Are you a to-do list person? Maybe you subscribe to the GTD method or prefer old-fashioned pen and paper lists. Whatever the case, you’ve probably come to realize that getting a group of people (fundraising volunteers, for example) rallied around a to-do list is a much trickier exercise than tackling your own list of projects.
Often I see complex campaign plans presented to volunteers or staff teams. There are GANTT charts and timelines and color-coded indications of who owns what task. Everyone agrees on the urgency and importance of the campaign. They nod their heads… leave the meeting… and… crickets.
How do you keep volunteers focused over a long and complex campaign? You deliver information and tasks in bite-sized pieces.
In Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the authors dedicate an entire chapter to this phenomenon. In it they say:
Long lists are guilt trips. The longer the list of unfinished items, the worse you feel about it. And at a certain point, you just stop looking at it because it makes you feel bad. Then you stress out and the whole thing turns into a big mess.
If you want to keep your next team project from devolving into “a big mess,” consider the following strategies:
If nothing else, cutting a big campaign plan or to-do list into bite-sized pieces will help everyone stay motivated and keep working towards your big, important goals.
How about you? What strategies have you learned for keeping a team focused on a long-term project?