When to celebrate

•	How to celebrate



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Time

Day 2

Facilitator



Group Activity: Rapid Skits: Who's Celebration Is It Anyway?





• Small groups will select a success example and act
out how they would celebrate





Lesson 7: Succession Planning and Engaging Young People
Part 1





• Examine the community/organization's position
(e.g., current needs, critical roles, expected
vacancies)





• Identify skills required to fill critical roles





• Assess the skills gap in your

community/organization and identify potential





successors





• Develop and prepare potential successors





• Evaluate the succession plan





Break





Lesson 7: Succession Planning and Engaging Young People
Part 2





Summary





• Recap of days 1 and 2





Homework Assignments





• Complete the sound management homework sheet





• Complete rows three and four of the action plan





Closing Remarks





• Question and answer session





• Closing statements



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Module 7
Participants' Guide

Module 7 Day 1

Taking Care of Business: Sound Management and Implementation

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Taking Care of Business:

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Module 7
Participants' Guide

Module 7 Day 1: Welcome Back

Objectives: Review module 6.

i Sign In

Sign in and receive your student manual for module 7. Sign the class roster and
ensure that the points you have earned are annotated on your participant points matrix.

Module 7 Day 1: Close the Gap Recap: Module 6	

Instructions

The designated accountability partners for module 7 will introduce the activity
you will use to review module 6.

Discussion Points

•	What was the most important concept you learned from module 6?

•	What concepts were easy to understand?

•	What concepts resonated with you?

•	How can you use the information learned within your community?

Module 7 Day 1: Lesson 1: Piranha Bowl	

Objective: Participants will develop a concise and effective pitch for funding their

program or project. Participants will describe the purpose and mission of
their community or organization.

Handouts: Piranha bowl evaluation forms.

While the facilitator is providing a recap of how the piranha bowl will work, all
participants will pull a number from a bowl to determine their presentation order. The
piranha bowl is inspired by "Shark Tank," a television show that has aspiring
entrepreneurs present business opportunities to a panel of investors. You must adhere
to the 2-minute pitch limit. The piranhas will only have 5 minutes for questions and
answers.

Module 7 Day 1: Activity: Piranha Bowl	

As part of module 6 homework, you should have developed a 2-minute pitch for your
environmental justice community project. This exercise will help you:

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Sound Management and Implementation	Participants' Guide

•	Conduct persuasive presentations.

•	Concisely describe tentative plans to address the environmental justice concern.

•	Present a well-thought-out and feasible plan.

•	Respond to questions quickly.

You will present your pitch to a group of highly distinguished piranhas (i.e., judges).
Each pitch should describe the environmental challenge you are trying to address, what
you propose, and the approximate amount funding or resources you need to address
that challenge.

The judges will complete an evaluation after each presentation using the piranha bowl
evaluation form. Collectively, judges will have 5 minutes to share constructive feedback
with each participant. You will receive a copy of your evaluations at the end of day 1.

u

Participants will take the podium in sequential order. At least half of the pitches
will be presented before the break, with the remaining half to be presented after
a 5-minute break.

15-Minute Break

Objectives: Take a 15-minute break.

Module 7 Day 1: Who's In?	

Objectives: Practice presenting details about your projects and programs and
requesting resources from potential investors.

Who's In?

Instruct the piranhas to raise their hands if they would support the pitch
presented. The participants will receive written feedback on their pitch presentation.
After all the presentations, the piranhas will share which they considered to be the top
three pitches.

Closing Thoughts on the Piranha Bowl

The activity will close with the piranhas making final comments to participants
and asking any further questions that will help you develop your action plan. You will
also be able to ask the piranhas questions to receive further feedback. These are the
skills the piranha bowl intended to strengthen and why they are important:

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•	Conducting persuasive presentations. Working with partners can help you
achieve more in your community efforts. When seeking out partners, it is
important to be able to capture their interest.

•	Clearly and concisely describing plans to address environmental justice
concerns. One needs to be able to explain what they would like to do quickly,
concisely, and clearly.

•	Presenting a well-thought-out and feasible plan. Describing a well-thought-
out plan will help partners see how they can fit into the plan and demonstrate
that you have thought things out carefully.

•	Responding to questions on the spot with confidence. Leaders should
convey confidence, and being able to respond to questions on the spot gives
others a sense of confidence in your plan. It is also important to be confident in
saying what you don't yet know.

Module 7 Day 1: Closing	

Objective: Close out day 1 of module 7.

"They may forget what you said—but they will never forget how you
made them feel."—Carl Buehner

Module 7 Day 2: Welcome Back	

Objective: Learn about the topics that will be covered in module 7 and see how
they connect to the action plan.

After arriving, please sign in and pick up your materials. On day 2, we will discuss:

•	Managing organizations, programs, and projects.

•	Identifying and selecting project leads.

•	Documenting, communicating, and celebrating success.

•	Planning for the future (succession planning).

Day 1 will focus on information relevant to completing rows three and four of the action
plan (i.e., "time frame for completion" and "taking the lead"). Remember that S.M.A.R.T.
stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

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S.M.A.R.T. GOAL 1:

Goal Lead:

Action 1.1:

Why is this important?



Time frame for completion



Taking the lead



Supporting cast



Cost estimate

Dollars

Time





Possible funding sources



First 100 days



Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 2: What Is Sound Management?	

Objective: Describe the importance of sound management and understand that it
takes more than financial resources to accomplish your goals.

What Is Sound Management?

In the EJ Academy context, sound management means having the
organizational capacity to take coordinated actions to meet your objectives through
effective leadership, proactive planning, financial management, and succession
planning.

Sound Management: Areas to Consider

Documented Standard Operating Processes and Procedures (SOPPs)

If an organization mainly relies on transitonal community members, the organization
cannot sustain growth or weather business difficulties without developing a new
solution every time. This leads to individual and organizational burnout and unecessary
stress. Consider these steps when creating SOPPs:

• Create a process workflow diagram that states overall business objectives
and illustrates process inputs, outputs, controls, resources, supplies, and
customers.

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•	Align organizational SOPPs with stakeholders's goals (e.g., internal staff,
customers, sponsors) and those of higher-level organizations.

•	Access and manage your funds to maximize resources and potential
deliverables. You need a system to access funds, track how funds are used, and
show accomplishments of funds spent.

o A project budget is the total amount of authorized financial resources
allocated for the sponsored project for a specific period of time. It is the
primary financial document that constitutes necessary funds for implementing
the project and producing deliverables. The project budget gives a detailed
statement of all the direct and overhead costs required to carry out a project's
goals and objectives. The steps that need to be considered when creating a
budget sheet include:

-	Development. Estimate the necessary amount of financial resources and
create a project budget sheet. This budget outlines and provides cost
estimates (both capital and operating expenses) for all the resources and
tasks required to complete the project. The project lead should outline
funding requirements in detail and send a well-written formal request that
defines objectives to sponsors and stakeholders.

-	Measurement. Evaluate cost performance and control the budget. Has the
project'searned value exceeded or met the cost value (cost performance)?
You will need to evaluate this to move forward with the current project
budget. By conducting this analysis, you can compare the current cost
performance against the planned amount of financed resources stated in
the project budget. If you find any gaps or deviations, modify the budget
accordingly.

-	Updates. Evaluate changes to the cost baseline and update the project
budget sheet. After stakholders approve these key changes, you can
proceed with updating the project budget.

Infrastructure

What systems or structures need to work efficiently and produce the best project
outcome? These could include governing bodies, bookkeeping resources, subject
matter experts, training programs, coaches, administrative tasks, and supplies and food
for meetings. Due to the limitations on finances, many community-based organizations
are not able to invest in the systems needed to streamline operations. Therefore,
recruiting experienced individuals (i.e., volunteers) for each task may be an achievable
solution.

