The problem: volunteers and staff alike aren't prepared to lead.
For generations, leaders and activists in the two major parties have been through the gauntlet. Time and time again, ecosystems of battle-hardened volunteers, staff and donors have showed up, ready for battle. This has made them cynical and jaded, sure, but it's also made them competent, capable and ready for the worst.
Independent movements often draw new volunteers and inexperienced staff. That's okay! These folks come from other fields entirely, and apply unique sets of skills to old situations, and they deliver fascinating and novel outcomes. But the independent movement also often feels like herding cats. Folks aren't primed to row the boat in the same direction, and it leads to miscommunications, counterproductive uses of time and final outcomes that often come up short. Independent organizations barely have the time and resources to stay afloat, let alone invest countless hours into empowering their staff and volunteers.
How do you lead a community of independent thinkers from the bottom up, without dictating rigorous allegiance to a strict doctrine?
The solution: offer the tools and autonomy to succeed, and lean into transparency.
Business leader Thomas Peters once said, "Good leaders create more leaders." But leadership of this style requires a constant restatement of core values, an ethical framework within which emerging leaders can operate, and autonomy to make decisions within that framework. Perhaps most importantly, it requires training.
At Conway Consulting, we create the resources, documentation and practical exercises your staff and supporters need to rise to the occasion. This means:
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We build a best-in-class, branded wiki (think: Wikipedia) for all things organizing your movement.
- We work with you to collect and collate all your resources, from messaging and fundraising documentation to grassroots, field and events best practices. Then, we convert them into a private, white labeled wiki for your community of leaders, staff, organizers and volunteers. We create private sections for sensitive documents not to be consumed by all. We make it slick, easy-to-use and compelling.
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We host live and automated trainings for hard and soft skills.
- Ever had a volunteer show up to canvass in flip flops? Ever had a precocious young staffer struggle to listen in conversation? We train your teams - both through automated training courses and in live settings - to execute on the hard and soft skills you want them to develop.
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We mentor rising stars, personally and individually.
- As new leaders - both in your volunteer community and within your staff - begin demonstrating the ability to lead, we will identify them and work with them individually to improve their core skills and deliver you increasingly incredible results.
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We lead from the front.
- When paired with our other offerings (especially Grassroots Management), Conway Consulting leans into the messy work of actually leading your community. This means working with you and your team to make the messy decisions, and demonstrate presence and transparency with your grassroots and internal leadership. Most importantly, it means modelling the behavior you want from your leaders.