Leadership Development
About this resource
This resource is meant to provide some principles, guidelines, and basic tools for effective leadership
development. It will cover the following topics:
★ Why should we think about leadership development? Why is it important?
★ What are the guiding principles when it comes to developing leaders?
★ What are some key steps to leadership development?
★ What are specific tactics and systems that we can use?
★ What are one-to-ones and propositions and how can they be used for leadership development?
★ What is a ladder of engagement?
★ What is mentorship? What does it look like to be an organizer mentor?
This resource was compiled and adapted by Alyssa Lee <[email protected]> at Better Future
Project/Divest Ed, with some language taken from The Student PIRGs Activist Toolkit, Sierra Student Coalition,
and National People’s Action. It was last updated on 2018-03-16.
Any questions about this resource can be directed to Alyssa Lee at <[email protected]>.
Why should we think about leadership development?
● To avoid burnout
● To accomplish more
● To build an organization/campaign
● To sustain organizational health and continuity
● To develop strategists, not just tacticians
● To retain people in our movement
● To create more agents of change in our communities
● To grow our people power
● To give people a sense of their own power
The job of an organizer is to organize one’s self out of the job 一 to make other people as
experienced and skilled as you are.
If you are serious about leadership, then you are serious about leadership development.
Principles of Leadership Development
● Everybody has leadership potential. Anybody who supports the campaign might be interested in getting
actively involved. Anybody who gets involved once has the potential to take on more.
● People who care about these issues need to be motivated to act upon their concerns. Most people don't
know what they can do to make a difference or how their actions will help. You need to communicate that
there are solutions as well as problems.
● People need opportunities to take on more responsibility. It is hard for a new member to know what next
step to take. You need to develop a leadership ladder (“Ladder of Engagement”) for each person that will
give them opportunities to continue to learn and grow.
● People stay involved for three reasons: 1) they are learning something valuable, 2) they see that their
efforts are making a difference, and/or 3) they are part of a meaningful community. If you are not offering
at least one of these at any point, you are not going to retain them.
● People want to learn and they need to be challenged to do so. Once somebody masters a basic task, they
should be given something more difficult to tackle 一 either training other people to do the basic task or
dealing with a more challenging situation.
● People take on more responsibility because they feel needed. If you need people to do more, you need to
let them know that. If they are the person to do the job, they need to know that you’re counting on them.
After each activity or event, you should be discussing their next activity.
● People develop as leaders because somebody takes the time to give them meaningful feedback and to
build their confidence. Once a task has been completed, don’t just assign another. Talk about how it went,
what could have gone better, which pieces went well, how they felt about the experience, etc.
● People stay for the long term because they feel like a part of a community. Develop a group culture that is
fun, welcoming, inclusive, and that encourages people to get to know each other.
● It takes active intention to develop leaders in a justice-oriented way. It can be tempting to just let things
happen and let those who are taking initiative (e.g. are most vocal, most available, most knowledgeable)
become the leaders. But privilege and oppression make it such that those who are most inclined to take
initiative tend to be white, financially well off, well-educated, and also often cis, straight, or men. If we don’t
actively work to recognize and uplift people who need to be leaders, we risk recreating homogenous and
privileged spaces that will not ultimately be able to achieve our goals of justice.
Keys to Leadership Development Specific Tactics and Systems
Plan ahead. ● Write out how many leaders you currently have and
● Know who's graduating, who's studying how you define them.
abroad, who's on the verge of getting ● Set goals for how many leaders you want to develop
burnt out - these are people to talk to by the end of the month/semester/year.
about stepping back, transitioning, and
● Create a tracking system for everyone in your base -
passing on knowledge.
this can be a spreadsheet where you write their level
● Know who’s been showing up, who's got
skills, and who’s sticking around - these of engagement (see Ladder of Engagement) .
are people to bring up the leadership ● Plan a few skills trainings that your group needs and
ladder. get them scheduled. This can include meeting
facilitation, making agendas, planning an event,
booking rooms, etc.
Build personal connections. ● Have one-to-one meetings with any new members
● Phone is better than email, and who’s been involved! (See here for more info on
face-to-face interactions are better than one-to-ones)
phone. ● Ask people what their interests and goals are.
● You have to develop mutual trust - too ● Have one-on-one meetings to check in with leaders
many leaders don't trust others enough on their progress and to see if they need support.
to share responsibilities. The first step to ● Have propositions with people you identify as
trusting your members is getting to know potentially being able to take on a larger role (read
them. on to learn more about propositions).
● Follow-up quickly. Once you’ve made the ● Build a welcoming culture by instituting ‘gratitudes’
connection, follow up quickly and get at meetings to recognize people who took risks or
them involved. got more involved, especially new members.
Build your organization and leadership through ● Create working groups so that multiple people can
campaign actions. be involved in a project and take on tasks.
● We develop leaders through trainings ● If your group has designated roles, write out what
and mentoring meetings,but also by those responsibilities are.
taking risks in the public arena.
