Campaign Managers
Managing Your Campaign
Campaign Coordination
Inspiration and Creativity
Commitment

Campaign Managers

The following qualities are useful in a Campaign Manager:

• Creative
• Artistically imaginitive
• Good at analyzing and seeing the 'big picture'
• Excellent planners and organizers
• Good with people - mobilizing and managing
• Good under pressure
• Flexible

Managing Your Campaign

Here are some tips and advice for managing campaigns:

• Stay flexible and maximize opportunities
• Liseten to the opposition!
• Stay abreast of political opportunities
• Never take 'No' for an answer!!

Campaign Coordination

Campaigns will probably involve different staff members. Effective campaign co-ordination is vital to success. Campaign management should take overall responsibility for coordination. A Campaign Team, which meets regularly to review strategy and operational progress, is an excellent way of ensuring that all are ‘on board’ with the plan.

Inspiration and Creativity

As we saw in ‘What is Campaigning’ - you are seeking to interest and motivate the public about your issue (when many others are competing). This takes inspiration and creativity. It is vital that campaigners are given time to develop their full creative potential. This requires a special management style – motivational, non-directional (give end results required, leave the direction and means up to the team), and ensuring that they are not too tied down by other organisational duties and bureaucratic ‘red tape’.

When the campaigns team is dreaming up new campaign ideas, they should be free to work in a creative atmosphere – watching other campaigns videos, studying latest advertising and marketing techniques etc. There need to awaken their creative ‘right brain’ hemisphere. Other techniques to help this process could be carried out at home, including meditation (or quiet time), listening to music, dancing, playing games and reading poetry! The idea is to quieten the intellect, to leave space for creativity and imagination.

Campaign team meetings seeking to generate new ideas should be fast-moving, playful, supportive and non-judgemental. Have dedicated meetings for this purpose; separating other business/organisational matters.

Commitment

Commitment and energy are vital components of any successful campaign:

• Believing you will win
• Dedication and commitment
• Being prepared for the 'long haul' (People always underestimate the time it will take to achieve animal welfare campaigns. If you are realistic at the beginning, it will stop you from becoming de-motivated.)

"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead