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Many Indivisible groups have a single leader: the person who registered the group on Indivisible’s website, who first put out the call for his or her neighbors to participate, who led the first meeting. But a single leader can’t effectively lead an Indivisible group for long. You need a leadership team to be successful. Here are just a few reasons why:
So who would be a good member of your leadership team? Look for natural leaders, people who are already effectively leading members of your group.
If you talk to people in your group and ask good questions, and watch who does what, you will be able to tell who the leaders are. All leaders have one thing in common: they have followers. So how can you tell who the leaders in your group are? Start with two steps:
Ask. Talk to the people in your group and ask them questions about who the leaders are. But you can’t just ask “who are the leaders here?” Try these:
Observe. Watch the dynamics in your group to see who is already leading.
It’s important to know who the leaders in your group are, but not all leaders would be a good member of your leadership team. Remember, the only thing all leaders have in common is that they have followers. Extremists have lots of followers too, but that won’t help your Indivisible group accomplish its goals!
So how do you know who would be a good leadership team member? Get them involved in group projects and watch them in action! Try to follow these rules.
Give responsibility freely. Get the potential leader involved in planning a project, talk to them about the project’s goals and set clear expectations, but don’t micromanage or obsess over every detail. You want to see how they do as a leader, so let them lead and talk to them afterwards about how it went. Look for how they took on the responsibility. Self-motivation and following through on commitments are important for a leadership team member.
Look for organizers. The best leaders for your group will be people who get others involved, who care more about the group and the community you’re creating than they do about getting their way or feeling important. Watch how they get other people involved in their projects. Are they collaborative or secretive? Forthright or shy?
Alignment on goals. You don’t need, or want, a team member who agrees with you on everything. But you also don’t need, or want, someone who’s going to disagree with every choice because they don’t agree with the direction of the group. Indivisible groups are engaging in local, defensive congressional advocacy to defeat the Trump agenda, while modeling progressive values. Talk with potential leaders about their goals and make sure they’re aligned with where the group is headed.
So you’ve identified a leader. Someone who consistently recruits their friends and neighbors to come to meetings and events. You asked them to take on a small project and they did great: they took a lot of responsibility and got other people involved. So how do you ask them to join the leadership team with you? Follow the steps having one on one organizing conversation (check out how to have one here):
If you’ve already done the first two things in a prior conversation, great! If you know the person’s story and their vision for the group already, cut to the chase and ask them to join the team.
Things to Avoid
Creating overlapping or undefined roles on your team. This can create tension and confusion. Be clear about what being on the leadership team involves.
Creating roles but not fully empowering them. Make sure your leadership team agrees on what the general parameters are for when they can take decision on their own versus when to consult with the rest of the leadership team. Remember that you are leading from behind to create an empowered membership.
Not communicating with each other. Make sure to have regular leadership meetings to update each other (and don’t forget to report out to the wider group on those meetings, see below).
Not communicating back to the wider group or making too many decisions without input. One of the easiest ways to lose members of a group is for people to feel they don’t have a voice in the direction of the organization. Have an established mechanism for sharing updates from your leadership team, be up front about all decisions made in the team, and remember that big decisions should involve consultation with the larger group.
Remember: this is a marathon, not a sprint. We are building a movement of millions, strong enough to take on politicians, political parties, and the president. We can’t build that overnight and we can’t build that alone. So start thinking about your team: the leaders who will work with you to make your group strong and sustainable, friendly and effective, unified—and indivisible.
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