● Always break down projects into specific discrete
● The best groups don’t just meet - they
tasks and make targeted, individual asks (rather
are outside taking action.
● People develop most quickly and deeply than mass emails) to get them done.
while doing, not by talking. ● Make it a practice to debrief every activity in either
● Remember the Act-Absorb-Train Cycle! the full group, working groups, or one-to-one. Always
(see below) check back in on the original goals, ask what support
they need in the future, and leave on a positive note
with gratitudes.
Remember the Act-Absorb Train Cycle!
1. Every time you act is an opportunity to grow your base
and bring in more people.
2. You need to absorb new people and this process of
absorption can be planned by newer members.
3. You will then plan how to train both the new people who
were absorbed AND the newer members on the skills
they need to put on the next action.
4. The cycle continues!
Developing Leaders on a Ladder of Engagement
Notes
● Each rung along the ladder
should act as litmus tests to
move them up.
● You should make sure there is a
progression of rungs. Do you
have rungs between ‘Expressed
Support’ and ‘Organizing’ that
you can offer? Do you have them
consistently throughout the year
through different projects and
working groups?
● It is possible that someone may
move the whole way in one day,
but never throw someone
straight to the top end.
● It takes one-to-ones, direct
delegation, and propositions to
move people up - people often
can’t move up on their own.
● Every time the A-A-T cycle
restarts, you are moving people
up the ladder.
Tips
● Make leadership opportunities more accessible by breaking them down into component parts and
making specific asks. This allows even a relatively new volunteer can take on responsibility.
● Give leaders a title, such Tabling Captain, Volunteer Coordinator, Phonebank Chair. This can help make
them feel more accountable and responsible.
● Proposition people into leadership positions that make sense for them, not just the roles that you need
to fill.
● Give recognition and show appreciation. Recognize their achievements at meetings and in one-to-ones.
● Be respectful, friendly, but also professional. Make sure they know they are appreciated but also that
the group has expectations of them to fulfill a role. Accountability is easier when this is understood from
the beginning.
● Have skills trainings often, even in small ways. They don’t all have to be full day-long trainings. They can
just be spending the first 10 minutes of a meeting or the activity itself explaining how to do something
(such as tabling).
● Make it a norm/routine to have debriefs at the end of every activity/action/event.
One-to-Ones and Propositions
What is a One-to-One: A one-to-one is a deliberately What is a Proposition: A proposition is a planned and
scheduled meeting between you and another person. intentional conversation that invites a person into a
This person may be a prospective member, a new well-defined activity or role, based on some aspect of
member, or an existing member that you just want to that person’s self-interests, or stated passions,
get to know better. dreams, hopes, or struggles.
Goals of One-to-Ones and Propositions
This is in the context of Leadership Development. You can read here for more info on one-to-ones and ask Alyssa
for more information on Propositions.
Figure the person out.
● → motivations (social, environmental issue, credit, resume, friends doing it)
● → what they want to gain (skills, issue knowledge, issue impact, friends, accomplishment, exposure for
their group)
● → what they bring (skills, issue expertise, contacts, recruitment ability, resources, energy)
Share your experiences and develop personal relationships.
● Share why you are involved, what is your vision, what are your values, what do you get out of the group.
● Let them get to know you and see that the campaign is made of people who are fun and committed.
Give the person a clear sense of the organization, issue, and overall campaign.
● Articulate the history and goals of the group any and successes
● Articulate the issue and the campaign - problem, solution, goals, strategies, tactics
● Answer any questions
Give the person a role in the campaign.
● Figure out what is appropriate for their skills and commitment. You can do this together with them.
● Get them plugged into different activities.
● Ask them to commit to leadership responsibilities.
● Often when people flake out on you, it’s because they didn’t understand a task well enough. It’s worth
your time to sit down and give the person a step-by-step description of the task at hand.
● Make sure to follow up with the person and offer help if they seem to be struggling or not accountable.
Give feedback and train them to be better organizers.
● Give specific feedback that helps develop your leaders’ politics and/or skills.
● Ask them what training or support they need.
What is mentorship? A mentor ...
● Identifying someone and doing a ● Recognizes leadership potential.
proposition ● Knows the big picture and plan.
● Investing in a personal relationship ● Builds relationships both one-on-one and in
● Asking them their goals and interests the full group.
● Helping them make a plan and set ● Has one-to-one mentorship meetings regularly.
commitments ● Identifies self-interests of others.
● Having regular and intentional mentorship ● Thinks of training and roles in the organization
meetings that meet those self-interests.
● Checking in, holding them accountable, and ● Provides training.
noticing their progress and how they’re ● Propositions people to take specific roles and
showing up get trained.
● Asking what support they need ● Agitates people about the stuff that gets in
their way and to act more powerfully.
“I have always thought that what is needed is
the development of people who are interested
not in being leaders as much as in developing
leadership in others.”
-E lla Baker
Black civil rights organizer
and the impetus for the 1960 formation of the
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
