Assess Progress

EVALUATE AND DEBRIEF REGULARLY

Once you have a plan, make sure you have a system to evaluate what’s working and what’s not working. Assess progress through regular debriefs and make sure your team uses common language for talking about support for the union.

CREATE A COMMON LANGUAGE

An assessment tool in an organizing campaign is “short hand” that can help you track conversations, support, YES votes and activity. These are some advantages of using an assessment system:

• Provides a quick snapshot of support and opposition, especially for large numbers of people.
• Maintains consistency about the results of one-on-one conversations.
• Provides data that helps you analyze strengths and weaknesses.
• Allows you to run data in Excel or database.
• Helps you to be precise about progress and expected outcomes of the campaign.

The downside? For an assessment tool to work well, everybody has to agree on the definition and apply it consistently and honestly. Help your team succeed through training, one-on-one support and regular debriefs with the whole team.

RESOURCES

Creating and Using an Assessment Tool
Template for Tracking Debriefs