A key challenge in the voluntary sector, where our mission is all about change and where campaigning is so vital to this mission, is how do we, in traditional organisational structures, allow this enabling environment for campaigning?

One key answer to this challenge must be clarity on what good looks like in campaigning, being able to compare where you are now with what good looks like, and then discussing what needs to change to encourage campaigning in the organisation.

I hope this perspective encourages debate in voluntary organisations so that we can unleash the latent campaigning energy in so many places. And I stand ready to do what I can to make that possible!

For me that is what campaigning is all about – that is what good looks like. It is not just about having a plan or providing regular updates. It is a living, breathing series of connected activities in the outside world all designed to build support and momentum for your issue. It requires you to leave your office and your computer. It needs you to speak to people, to listen to people, to travel widely, to be prepared to work at inconvenient times – all so that you can build support for your issue.

When you are working like that you will know that you are campaigning. This is not just a job or an activity. This is a mission. A mission to build support for your issue using both time honoured methods as well as the latest technology to build support.

When you are working like that you find that it energises you. Despite it being exhausting, you will want to do more. You will need to find ways to protect yourself from being burned out, but if self-managed well, you will be enriched by this way of working. But when you find you are being prevented from working in this way you will inevitably feel frustrated. Yet this memory of what it did feel like when you were on a roll will help you to stay motivated and keep going. That is campaigning!

So in conclusion: you have your foundation of a clear message with compelling evidence for your campaign. You are then totally focussed on building support both internally and externally for your issue.

You take every opportunity to:

engage with your supporters; to develop new allies and sustain existing allies; have sustained media coverage on your issue both yourself and through your allies; build your online presence to amplify your activities and sustain connections; speak in public to engage with people directly with your message and are prepared to travel widely; engage with politicians of all parties and reflect on their feedback to strengthen your message; engage directly and indirectly with your campaign target; and look to support people with lived experience of your issue to undertake all of these activities themselves.

When I was at the Red Cross, I remember that they had a project on what a good local Red Cross area looked like; now while it is easy to ridicule such an initiative, I always thought that it was a compelling concept. To help you plan and build for the future what does it look like when you reach a ‘good’ stage in your development? And I Iike the use of the word ‘good’ instead of words like ‘outstanding’ or ‘exceptional’ – those can all come later. At this stage as you are building – what does good look like? What should we be aspiring to?

Well to try to answer this question of what good looks like in campaigning in the next few blog posts. I am going to look backwards at the times in my working life when I have felt that I was on a roll with a campaign. Times when I felt that the campaign was flying or in words that I Iike to use – my campaign had ‘developed legs’.

Now I’ll be quick to add that my whole career sadly has not been filled with these moments! I have written extensively in the past about the obstacles to effective campaigning, many coming internally as well as externally. But there have been enough moments for me to tentatively suggest what good campaigning might begin to look and feel like.

These are just my own reflections and I’ll be fascinated to hear other people’s reflections. But I haven’t seen any attempt to describe what good looks like, so I am, perhaps foolishly, going to give it a go.

One of my reflections having published my most recent book on campaigning last year is that I wonder if I should have added an extra chapter on what good looks like in campaigning? My 12 stage approach is designed to get people up and running in their campaigning, but what does it look and feel like when you are actually up and running with a campaign?

Over my next few blog posts I am going to explore this idea of what good might look like in campaigning….. so do watch this space!