Recruiting and Maintaining Staff or Volunteers

Nonprofits and volunteer-based organizations have a harder time attracting and
keeping talent. This has often been linked to the compensation scale and opportunities

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for growth as compared to for-profit enterprises. In order to gain the maximum benefit
from volunteers, it is important to keep them involved in the long term. With a loyal
group of volunteers, organizations can achieve more with fewer financial resources,
cultivate community involvement, and increase the organization's public visibility. With
volunteers, it is important to make their experience a positive one, or at least match
what motivates the volunteer (e.g., altruism, passion for the mission, desire for
experience).

Succession Planning

As a leader, how do you sustain progress in your absence? What records need to be
kept in case key leaders and members leave? Many organizations are led by rotating
boards and volunteers, and it is difficult to maintain consistency in approach. There is a
constantly revolving agenda of work in the hands of leaders and members. Often, an
organization is left with a massive black hole of knowledge and expertise and no one is
in the wings ready to step into that role.

Internal Politics

How do you keep an emotionally healthy organization or team? Some organizations are
plagued with significant interpersonal issues because of internal politics. These issues
not only hurt relationships, but also make it extremely difficult to define a unified
strategy for the organization.

The Importance of Sound Management for Implementing Project Plans

•	Maximize resources. Resources become scarcer over time and should not be
wasted. It is important to make your resources grow as much as possible. For
example, you might partner with organizations with similar goals that can help
you maximize your resources by contributing match dollars for a larger pool of
funds. This was discussed extensively in module 5.

•	Demonstrate reliability. Funders often want to know how funds will be used
and if the grantee has been successful with what it proposes to do. Are you a
good steward of funds?

•	Increase chances of successfully implementing efforts. Sound management
will help your organization successfully implement your efforts because you are
taking a systematic approach, creating action plans, planning solutions for
potential obstacles, and maintaining clear lines of communication.

•	Build a good working reputation. Sound management makes room for
partners to help out. Knowing how you operate and what is next helps to build a
more positive working experience.

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The components of sound management are:

Governance and management structures.
A system of checks and balances.

A written plan for achieving goals.
A succession plan.

Governance and Management Structures

Advantages of creating a group to guide or oversee your organization:

Governance and management structures not only help organizations lead
efforts, but also increase opportunities for new ideas, resources, community
support, and staff support.

Forms of governance for your organization: Different governing body
structures include steering committees, coordinating councils, advisory
committees, and boards of directors.

Establishing policies and procedures. If your organization decides to become
a nonprofit, you'll need to develop bylaws. The more people are involved in an
effort, the more you need to have policies and procedures to guide them. There
are several types of policies and procedures that can be created, such as
financial, personnel, media, and volunteer policies. Depending on your
organization's structure, you may have quality assurance, program, and
emergency/disaster policies.

Management structure. It is important to be clear and transparent about
management roles. Creating written descriptions of all staff, including
volunteers, helps everyone involved. (See the organizational chart activity in
module 3.)

Key functions in fiscal management. Refer to module 6 for details about fiscal
management.

Develop a System of Checks and Balances to Get Things Done

Set up an accountability system. Have regular staff meetings to provide
updates on progress. If you don't have staff, develop a way to share progress
with the community and key stakeholders.

Establish deadlines, milestones, and checkpoints. Planning to see a certain
level of progress by a certain time will help you monitor efforts and determine if
the effort is progressing as planned.

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•	Keep records. Keep timely and accurate records for tax purposes; internal
evaluations; accountability to funders; and use in publicity, fundraising, or
advocacy. Taking good meeting minutes is helpful for record-keeping as well as
documenting progress and decisions.

•	Revise plans that aren't working. If things are not progressing as expected,
reassess your plan. Sometimes, to move forward, you need to talk a step back.

•	Make sure the work gets done. Create a phone or email list that outlines who
to contact for different scenarios. Avoid surprises and build in contingencies or a
plan B.

Think about your long-term goals as you develop your program. Acknowledge that
organizations are dynamic and constantly change.

"Paper is to write things down that we need to remember Our brains are
used to think."—Albert Einstein

The Power of the Written Plan

Discuss the importance of writing a plan that will help organizations and communities
manage themselves and describe what goals they are trying to achieve and how. Some
people prefer to receive new information orally, while others prefer receiving
information visually. A written plan helps everyone stay on the same page and
documents what direction an organization wants to take.

A Sound Management Plan

A written plan helps with:

•	Organizing tasks.

•	Setting priorities and a vision.

•	Creating plans for how to move forward.

•	Communicating plans to vet an approach.

•	Coordinating efforts with other people.

•	Identifying gaps.

•	Serving as a blueprint to visualize a plan of action.

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Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 3: Project Management	

Objectives: Describe a process for project management. Understand how to break
an overall project into manageable tasks and activities with allotted time
frames.

« Project management will help you implement a cohesive and strategic plan that
provides a road map for a project, from inception to fruition. Project
management creates a framework that allows for a more efficient process, more
detailed methods, and a more robust project outcome. The purpose of this lesson is to
instruct participants in the process of project management and help them develop a
more organized plan. This lesson will also share a few project management tools that
can be practically implemented into project plans.

"All things are created twice; first mentally; then physically. The key to
creativity is to begin with the end in mind, with a vision and a blueprint of
the desired result."— Stephen Covey

This is like what carpenters do—measure twice and cut once. Before implementing a
project, one must determine all materials and steps needed and at what stage in the
process they should be utilized.

What Is Project Management?

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and
techniques to meet project requirements. A defined project is a unique,
transient endeavor undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which could be defined in
terms of outputs, outcomes, or benefits. A project is usually deemed successful if it
achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria, within an agreed-upon
time frame and budget.

Project management is also the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and
managing resources to achieve specific goals.

Everyone involved should have a clear understanding of the project. This
understanding should consider the whole management life cycle (from
beginning to end), and the project should be completed according to the
determined approach. Although it is necessary to stay focused on the approach, it is
also important to remain flexible to allow for creativity within the designated stage of
project development.

The Value of Organization

Staying organized helps individuals and organizations be:

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•	Efficient. Being organized allows project managers and task leaders to use their
resources in the best possible way. To increase efficiency, project managers
should focus on acquiring the right project team to perform the tasks outlined in
the project plan. The more effective the team, the more efficient the process.
Efficiency is key to achieving project goals within agreed-upon time constraints.

•	Effective. Effectiveness measures the appropriateness of an organization's
goals and the degree to which these goals have been achieved. Building and
measuring effectiveness begins by defining the parameters of the project during
the initial planning phase. Create discrete goals that can be measured to
determine effectiveness. The implementation of interconnected goals will evolve
with further planning.

•	Proactive. Determine what parts of the project are more labor intensive,
complex, and will require more financial and/or human resources. Pre-planning
is an indispensable tool for maintaining an effective level of organization.

•	Successful. Being organized helps organizations complete projects on time and
within budget.

•	Collaborative. Many people (i.e., volunteers) want to help but don't know how.
Laying out all the steps to complete a project creates opportunities for partners
or other team members to assist in areas where they are skilled. It also allows
project managers to more effectively use volunteers with certain skills.

jT) Elements of Project Management

Project management processes fall into five groups: initiating, planning,
executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.

•	Initiating. Determine the nature and scope of the project. Consider
requirements, costs, stakeholder support, and deliverable schedules. The
initiation stage should also outline why the project is necessary and what it
intends to achieve. This will help the project stay on track. Include a brief
statement on how the project will be achieved, which will be further detailed in
the planning stage.

•	Planning. Break the project down into individual tasks. The main purpose is to
plan time, costs, and resources adequately to estimate the work needed and
effectively manage risk during project execution. Project planning consists of:
o Determining how to plan—what format will be used and how?

o Developing the scope statement. You must determine discrete tasks while

still allowing for creative flux and ingenuity,
o Selecting a planning team with skills that can be used strategically,
o Identifying deliverables and creating the work breakdown structure.

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o Identifying the activities needed to complete those deliverables and

networking the activities in their logical sequence. Describe the complexity of
the deliverables in detail to stay within the budget and time frame,
o Estimating the resource requirements for the activities (e.g., human,

monetary),
o Estimating time and costs for activities.

o Developing the schedule. Create some buffer for unplanned issues that may
arise (e.g., new information, new regulations). You may need to change the
schedule as the project progresses,
o Developing the budget. Estimate the necessary amount of financial

resources and create a project budget sheet with cost estimates (both capital
and operating expenses) for all the resources and tasks required to complete
the project,
o Risk planning.

o Gaining formal approval to begin work. As the project progresses, inevitable
changes may require re-approval of various parts of the project.

