| How do I lead a project to success? | There are two steps to leading successful social change: knowing what your win looks like and being able to communicate that to others. Here's where to start. |
If you don’t know what your organization or your project is trying to achieve, then clear your schedule for today. You’ve got some work to do.
There are two steps to leading social change:
If you’re a leader, you need to do both.
This is a non-negotiable responsibility of leadership.
There isn’t a right or a wrong answer to the question “What does success look like for you?” This question can be answered many different ways, which is why choosing an answer is the most important act of leadership.
Your answer will blend your knowledge of an issue with your understanding of the current situation, your values, and the steps you believe will lead to the outcome you want.
How you define a win reveals your unique leadership vision. Different leaders will make different choices about where to focus and how to approach a problem.
In some fields, the win is already defined for you. Sports teams aim to win their leagues and other prestigious trophies. Political parties try to win elections. Member-based organizations implement the model of their national or international parent. When you exist within a defined structure, there is little guesswork about what success looks like.
Wins may also be defined relative to what other people are doing. If you are trying to build the cheapest electric car or achieve the lowest poverty rate in the country, your success is measured against peers, benchmarks, or competitors.
Inherited wins are passed along to you by others. They may come from people who built your organization before you arrived, or they may be established by peers, committees, or expert networks. For example, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, treaties, or your legal mission may define your win for you. You can break from these inherited goals if you need to, but the legwork done by others often saves you time and helps you focus on the work that matters most.
There will be times when leaders can choose any goal they believe will lead to the outcome they want. If you have complete freedom to decide what a win looks like for you, then this is your adventure. Nelson Mandela and his peers did this in South Africa. They believed that a new constitution was crucial for racial equality in their country; that goal guided their movement for decades.
If you don’t know what a win looks like, don’t panic. It doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be a leader, and it doesn’t mean you’re destined to fail. It may just mean that you’ve been so caught up in the momentum of your work that you haven’t had the time to put your ideas into words.
Likewise, if you know what a win is but you can’t explain it yet, you probably just need more practice.
If you’re nervous, that’s understandable. Deciding to name and stick to a clear goal can be scary. Choosing a focus means admitting that you won’t be able to do everything you’d like to do and that you can’t tackle every aspect of an enormous problem. Clarity puts a spotlight on a leader’s decisions, making it easier for critics to question your choices.
Removing ambiguity from your work takes courage. You need to do it anyway.
If you are in a position to decide what a win looks like or set a goal for some kind of social change, then do it. Whether you have an official title or not, few people have a chance to make choices like this. Don’t take your moment for granted.
If you check most or all of these boxes, you have the power to make a difference:
When you’ve ended up in a position where your combination of knowledge, experience, and relationships gives you a chance to improve life for others, act.
This is what you need to do to prevail. Just as importantly, it’s what you need to do to ensure opposing forces don’t win.
Social change doesn’t come easily, and it’s not inevitable. Whatever issue you focus on, you are sure to face headwinds. There are many powerful influences in this world that encourage short-term thinking, exploitation, and preserving the status quo (people, paradigms, economic forces, etc.).
If you want to change things, you need to be more effective than whatever stands in your way. There is a growing and obvious need for more people to be relentlessly strategic in their effort to safeguard democracy, community, and sustainability.
Winning leadership doesn’t happen by accident. Progress doesn’t arrive on its own.
Define your win. Communicate it clearly. Then do the work. Prevail.
The Organizer is a newsletter for people working to create equitable and sustainable communities. Whether you are part of a nonprofit, a charity, or a social enterprise, this newsletter is for you.
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