Printable Version Email to a Friend This Article Brought to You By:

Tactics are specific actions that a community group takes to move toward its goals on an issue. If the group has done a good job of developing a strategy, choosing tactics and carrying them out can be a fun and creative process. Tactics should build and reinforce a sound general strategy.

In choosing tactics, keep your goal in mind. For example, if you want decision-makers to change a law or policy, you will eventually need to meet and talk with them.

The tactics you choose should make it more likely, rather than less likely, that you�ll be able to meet and discuss your issue with them from a position of strength and mutual respect.

If the simple, straightforward tactic of requesting a meeting works, the members of your group need to think through how to conduct that meeting so that your group can make its key points, hear the decision-maker�s point of view, and come out with a very clear agreement about what the decision-maker will do and what the group will do as a result of the meeting.

Often, community groups waste meeting time by doing all of the talking. They prepare so much background information to present that they don�t allow enough time for real interaction and negotiation with the decision-maker. The decision-maker sits and nods his or her head as the group members go on and on, then notices that time is up and ends the meeting without making a clear agreement to do something or scheduling a future time to talk.

      At other times, decision-makers are the ones who take up all of the time in a meeting. They talk at length and distract the group from its point by asking unrelated questions.

      A group needs to plan for meetings with decision-makers so that actual time for discussion and negotiation � real give-and-take � leads the group closer to its goal.

      Agreeing as a group that the last five minutes of the meeting will be devoted to summarizing what was discussed and getting clear agreement on decisions made is critical to making sure that the meeting is actually a step forward in the process of working toward your goal. Don�t wait until the meeting is over and you�re out in the hall to realize that you didn�t get a clear agreement.

      It is also a good idea for the group to plan to end the meeting early. For example, if the meeting is scheduled for 30 minutes, try to conclude your business within 20 minutes. Have a schedule for what you will cover in the meeting and who will speak.

      Sometimes, the simple tactic of asking a decision-maker to meet and negotiate with your group just doesn�t work. If your group is small and new, the decision-maker may feel that he or she doesn�t have to meet with you.

      Again, if the group did its strategy work well, building up the credibility and name-recognition of the group is part of your plan. Asking your supporters and allies who know the decision-maker to set up the meeting for you is one option.

      Another is to make a public statement that you want a meeting with the decision-maker. For example, you can inform a reporter that you have been trying to meet with the decision-maker but have been unable to. Or you can have group members and supporters telephone, send letters, and e-mail the decision-maker, asking him or her to meet with the group.

      The group needs to think together carefully about how to pressure a decision-maker to agree to a meeting.

      Make sure you actually have the support and resources to do what you want to do. If you have the ability to generate 50 phone calls, or 100 phone calls, that should make an impression on the decision-maker. But if you only generate five phone calls, you won�t make much of an impression, other than to reinforce the decision-maker�s view that you don�t have much support.

      The word �tactics� often conjures up visions of marches, rallies and picket lines. These events are tactics that community groups often use. It is important to use them for a specific purpose.

      In order to achieve your goal on an issue, you�re going to have to get one or more people with the power to change what you want to agree with you. Public events like rallies and marches can make your issue more visible to the general public and build public support. Increased public support can influence decision-makers to take the action you want them to take. But small or sloppy marches and rallies can work against you.

      If you plan one, make sure you have a solid turnout plan so that people actually show up and participate. Be sure that you get any necessary permits, and put in extra effort to attract media coverage. Big public events can be great fun. In fact, one rule is to make them as much fun as possible. Music, costumes, and street theatre all attract attention and can raise the spirits of the group.

      One of the most effective tactics used by community groups are large public meetings with decision-makers. Group members present the changes they want the decision-maker to make and the decision-maker responds to the group�s requests while a large number of members and supporters looks on.

      The advantage of these types of meetings is that they are conducted in public, and the decision-maker must give a response to the group�s requests in public.

      The disadvantage is that complex proposals are difficult to negotiate in large public meetings.

      Decision-makers may feel trapped by the idea of responding while dozens or even hundreds of people watch, and refuse to attend. So tactics for getting the decision-maker to show up are often needed, and the group needs a considerable amount of power and support in the community in order to motivate the decision-maker to show up.

      The group should also expect that smaller follow-up meetings will be needed to hammer out the details of a decision-maker�s response at a large public meeting.

      Another kind of tactic focuses on withholding something the decision-maker wants or needs in order to get the decision-maker to agree to changes. A strike is probably the most well-known of these tactics.

      Workers refuse to work unless the employer agrees to the changes the workers want � better working conditions, pay, benefits.

      Renters sometimes put their rent payments into an escrow account and withhold it from the landlord until the landlord makes needed repairs.

      Parents may keep their children out of school until school officials agree to changes the parents want.

      These are all forms of strikes, and are probably the most difficult of all tactics to use effectively. It is difficult to get people to stay together in a strike for long periods of time, and it is also possible for decision-makers to break or weaken a strike.

      For example, employers can hire replacement workers; landlords can evict tenants; school officials can report parents who don�t send their school-aged children to school to law enforcement authorities.

      The risks involved in using these tactics are usually great, and require a well-seasoned and committed group, as well as outside supporters, to be carried out for any length of time.

      As your group thinks about the tactics it will use to bring about the changes you want, enjoy yourselves and think creatively.

      Always choose tactics that the group as a whole will agree to participate in, and that are fun whenever possible.

      Try to think of tactics that will move decision-makers to meet and negotiate with you in a spirit of mutual respect, and ask the allies and supporters of your group to use their influence to get decision-makers to do business with your group in good faith.

      Make use of existing resources, like Virginia Organizing Project�s action-alert system, to put state-wide pressure on decision-makers in your community, and to assist other community groups around the state in their efforts.