•	Executing. Complete the defined project plan. Team members will need to
understand what each task involves, its time frame, and the criteria by which
each task is deemed complete.

•	Monitoring and controlling. Observe the process to make sure the project is
completed as planned and on time. Monitoring and controlling includes:

o Measuring ongoing project activities.

o Monitoring project variables (e.g., cost, effort, scope) as they progress

against the project management plan and the project performance baseline,
o Identifying corrective actions to address issues and risks. Think back to the

gap analysis activity,
o Influencing factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only
approved changes are implemented.

•	Closing. This includes formal acceptance of the project. Administrative activities
include archiving files, reviewing the project's successes and mistakes, and
taking that experience forward into the next project. It is important to
communicate with the wider organization and stakeholders when projects reach
critical milestones or are fully completed. Take time to celebrate to build
enthusiasm and momentum for future projects.

There are different approaches to project management—this is just the more traditional
approach. Some projects only go through the planning, executing, and
monitoring/controlling stages.

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Module 7 Day 2: Activity: Family Reunion Breakfast

• Family Reunion Breakfast Activity

" ™ You can try this activity on your own to apply the principles of project
management. We will not have time to do the activity in class.

Your family is having their annual family reunion breakfast in about one month and it is
your turn to organize it. You expect to have about 30 people, but you are not sure if that
includes kids. You want to have a wonderful breakfast, but you don't want to spend too
much because you want to get a photographer to take a family picture after breakfast.

This project requires the following tasks:

•	Vet the menu with the family helpers,
o Buy groceries.

o Prepare food.

•	Set up the tables, chairs, and decorations.

•	Prepare and set up the family slideshow.

•	Determine the site for the family photo.

•	Hire a photographer.

Project boundaries:

•	The event will happen at grandma's house, but you can't do anything there
before 7:00 a.m. on the day of the reunion.

•	You must complete all activities.

•	Expenses for this event should be $500 or less.

Here are some questions to address:

•	What's for breakfast?

•	What are the general tasks of your one-month timeline?

•	What are the specific tasks and time frames for 24 hours before breakfast is
served?

Please detail the sequence of events and who is doing each task. On a sheet of paper,
lay out the tasks using Post-it Notes to represent each task. You must line up the tasks
in the order in which you would do them. Some tasks can be done at the same time.
There are several ways to lay this out; pick the approach that works best for you. You
might put times at the top and list a task below each time frame, like a Gantt chart.

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Sample Gantt Chart

Circle or highlight the tasks that are most time sensitive and write when they should be
done.

B

^ You will find the family reunion worksheet in Appendix C.

10-Minute Break	

Take a 10-minute break before the next lesson.

Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 4: Determining a Project Lead	

Objective: Identify at least three qualities of good project leaders.

^ Determine a Project Lead

A key component of sound management is understanding the chain of
command and who is leading the project. We already discussed governing structures,
but we will now discuss the project lead, who provides the everyday leadership and
works on the actual project.

When determining a project lead, it helps to be clear about the decision-making
process. Can the project lead make decisions about the direction of the project on their
own, or do they need to be vetted by the governing body or others involved in the
project? Consider who the project lead is, based upon their years of successful
experience in the relevant project field, as well as similar projects they have carried out
in the past. There might also be projects for which experienced project managers

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cannot be found, so one might look for transferable skills or experiences in candidate
backgrounds.

Having someone assigned to each major task and clearly defining each person's role
helps individuals understand the tasks they will perform and allows for accountability.
Some projects have multiple moving parts, and having staff focus on specific tasks
helps to ensure progress and timely project completion.

Since different parts of a project may move forward at different times, it is important for
task leads to discuss their progress with their peers, as well with as the overall project
lead or key stakeholders. Communicating with others can help organizations identify
barriers that need to be overcome and maintain staff involvement and community
engagement.

Maintain a clear line of communication with staff members and key stakeholders.
Project leads should encourage team members and stakeholders to voice their
concerns. They may see a problem that the project leader doesn't or have valuable
solutions or ideas that have been overlooked. Honest communication is essential to
maintaining clarity and trust among team members, the project lead, stakeholders, and
the community.

Determine a project/task lead based on their ability to wear many hats effectively.
Often, being a project/task lead requires an individual to have many abilities, skills, and
communication styles.

A project/task lead should be willing and able to discuss suggestions from their team
members while maintaining a clear project vision. Project/task leads want to streamline
efforts to be efficient and conserve resources (e.g., time, money). Part of their job is to
maintain budgets and prevent monetary and human depletion.

jQ Project Roles and Responsibilities

A project may have different levels of leadership. To avoid duplicate efforts and
misunderstanding, it helps to have clear project roles and responsibilities:

•	A project director provides oversight for all project tasks.

•	A task lead is responsible for a subset of project tasks and communicates with
the project director.

•	Supporting staff works with the task lead to get the work done. This may
include hired staff or volunteers.

•	Advisors and mentors may include key stakeholders, subject matter experts,
or community members who provide input on tasks and help solve problems.

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Group Discussion: Characteristics and Skills

Take a moment to think about a great volunteer or work experience. Part of that
good experience may be due to a good leader.

•	How did that good experience make you feel?

•	What are the characteristics of a good project/task lead?

•	How did the project/task lead help create that good experience?

jq Skills of Good Leaders

Good leaders are:

•	Able to see the bigger picture and envision the result of project efforts. It is
important to start with the end in mind and fill in the blanks as the project
progresses.

•	Detail-oriented. A detail-oriented person can pay close attention and notice
minor details. They are able to give a task their undivided attention and catch
mistakes, errors, or changes before they snowball into bigger problems.

•	Organized. Organization is essential for completing projects effectively, on time,
and within budget. Organized leaders also reduce frustration and create an
overall fluidity within the project structure.

•	Dependable. A dependable person builds trust by holding themself and their
team members accountable. Dependable people are also responsive. They
anticipate others' needs and flexibly respond to the situation at hand.

•	Confident. Persuasive traits are beneficial when taking on a leadership role.
Confidence and arrogance are two distinctly different traits—avoid the latter at
all costs. A leader must set an example for their organization by gracefully
handling successes, problems, and setbacks.

•	Collaborative. Collaboration is often key in creating a well-rounded,
comprehensive project. Collaborative efforts allow for more diversified
approaches that are often extremely valuable to project outcomes.

•	Strong communicators. Communication skills are essential for any great
leader. Leaders should also effectively interpret what others are saying without
personalizing it.

•	Able to delegate. Good leaders have confidence in their staff, which increases
staff morale and loyalty.

•	Creative. A great leader fosters the development of innovative ideas.

•	Positive. A positive attitude allows leaders to deal with setbacks constructively.

•	Committed. Leaders stick to their commitments and promises. If a leader fails
to do this, they may be deemed untrustworthy and confidence in the leader can

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be lost. A leader should be the hardest working and most committed person in
their organization.

Leaders may only have some of these skills, not all. It is important to work with your
strengths.

Managing Up and Down

•	Leaders are found everywhere. Everyone may have a leadership role on a
project even if they are not the project director or task lead. If something isn't
working as expected, it is important for people to be comfortable enough to
speak up and offer suggestions.

•	Working collaboratively builds ownership. Successful community work
involves input and support from multiple sources. However, communities should
be careful that the input they receive is in line with their goals.

•	Everyone needs to focus on the desired overall outcome. Periodically,
leaders need to make sure everyone is working toward the same goal or
outcome. If priorities have changed, a leader should convey that change to
everyone involved in the project.

Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 5: Documenting and Communicating
Progress	

Objective: Describe the importance of documenting progress and define ways to
communicate and share information regarding progress goals.

Communication

"You need to internalize good communication strategies as part of the
project culture"— James Brown, former chair of the Project Management
Center of Excellence at DuPont Pioneer

The goal of project communications management is to ensure timely and appropriate
generation, collection, storage, and distribution of project information. A communication
management plan should be created at the beginning of every project. The type of
communication will vary with the needs of the project. Communication management
involves determining stakeholders' information and communication needs:

•	Who needs what information and when?

•	What type of information do they need, and in how much detail?

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•	What is your goal when you communicate?

•	How will you provide the information to them?

As a community leader, one should know there are potentially hundreds of
communication channels. The larger the project, the greater the opportunity for
communications to break down. Here's an effective formula to find out how many
opportunities there are for communication to fail:

(N x(N - 1)) 4- 2

That's N times N-1 divided by 2. N represents the number of key stakeholders.

For example, if you have 10 key stakeholders (N=10), there are 45 opportunities for
miscommunication.

(10 x (10 - 1)) - 2 = 45

Effective communication includes a well-designed infrastructure and the processes,
messages, and documents that use that infrastructure to exchange information about a
project's goals and progress.

jq Documenting and Communicating Progress

Documenting and communicating progress is important to:

•	Capture progress made. Track and monitor the project's status using various
tracking tools, such as Gantt chart. One should ensure timely and appropriate
generation and collection of information. Being precise and clear while
communicating helps achieve better understanding. The law of success says:
35% hard skills + 65% soft skills = 100% success.

•	Showcase important project milestones with stakeholders to ensure
continued support and enthusiasm from the individuals and organizations.
Stakeholders must be made aware of where their investments (physical or
monetary) have been expended.

•	Identify opportunities by being transparent. Transparency keeps successes
and failures observable and recognizable so you can make corrections identify
opportunities. This practice allows for more attainable current and future project
success. It may also allow for more strategic stakeholder or community
involvement.

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^ What Needs to Be Shared?

•	Successes. Success encourages everyone involved. Sharing successes may
embolden other community members and stakeholders to get involved and may
allow for future project expansion. Remember that the medium must be as
powerful as the message. Module 8 will explore this concept in more detail.

•	Major milestones. Milestones are incremental achievements that help keep you
on track and motivated. Share short-term and long-term goals with the
community to keep the momentum going.

•	Challenges that were overcome. Challenges that were resolved and the
strategies employed to overcome them are an invaluable aspect of the
documentation process. Documenting and tracking the process or approach
provides an accurate outline that can eliminate or minimize future mistakes.

•	Successful partnerships. Successful partnerships should not be limited to pre-
existing or internal partnerships. Create cross-functional community stakeholder
groups composed of local politicians, nonprofit group leaders, community
members, and business leaders to discuss project goals and collect their
feedback. Module 5 discussed stakeholder engagement in detail.

•	Things of interest to your key stakeholders and funders. Providing
stakeholders and funders with updates on key opportunities, milestones, and
successes allows those individuals to plan more effectively. It also prevents
unwelcome surprises within those channels. This approach also encourages
transparency from all involved regarding changes that may be necessary.

"If you want to achieve anything, you need to reach out to people. Tell
them what you're doing, listen to what they need and adjust your goals as
necessary."—Bobbi Schroeppel, Vice President of Human Resources,

Customer Care and Corporate Communications, Northwestern Energy

When to Share Information

Sharing information should be timely and strategic. Consider sharing
information when all stakeholders are available. Discuss scheduling project
meetings with stakeholders, community members, and funders during the project
planning process. Create schedules that fit into project milestones so that time is used
effectively. Funders may require more frequent meetings. This aspect of project
management highlights the importance of a well-planned project outline or "road map."
Internal and external project team members should meet much more frequently in order
to stay informed of progress and changes.

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You might schedule quarterly updates with the community and monthly updates with
funders. You may need to schedule weekly updates with the project team members.

m

Who Gets the Information?

•	Project team members must be made aware of information that may affect
their task completion.

•	Key partners should be informed of the project's progress. However, do not
convey details that do not affect end results.

•	Stakeholders should be informed of the overall progress of the project, details
included. Inform them of how the efforts will affect their communities and
businesses.

•	Funders should be informed of how their money or resources are being used.
This creates trust and may encourage more involvement in the current project,
as well as future ones. Results are often what matter most to funders, so it is
essential to be goal-oriented during funder meetings. Be sure to send in timely
progress reports according to the funder's requirements. If you fail to do so, this
could affect future programmatic capability scoring by reviewers when applying
for future funding.

•	Community members are often the individuals who are the recipients of project
outcomes. Their involvement is valuable in order to create acceptance of the
project.

Note: Be strategic. Think about who needs or is interested in the information. Think
back to module 5, when you determined your key stakeholders and their roles in your
project or organization.

How to Share Information

•	Project meetings. Keep meetings well-structured in order to remain effective
and on topic. Have each task manager present task progress, including timing
and requirements for completion.

•	Community and partner meetings. Key staff should discuss progress using
visual representations and aids. Provide individuals with documentation that
outlines task progress and evaluation. Share milestones and successes and the
future progress of the key variables that will ensure further success.

•	Town hall meetings can rally individuals to the cause and provide inspiration to
communities to further engage.

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•	Newsletters can be used as an informational method to provide key information
and outline successes. Use electronic newsletters for greater efficiency.

•	Conference calls. Conference calls and video conferencing services allow
multiple people to meet at the same time without having to meet face-to-face. It
is an efficient way of conducting business.

•	Email updates. Also consider using social media as a means to communication
with stakeholders, community members, and key partners.

•	Facebook. Although Facebook is mainly centered around sharing photos, links,
and quick thoughts of a personal nature, individuals can also support brands or
organizations by becoming fans.

•	Twitter is perhaps the simplest of all social media platform. Tweets are limited
to 280 characters or less, but that's more than enough space to post a link,
share an image, or even trade thoughts with your favorite influencer. Twitter's
interface is easy to learn and use, and setting up a new profile only takes
minutes.

•	Linkedln. One of the only mainstream social media sites that's actually geared
towards business, Linkedln is to cyberspace what networking groups once were
to local business communities. It's great for meeting customers, getting in touch
with vendors, recruiting new employees, and keeping up with the latest industry
news. If it matters to your company or career, you can probably do it on
Linkedln.

•	Xing. Another professional networking and recruitment site, Xing has the global
presence and focus that Linkedln lacks. Although it can be mistaken for a job
search portal, the site has a number of features and communities that make it
easy to develop relationships with suppliers, colleagues and thought leaders
within your industry.

•	Tumblr. This platform is different form many others in that it essentially hosts
microblogs for its users. Individuals and companies, in turn, can fill their blogs
with multimedia, like images and short video clips. The fast-paced nature of
Tumblr makes it ideal for memes, GIFs, and other forms of fun or viral content.

These are just a few mediums for interaction. Tailor your information to your audience.

Be clear and concise. Think about the message you are trying to convey.

15-Minute Break	

Objective: Take a 15-minute break.

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Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 6: Celebrating Successes	

Objective: Discover and illustrate different ways to celebrate success.
Activity: Rapid skits: Whose Celebration Is It Anyway?

~

Celebrate!

Creating a celebratory workplace is a great way to make your organization a
safe haven and increase community engagement and productivity. A great organization
will openly celebrate the accomplishments of its workers, because this recognition
promotes the future success of the community and organization.

"All of us want to be part of something larger than we are. We keep
searching for it."—Dr. Malinda Lowery, co-founder of Multiple Choice, Inc.

Learning Objectives:

•	Share three reasons why recognizing success is important.

•	Describe at least three ways to celebrate success and recognize achievements.

•	Demonstrate creative and innovative ways to celebrate successes.

Success Is:

•	The favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the
accomplishment of one's goals.

•	The attainment of wealth, position, or honors.

•	A performance or achievement that is marked by success, as by the attainment
of honors.

•	A person or thing that has had success, as measured by attainment of goals,
wealth, etc.

j Group Discussion: What Is Success?

* What have you accomplished so far as a participant in the EJ Academy?
The Value of Recognition

Creating a culture of recognition within your organization:

Reduces volunteer turnover, which in turn increases their value because of their
knowledge base.

Increases productivity.

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•	Encourages team building.

•	Encourages peer reinforcement.

•	Increases morale in individuasl and the organization as a whole.

•	Reduces negative behaviors, such as absenteeism and tardiness.

Acknowledging hard work helps people feel valued, and when individuals feel valued, it
often makes them work even harder. It also helps individuals become more confident
and willing to take chances that may result in valuable outcomes. Keeping energy high
helps maintain engagement in the project, and engagement increases the project's
chances of success. High morale increases an organization's value and can help you
provide excellent service to stakeholders. A positive environment keeps volunteers
coming back and encourages involvement. Acknowledging successes helps people feel
pride in being pioneers and encourages them to be even more innovative.

When to Celebrate

Acknowledging successes is critical to project success, but the timing of the
celebration is equally important. Leaders must be mindful not to celebrate
prematurely, but they should not miss critical opportunities to acknowledge milestones
and successes.

Consider celebrating:

•	After completing a major milestone.

•	At an opportunity for volunteer engagement.

•	After a very busy time.

•	In a consistent manner, even if not with a regular cadence.

How to Celebrate

There are many ways that leaders can celebrate. A leader should understand
their team and their community and tailor a celebration to the team members
and the work that is being done.

Consider the following examples of ways to celebrate:

•	Awards, such as monetary awards or gift cards.

•	Certificates of appreciation. Make the awards or certificates something that
will last, such as plaques or mementos. Make the wording specific to the
individual's contribution.

•	Lunch or meal events. Treat your team to lunch or dinner. Make a special
presentation during the event.

•	Public events. Public recognition builds confidence and encouragement.

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•	Personal handwritten notes. Handwritten notes are personal forms of
expression that show you took time to create them.

•	Flowers and other small tokens of appreciation. Select tokens that speak to
the individual's personality or will serve as a keepsake.

•	Announcements in local media outlets.

Module 7 Day 2: Activity: Rapid Skits: Whose Celebration Is It
Anyway?	

Objective: Demonstrate different ways to celebrate success.

Handout: Appendix D.

¦ * ¦ This activity inspired by "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" will demonstrate different
™ " ways to celebrate success. Small groups will act out as many success
examples as they can in 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, another group will take the stage.
The activity will repeat until all the groups have gone twice.

Examples can be found in Appendix D. We may not have time to do this activity
in class, but feel free to try to this with your community.

Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 7: Succession Planning and Engaging Young
People Part 1	

Objective: Understand the importance of succession planning and involving young
people.

Activities: Possible challenges for succession planning table; practical tools and
innovative strategies for creating great communities.

^ Succession Planning in General

At the most basic level, succession planning is a sound risk management
practice. Beyond that, an organization that gives ongoing attention to talent-focused
succession planning can be more flexible by having the skills and capacity to meet
whatever challenges may arise. In turn, the leader's job becomes more doable because
leadership is shared. Succession planning is also about knowing what skills and
knowledge people have so there is someone to fill the void if that key leader or member
retires or passes away. It is about identifying, recruiting, retaining, valuing, developing,
and preparing volunteers so that an organization has a depth of knowledge and a pool
of ready and able volunteers. In doing this, the organization can ensure that transitions
are smooth as people come and go and continue to meet its strategic objectives.
Succession planning can also energize and reassure an organization by providing the

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occasion for high-level strategy development and demonstrating that leadership is
broadly shared. Leaders and organizations who can overcome initial reservations about
succession planning ultimately find that this work generates unforeseen opportunities
and excitement for the future.1

Despite its many benefits, volunteer-based, grassroots organizations are only now
beginning to recognize the need for succession planning. Unfortunately, many
organizations have yet to embrace succession planning and planning for the future. In
part, this is because so many baby-boom generation leaders—some who have been in
their positions for 20 years or more—are close to resigning, or in many instances not
resigning at all. On the other hand, aging baby boomers aren't the only issue. The next
generation of leaders may not be interested in carrying on business as usual.

^ Succession Planning: The Steps

The succession planning process can be broken down into five key steps:

•	Examine your organization's position (e.g., current needs, critical roles,
expected vacancies). Refer to module 3 for more details.

•	Identify the skills required to fill critical roles in your organization.

•	Assess the skills gap in your organization and identify potential successions.

•	Develop and prepare potential successors.

•	Evaluate your succession plan.

What Are the Benefits of a Succession Plan?

Succession planning can provide:

•	Continuity for the organization at times of volunteer turnover.

•	Minimal disturbance of activities.

•	Recognition and rewards for long-serving volunteers as they become mentors to
new volunteers.

•	A clear plan for volunteer progression and replacement so that organizations
don't have to do it in the middle of a crisis.

1 Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2008). Building Leaderful Organizations: Succession Planning for Nonprofits.
https://assets.aecf.orq/m/resourcedoc/AECF-BuildinqLeaderfulOrqanizations-2008-Full.pdf

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Succession planning encourages organizations to:

•	Identify critical roles within the organization, the skills required to carry out these
roles, and potential volunteers who possess these skills.

•	Think about what skills, knowledge, and volunteers it may need in the future and
to begin planning for this.

•	Assess its gaps in knowledge, skills, and expertise.

•	Assess the current makeup of its volunteers, which leads to more thoughtful
recruitment and can create a more diverse volunteer base.

•	Develop and retain talented volunteers in the long term.

•	Share information and keep records to avoid losing critical information (e.g.,
member databases, organization networks) when key volunteers move on.

•	Continually review and evaluate to improve overall management.

Succession planning improves:

•	The recruitment process for key positions, which can lead to volunteers being
more engaged because they are well-suited to their roles.

•	Volunteers' leadership qualities.

•	Volunteers' morale and commitment.

Succession planning also:

•	Minimizes volunteer burnout, because volunteers are not stuck in the same role
forever without anyone else to take over.

•	Motivates volunteers, because they can see a pathway of development and
progression and feel more nurtured.

•	Creates opportunities for young people to get more involved in decision-making,
take on more responsibilities, and become more connected to their organization.

jT) What Challenges Might Your Organization Face?

There are a number of pitfalls when developing a succession plan. Most can be
avoided easily. These challenges will vary depending on your community or
organization's specific needs and characteristics.

An organization might face difficulty in succession planning if:

•	It has no plan at all.

•	It fails to provide adequate training and development for its members.

•	It has a limited volunteer base.

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•	It has limited access to resources to invest in the succession planning process.

•	It adopts a rigid and inflexible approach that is not tailored to the organization's
and members' specific needs.

•	Leaders get stuck on traditional views about who can hold key leadership
positions and don't consider alternatives.

•	Not all of the organization's leaders and members are committed to succession
planning and don't understand the benefits, which leads to a superficial
approach that does not encourage new members.

•	It is not transparent in recruiting and appointing volunteers to key positions.

•	Personalities, egos, or individual needs get in the way of decision-making.

•	It bases volunteer elections or appointments on tenure instead of competency,
skills, or talent. Often, volunteers who have been in the organization a long time
take on key positions without having the necessary skills or knowledge because
organizations feel they deserve to lead. This is a huge demotivator for members,
especially young people. If members, especially senior leaders, are fearful of
change, this may be one of the biggest challenges.

•	It underestimates or excludes people because they do not fit the status quo.

~ Handout: Possible Challenges for Succession Planning Table

•	You will receive a copy of the Possible Challenges for Succession Planning
handout (see Appendix E.) This is not a homework assignment, but it is tool that
you can use when developing your succession plan.

10-Minute Break	

Objective: Take a 10-minute break before the next lesson.

Module 7 Day 2: Lesson 7: Succession Planning and Engaging Young
People Part 2	

Objective: Understand the importance of succession planning and involving young
people.

Activities: Possible challenges for succession planning table; practical tools and
innovative strategies for creating great communities.

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Engaging Young People

If your organization is planning for the future and developing a succession plan,
it will need to seriously consider engaging young people for leadership roles.
Communities can be enriched by young people who value their own potential and
become involved in decision-making processes. When young people are actively
involved in leadership roles, they feel valued by their community and the whole
community benefits. Young people are the future custodians of our communities.
Developing their roles in important structures, such as committees and boards, will help
young people develop skills and knowledge related to:

•	Decision-making.

•	Public speaking and presentation skills.

•	Community awareness and connectedness.

•	Governance and committee or board structures and processes.

Engaging young people will also provide them with:

•	Mentors and networks.

•	Real skills and knowledge that can help with employment.

•	Confidence to deal with older people from various backgrounds.

Understanding Youth Involvement

Many community- and volunteer-based organizations are facing extinction
because volunteers are unwilling to take on the large work load of becoming an
organization's president, vice president, treasurer, or secretary. This part of the lesson
speaks specifically to attracting and retaining young people to ensure the long-term
survival of a community organization. Young people are often untapped resources with
unique skills, fresh perspectives, and lots of energy.

What Is Youth Participation?

Youth participation involves including young people in your organization's decision-
making structures and processes. However, you must do more than just placing them
on a board and giving them a say. Group members must actually listen to what they
say and value their contributions. It is important to take young members' views into
consideration and allow them to influence decisions.

What Age Group Do We Consider "Young"?

Most people agree that "youth" refers to people aged 14-24 years old. However, in
many volunteer-based organizations, the average age of members is around 60-70
years old. In this instance, the definition of young people is relative. Organizations
should strive to not have any gaps in the age of their members. Ideally, there should be

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a proportional range of young (14-24), young adult (25-40), middle-aged (40-55), and
older (55-plus) members.

Why Involve Young People?

Many organizations suffer from a lack of willing and capable volunteers. Often, the
same handful of people will be on the board of both the local church and school PTA, or
the same person will be the secretary of the neighborhood association and the
committee chair of a fraternity or sorority. If these few people decide to move on, it
leaves a huge gap in the organization and the community. Often, much of the
knowledge required to run the organization with the departing volunteer. By involving
young people early on, an organization can create a depth of knowledge and skills so
someone can take up the reins when key volunteers and leaders move on. Research
shows a growing need to find new ways of to engage young people in their
communities, and vice versa. Too often, young people are overlooked and their
capabilities are underestimated or undervalued. Taking on leadership roles in
organizations allows young people to take ownership of decisions that affect their lives.
Current leaders' willingness to embrace young members is a critical factor in the
success of youth participation. Therefore, you need to consider why you should include
young people and what you hope to achieve. Your organization might consider inviting
young people because:

•	Young people can bring new energy or views to an organization.

•	Involvement in committees helps young people prepare for future leadership
roles and may entice them to remain in the community.

•	Young people are the future custodians of the community, and participation on a
committee or board will help them gain skills for this role.

•	Young people can gain many skills from being involved with or observing an
organization's decision-making and governance processes.

Organizations that struggle with attracting young people, but have decided to make a
concerted effort towards achieving that goal, should start by answering the questions in
the checklist in Appendix F. This will not be an easy journey and should be taken very
seriously.

£) Benefits of Engaging Youth

The benefits of youth participation in organizational decision-making can be
divided in to three categories: benefits for the individual, benefits for the
organization, and benefits for the community.

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Taking Action: 10 Steps for Engaging Youth in Organization Decision-Making
Step 1: Stop and Think

If your organization has identified the need to engage young people, but is not sure
what to do next, gather a committee of key leaders and active members to complete
the "Youth Engagement Checklist" (Appendix F) and the "Is Your Organization Ready?"
quiz (Appendix G). Once your organization has completed the quiz and checklist, keep
them as records so they can be referenced in the future. These will act as guides for
putting a youth engagement plan in place.

Step 2: Identify Barriers to Participation for Young People

Before taking any steps to engage young people, you will need to identify potential
barriers for young people who want to take on these roles. Once you know what stops
young people from getting involved, your organization can implement strategies to
remove or reduce these obstacles. Below are some of the common barriers to youth
participation in community organizations and some suggestions for overcoming these
barriers:

•	Meeting locations. Consider conducting conference calls or shortening the
length of meetings. Hold a meeting in someone's home or at a local coffee
house—some place with an inviting atmosphere.

•	Language. Often, young people are excluded from conversations because they
don't understand what is being said. Seek to include them in discussions and
explain concepts that they may not understand.

•	Attitudes. This can be a significant barrier for both young people and existing
organization members. Often, older members feel that young people are not
capable of taking on leadership positions and are reluctant to hand over control.
These attitudes can hinder youth engagement in organizations.

•	Young people are not asked to be involved. Many organizations simply do
not ask young people to become involved. Organizations must maintain young
peoples' interest.

•	Cost of participation. Often, there are costs associated with participation for
young people that many older members may not notice.

•	Parents. Many young people do not require parental approval or involvement,
but if they are underage, make sure that parents understand what is involved
with being a member of the organization.

•	Time restraints. This is a barrier to participation for people of all ages. Young
people believe that their time is valuable and should be spent wisely. Do not
waste their time with unproductive meetings and activities.

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•	Inexperience of young people. Depending on the age of your young members,
many of them may be unfamiliar with the processes of running an organization.
Often, this results in a lack of confidence among young members, as well as
older members who don't trust young people to get the job done.

Step 3: Decide How Your Organization Will Involve Young People in Decision-
Making

Now that your organization has decided to engage young people, discussed the
benefits of doing so, and identified some of the barriers to participation, it's important to
consider how you will involve them in decision-making processes.

There are two main models organizations can employ to involve young people. The first
is to include young representatives on your existing board or executive committee. The
second approach is to create a separate committee of youth members, such as a youth
committee that is managed independently of the organization's board or executive
committee. This youth committee can report back to the board or executive committee
on particular issues, and vice versa. See Appendix I to learn more about the two
models of youth governance.

Other ways to involve young people include:

•	Advisory groups.

•	Peer support.

•	Event organizing.

•	Focus groups.

•	Organization fundraising.

•	Organization promotion.

Step 4: Form Community Partnerships

If young people are not readily available or interested in joining the organization, tap
into community networks to engage young people and give them incentives to
volunteer with your organization. Consider forming partnerships with the following
organizations and community groups:

•	Educational institutions, such as local schools.

•	Community initiatives, such as the Duke of Edinburgh's award.

•	Local councils, such as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and 4-H.

•	Youth centers, such as the Boys & Girls Club.

•	Community groups.

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Step 5: Recruit Young People

There is constant need to recruit more volunteers, but there is not often a huge pool of
available and skilled community members who are willing to take on roles within an
organization. Discuss the following questions with your organization and complete
"Youth Engagament Checklist Part 2" template in Appendix H.

•	Why are you recruiting young people? What does the organization hope to gain
from involving young people in decision-making?

•	How many young volunteers do you need to achieve this?

•	Where and how will you find them?

•	What will be their roles in the organization? What tasks are involved? Can young
people realistically carry out these tasks?

•	How long do you expect them to stay with the organization?

•	What support can you provide them? Do you have sufficient resources?

•	What can the organization offer young volunteers?

•	How will you communicate this message to young people? What media (and
networks) will you use?

•	How and when will you measure the success of your recruitment strategy?

Your responses to these questions should form the basis of your youth recruitment
strategy. In order to create an effective strategy, follow the tips below. This list is not
inclusive of all practices.

•	Ask someone in the organization to be the youth volunteer coordinator and put
them in charge of youth recruitment. This should be a younger person or a
person who is young at heart.

•	Target your recruitment to appeal to young people.

•	Be specific about what young people are expected to do and let them know what
your organization can offer them.

Step 6: Induct Young People into Your Organization

It is important to provide new volunteers with adequate information about their new role
in your organization. Consider conducting a formal orientation. Provide new members
with minutes from past meetings, the organization's goals and objectives,
administrative procedures, and the organizational structure. If necessary, take the new
members through a general meeting process.

Make sure that their representation is not token participation. Experience proves that if
young people are used as token members they will quickly lose interest and will tell
their friends not to become involved.

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It is also important to have realistic expectations of young people, particularly in the
early days of their involvement. Throwing a young person into the deep end and
expecting them to make significant impacts too early can be as detrimental as the
tokenistic approach.

Step 7: Effectively Communicate with Young People

It's crucial that organizations use a range of communication tools to reach young
people. Typically, older members are not aware of the ways in which young people like
to communicate. Some of the most recent communication trends include:

•	Text messaging.

•	Blogging.

•	Facebook (more popular among middle-aged adults).

•	Snapchat.

•	Instagram.

•	YouTube.

•	Twitter.

•	Pinterest.

Step 8: Invest in Young People

Many young people volunteer because they want to learn something new. The
organization's role is to provide opportunities for young members to develop knowledge
and skills. By providing support and training opportunities for young people, the
organization can develop a stronger pool of available members for the future and
ensure the organization benefits from young peoples' participation.

Step 9: Mentor Your Young Volunteers

There are many ways mentors can be useful for new members. Take time to
strategically match experienced members with new members and clearly outline the
support required from the mentor.

Step 10: Recognize Volunteers and Thank Them for Their Work

An important part of retaining volunteers is making them feel valued and appreciated.
When you are recognizing young people, consider why they have chosen to volunteer.
Is it because they want to learn new skills? Is it because they want to add it to their
resume? Is it because they want to meet new people?

When recognizing young peoples' contributions, think about what motivates people and
how you might be able to best reward them. For example, if they are hoping to expand
their social network, thanking them might involve organizing club social events.

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Module 7 Day 2: Activity: Practical Tools and Innovative Strategies for
Creating Great Communities	

MB Activity Description

Young people make passionate leaders whose enthusiasm and fresh ideas can
contribute to building stronger communities. They are well-positioned to
advocate to their peers, parents, and neighbors, and to deepen their engagement with
issues on the ground.

Activity Goals:

•	Envision a more diverse outreach strategy for the organization's work.

•	Help older members more effectively engage young people.

•	Help older members see the value in engaging young people as equal partners.

•	Break down assumptions that young people have about older members and vice
versa

Instructions

Follow the facilitator's instructions.

Group 1: Benefits of Youth/Adult Partnerships

This group will brainstorm the benefits of forming youth/adult partnerships. Prompts
include:

•	How many people have children?

•	How often does your child teach you something?

Group 2: Challenges to Youth/Adult Partnerships

This group will brainstorm on the challenges to youth/adult partnerships. Prompts
include:

•	Why aren't there more youth participants in the EJ Academy?

•	When working with youth, who takes on the leadership role and why?

•	Do you feel a safe space is created when working with young people?

•	Do you work with youth? Why or why not?

•	Do you feel that you and young people can be equal partners?

•	What challenges do you face when working with young people? How can you
overcome them?

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Group 3: How Do You Form a Youth/Adult Partnership? The Do's and Don'ts

Prompts include:

•	How do you recruit youth?

•	What needs to be in place for youth and adults to feel comfortable working
together?

•	How do you encourage ideas?

Module 7 Day 2: Summary: Synopsis of Days 1 and 2	

Objective: Understand the main takeaways from module 7.

^ The facilitator will summarize the topics that were presented and share key
points from the module.

Module 7 Day 2: Homework Assignments

Objective: Learn about the homework for this module.

H

•	Complete the sound management homework sheet.

o The purpose of this homework is to help you do preliminary thinking about
how to incorporate sound management ideas into your efforts. This handout
is in Appendix J.

•	Complete rows three and four of the action plan (i.e., "time frame for completion"
and "taking the lead").

•	These assignments will be part of your final portfolio.

Module 7 Day 2: Closing	

Objective: Close out day 2 of module 7.

Question and answer session.
Thanks and closing of session.

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Appendices

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Appendix A: Additional Resources	

Collaborative Problem-Solving Model:

•	EPA's Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-06/documents/cps-manual-12-27-
06.pdf

Community Visioning and Strategic Planning:

•	A Sustainability Workbook for Environmental Justice Communities: Lessons
from the Leaders in Environmental Action Pilot (LEAP) Initiative

•	University of Kansas Community Toolbox. Developing a Strategic Plan and
Organizational Structure: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/developinq-strateqic-plan-and-
orqanizational-structure

Nonprofit Management

•	Institute for Conservation Leadership: http://www.icl.org

•	Dun & Bradstreet: http://www.dnb.com

•	Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning
the Deal by Oren Klaff

Websites and Organizations

•	Children and Young People's Participation Consortium for Wales. This site
has a series of booklets to guide you through the process of including young
people in decision-making: https://qov.wales/sites/default/files/statistics-and-
research/2019-07/100115-children-vounq-peoples-participation-en.pdf

•	Volunteering NSW has useful information for volunteers and organizations:
http://www.volunteerinq.com.au

Publications and Resources

•	Successfully Involving Youth in Decision-Making is a booklet published as
part of the Youth on Board project by YouthBuild USA with useful tips and tools
for including young people in decision-making: https://vouthbuild.org/wp-
content/uploads/2020/10/Startinq-a-YouthBuild-Model-Proqram.pdf

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Appendix B: Piranha Bowl Instructions

You should include the following in your pitch to the panel:

•	Mission or vision	+	

-	Reference module 2

•	Highlight current project/plan

-	Goals

-	Action steps

-	Reference module 2

•	Why is it important?

-	Why is your project important to you
and your community?

-	Reference module 2

•	Current partners (optional)	** 	

-	Mention at least one potential partner

-	Describe how they will assist with goal

-	Build credibility

-	Reference module 5

•	Budget/financial investment

-	Create a budget for your project

-	Research actual costs

-	Determine three potential grant or financial investors
(do not mention in presentation)

-	Reference module 6

Time: 1 minute

Time: 1 minute

We recommend that you bring visual aids such as diagrams, posters, or short
PowerPoint presentations. Bring a one- to two-page document that includes the
required points for your community to give to the panel and review before the
presentation. You should have your pitch memorized; however, you can have note
cards as a reminder of your talking points.

Piranha Instructions

The piranhas will use the following evaluation criteria to score you on your presentation
skills. You will be scored on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 represents "needs
improvement" and 5 is "excellent."

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Piranha Bowl Evaluation
Criteria

Comments

(If you need more space, please attach a separate
sheet noting the participant presentation number,
date, and your name)

Score

Persuasive presentation





Well-developed Plan





Clear, concise explanation





Inclusion of required
elements (mission/vision,
project plan, importance,
and budget/financial
investment)





Volume





Eye contact





Confidence/poise





Total score





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Closing: Lessons Learned and Tips

The event will close with the piranha investors making their last comments to
participants and asking you questions to help you further develop your action plan. You
will also be able to ask the panelists questions to receive further feedback.

Here are some examples of pitches:

•	Bad (because it requires translation for those people outside the nonprofit
community): I'm the executive director for the Stop Homelessness Coalition of
the greater District of Columbia metropolitan area, which maintains facilities that
provide shelter for homeless constituents. Our client-focused educational
process creates an environment that fosters dignity and provides value for not
only our clients, but also stakeholders and the community at large. Application of
these principles... [continuing for 30 seconds],

•	Worse: Anything that goes over a minute—even if it isn't using lofty "nonprofit-
ese" wording.

•	Good: I'm the executive director for a nonprofit that runs homeless shelters.
[Pause.] We help about 1,300 people per night get out of the cold during the
winter months and team up with other nonprofits to provide food for them.
[Collect a thought.] What makes us different is that we have a successful job
training program that helps many homeless families get back on their feet.

Here's my card. If you'd like to see what we do, check out our website.

•	Handing off the card is also vital, especially if you have a great website that
really tells your organization's story in words, pictures, and videos.

•	The keys to a good elevator pitch are brevity, plain language, and repetition.

•	Write it down. Rehearse it. Practice it on the other staff members or volunteers.
Get feedback. Ask to hear their elevator pitches. Make it fun.

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Appendix C: Family Reunion Worksheet	

Step 1: Initiate

•	Project description

•	Boundaries

•	Team identification

•	Roles and responsibilities

Step 2: Plan the Work

•	Work breakdown

•	Deliverables list

•	Task planning and scheduling

•	Budget

•	Communication plan

Step 3: Endorse the Plan

•	Who needs to endorse the plan?

Step 4: Work the Plan

•	Manage the scope, schedule, and budget

•	Manage risks (plan B)

•	Manage change

•	Communicate progress and challenges

Step 5: Transition and Closure

•	Review lessons learned

•	Reward and recognize (payments and thank-you's)

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Appendix D: Instructions: Rapid Skits: Whose Celebration Is It
Anyway?	

This activity is inspired by "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" The class will be split into six
groups. To demonstrate different ways to celebrate success, small groups will act out
as many success examples as they can in 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, another group
will take the stage. We'll repeat this activity until all the groups have gone twice.

Suggested Success Scenarios

•	Your group got a grant for $100,000 from EPA to address your community's
environmental concern.

•	A volunteer in your group has reached their five-year anniversary.

•	Your organization was successful in meeting a major project goal.

•	Your organization drew more stakeholders than expected at a stakeholder
meeting.

•	Your organization got all the stakeholders to approve an action plan.

•	The media covered a community event you had.

•	A new developer wants to meet with community leaders to talk about developing
a community benefits agreement.

•	Your organization obtained 501 (c)(3) status.

•	You just received the health impact assessment recommendations for your
environmental concern.

•	Local community partners have invited you to be part of their grant program.

•	Your community got an EPA Brownfields grant to clean a historic building in the
community.

•	You completed a photovoice project on your community's progress in
addressing their environmental concern and posted in on YouTube.

•	A local university wants to showcase your efforts in exchange for letting a
student work with you.

•	A policy that helps your efforts was recently passed.

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Appendix E: Possible Challenges of Succession Planning

Possible
Challenges

Implications of
Succession
Planning

Strategy to
Minimize Impact

Person Responsible

























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Appendix F: Youth Engagement Checklist

Has your organization discussed the following?

Yes

No

Discussion Point

Comments





Why your organization wants to engage
young people in decision-making.







What you are aiming to achieve by doing
this.







Why you have not succeeded in engaging
young people in the past.







What you can do better this time around.







What your organization can offer young
people.







What resources you have available to
support this process and how you might
access more resources.







What you expect from young people and
what they can expect from you.







Whether you are willing to make changes
to accommodate young people.







A time frame for this process.



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Appendix G: Quiz: Is Your Organization Ready?	

Your organization's board or committee should complete this quiz.

State three reasons why the organization wants to engage young people in
decision-making:

A)



B)



C)



State three things the organization hopes to get out of involving young people in
governance:

A)



B)



C)



Why have we not done this before? What has stopped us in the past?



How will we confront these challenges this time around?



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List five things that the organization can offer to young people who are interested
in volunteering:

A)



B)



C)



D)



E)



What resources are we willing to commit to this (e.g. money, time, facilities)?

A)



B)



C)



D)



Where else can we access resources (e.g., funding bodies, community facilities)?

A)



B)



C)



D)



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What are four things we expect of young volunteers (e.g., attend monthly
meetings, promote the club to other young people)?

A)



B)



C)



D)



What are four things volunteers can expect from our organization?

A)



B)



C)



D)



Is the organization prepared to change the way it does things to enable more youth
participation?



Yes No

Is this a short- or long-term plan?



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Appendix H: Youth Engagement Checklist Part 2

Step

Task

~

1

Why Involve Young People?



List reasons.





Recruitment

•	Appoint members in charge.

•	Appoint mentors.

•	Develop mentoring model.

•	Review policies and procedures.

•	Consider organizational changes.

•	Inform members and relevant staff.

•	Develop and implement recruitment campaign.



2

Selection

•	Determine selection criteria.

•	Develop interview process.

•	Assess candidates.

•	Notify successful and unsuccessful candidates.





Induction

•	Clarify roles and expectations.

•	Talk with the young person about their ideas and expectations.

•	Provide information regarding all policies and procedures.

•	Arrange parents' consent (if applicable).

•	Discuss and confirm mentoring arrangements.

•	Provide information about committee's/board's processes and structures.



3

Youth Engagement and Participation

•	Ensure members are aware of roles, responsibilities, and expectations.

•	Ensure the young person understands potential barriers, including the risk
of tokenism.



4

Mentoring and Support

•	Make sure the mentor has met the young person's parents (if applicable).

•	The mentor should check in regularly to ensure the young person is
comfortable and benefiting from the experience.

•	A chairperson should provide support to the mentor and mentee.

•	Seek any legal advice as appropriate.



5

Evaluation and Review

•	Determine evaluation and review processes.

•	Develop timelines for inviting youth.

•	Review evaluation outcomes.

•	Follow up evaluation with feedback and actions.



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Appendix I: Two Models of Youth Governance

Model

Pros

Cons

Adding young
people to an
existing body.

o Young people bring fresh energy to

the existing body,
o Young people can be involved in
serious decision-making and see
the impact they are having,
o This model improves relationships
between adult members and young
people.

o Adults and young people work
together toward improving the
organization,
o Young people can learn from more
experienced committee members.

o Young people may feel intimidated
and may not speak up or actively
participate,
o Legal issues need to be considered
(i.e., if board members under 18
years old can vote),
o Young people may feel

outnumbered and that their opinions
don't count for much because
they're minorities on the committee,
o Adults might ignore young peoples'
input because they are minorities.

Creating a
decision-
making body
specifically for
young people
(e.g., a youth
council).

o Young people feel more comfortable
actively participating because they
are surrounded by other young
people.

o Young people can get real
experience being part of a
committee,
o More young people can be involved
in decision-making, which means
the organization benefits from a
diverse range of perspectives,
o This body can act as an advisory
body to the board and a good
source of information,
o The group can work on a specific
project or initiative that appeals to
them.

o Young people experience a level of
autonomy.

o If the body does not have a specific
role with legitimate authority, young
people can feel like their role is
tokenistic and lose interest,
o The adult body may not accept the

feedback from the youth body,
o This approach requires the

organization to invest time, energy,
resources in the young people,
o Young people and adults do not
experience the benefits of working
together in partnership.

This table was adapted from "Two General Approaches" in "15 Points: Successfully Involving Youth in Decision-
Making."2

2 Fletcher, A., Arnold, M., Sazama, J., Young, K. S., & Youth on Board (Firm). (2006). 15 Points: Successfully
Involving Youth in Decision-Making. Somerville, MA: Youth on Board.

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Appendix J: Homework: Sound Management Worksheet	

Sound organization and management is important to produce results. There are a few
things you may want to think about before you develop and write out your plans.

Question

Response

Describe the first thing
you will work on to
achieve sound
management.



Which governing
structure do you plan
to use to achieve the
goals outlined in the
action plan? Why?



How will you
communicate your
progress in achieving
your goals with
stakeholders?



List two to three major
milestones in
achieving your goals.



Describe what three
things you will do to
plan for succession.



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Appendix K: Collaborative Problem-Solving Element 6	

Collaborative Problem-Solving Element 6: Sound Management and
Implementation

Objectives:

•	Seek clear results and improve community conditions.

•	Clarify each partner's commitments.

•	Clarify plans and timelines.

•	Use the community's abilities and talents.

•	Use partners' strengths.

•	Identify and build upon small successes.

•	Organize work to maximize time and resources.

Techniques to promote sound management and implementation:

•	Be visionary, but guard against setting unrealistic goals.

•	Focus on tangible outcomes and improvements in community conditions.

•	Develop strategies tailored to the community's assets and deficits.

•	Design projects that build on the strengths and capacities of partners and
resources.

•	Ensure clear commitments from all partners.

•	Develop a cogent and clearly visible organizational structure.

•	Produce clearly defined, well-formulated action plans and timelines.

•	Cluster and order tasks to promote the efficient use of time and resources.

•	Develop plans and provide people to facilitate regular and productive meetings.

•	Provide structures for coordination and communications.

•	Build in space and time for training and building the capacity of all partners.

•	Build in evaluation from the very beginning.

•	Identify and build on small successes.

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