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Check out the latest Amyisms |
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Amyism
#1
Grassroots Results: "If you want to have something
you’ve never had, you must be willing to do
something you’ve never done." |
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Amyism
#2
Grassroots Momentum: "Electronic communication
tools do not create grassroots momentum. People
do." |
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Amyism
#3
Growing Grassroots: "A terrible thing happens
when your senior managers do not know about your
program--nothing!!" |
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Amyism
#4
Growing Grassroots: "Word of mouth from a
grassroots evangelist beats 50 communications from
your CEO. Nothing recruits better than a satisfied
volunteer." |
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Amyism
#5
Innovation/Learning: "We have to constantly
look at ways to alter the nuances of our programs.
The political climate changes too rapidly to be
content with executing and implementing your programs
the same way year after year." |
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Amyism
#6
Grassroots Volunteer Recognition (informal): "If
you have the latest technology, you should be using
the time you are saving to innovatively thank your
high producing grassroots volunteers." |
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Amyism
#7
Grassroots Volunteer Recognition (informal): "You
can’t fake it. You can’t make someone
feel important if you don’t truly believe
they are." --Jim Beck |
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Amyism
#8
Grassroots Culture: "Show me the pictures
in your department’s offices and I will tell
you whether you truly have a grassroots culture." |
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Amyism
#9
CEO Support: "Do you think you have CEO Support?
Take the party test: if you and your CEO are at
an event, would you be able to talk to him or her
without having to introduce yourself? If the answer
is no, double check the CEO's support of your program." |
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Amyism
#10
Grassroots Volunteer Motivation: "Your grassroots
activists are employees or members who choose to
help advance your cause. Choose your favors carefully." |
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Amyism #11
Motivation: "People will come to you for the
cause, and stay for the leader." |
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Amyism #12
Focus: "Wherever your focus is at work, that's
where your program is, also." |
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Amyism #13
Grassroots Organization: "The legislative
process is a highly organized one. How can we expect
to impact it unless we have an organized process
in place?" --Dimon McFerson, Former CEO, Nationwide
Insurance |
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Amyism #14
Innovation: "Watch out for the dinosaurs in
our industry. If the message hasn't changed in
two years, it's obsolete." |
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Amyism #15
Grassroots Members as Customers: "Please stop
referring to your employees and association members
in combative terms such as "targets" or "segments." How
about simply customers?" |
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Amyism #16
Grassroots/PAC Ownership: "Everyone throws
this term around, but few know what it means. If
you aren't making sure your volunteers' contributions
are recognized and USED, you don't know what ownership
is, and they don't feel it." |
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Amyism #17
Grassroots Communications: "Many organizations
believe that because "we sent an e-mail" communication
has taken place. If that was the case, why don't
candidates just send an e-mail saying "I'm
running for office, vote for me?" Why doesn't
McDonald's send an e-mail saying "We have
hamburgers for sale, please buy one?" You
have to communicate through a variety of means
to make your message stick." --Jim Beck |
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Amyism #18
Evangelism: "It's not about the data base,
it's about getting people to believe." --Tiffany
Adams |
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Amyism #19
Grassroots Advocate Feedback: "It's amazing
how the wailing and gnashing of teeth over lack
of communication from the grassroots ends when
someone on the government relations staff is actually
held responsible for finding out what's going on
in the district." |
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Amyism #20
Continuous Improvement: "We won the award
for the best overall grassroots program from our
national trade association. However, I didn't want
us to be remembered as the "has-beens" of
grassroots in our industry." --John Stowell |
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Amyism #21
Volunteer Recognition: "Who you spend time
with speaks volumes about who you value. Show me
a grassroots or PAC leader who slights his volunteers
in public and I'll start drawing white chalk lines
around that program." |
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Amyism #22
Grassroots Leader Motivation: "In the good
old days, anyone could get participation in their
issues with lots of money and lots of members.
Now, the differentiating factors are leaders who
can persuade and motivate more than the other side." |
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Amyism # 23
Relationships: "It's intellectually inconsistent
to encourage your grassroots advocates to develop
and maintain relationships with key legislators,
yet ignore your own advice when it comes to working
with your advocates." |
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Amyism #24
Grassroots Program Strategy: "There are no
accidents. Behind every bad result there is a worse
strategy (or none at all!)" |
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Amyism #25
Motivation: "Motivating your grassroots advocates
during the tough times is infinitely easier if
you adhere to a strategic approach to recruitment at all times." |
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Amyism #26
Measurement: "Grassroots measurement is more
than just numbers. What is the value of a credible,
trusting relationship with a legislator? What is
the organizational price of a strained relationship
with a legislator? The soft stuff is the hard stuff." |
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Amyism #27
Credibility: "Check the background of your
sources. If they haven't done it before, they can't
do it for you." |
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Amyism # 28
Grassroots Volunteer Retention and Motivation: "Pay
attention. Act on what you hear and observe, not
from what you believe or hope. Your volunteers
will tell you how to keep them engaged if you pay
attention." |
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Amyism #29
Grassroots Results: "Your ultimate results
are revealed in your daily routine. Tell me what
you want, show me your weekly calendar, and I'll
tell you if you'll get it." |
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Amyism #30
Grassroots Volunteer Satisfaction: "One of
the keys to keeping good volunteers is to improve
your services for those who are using them, instead
of worrying about who isn't using them. Find out
what makes your active participants stay with your
program and do more of it." |
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Amyism #31
Grassroots Evangelism: "Evangelism is a process
of getting people not just to join your cause,
but to believe in it so much that they are compelled
to make converts for you because they believe it
is in the potential converts' self interest, not
the interest of the organization, to join." |
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Amyism #32
Motivation: "As you begin your grassroots
work, I am convinced that the most critical decision
you will make is your attitude toward your volunteers." |
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Amyism #33
Listening: "It is irrelevant what we think
is the most efficacious or compelling way to convey
important issues to our grassroots customers. They
will determine what is relevant. We must listen." |
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Amyism #34
E-Advocacy: "Our electronic communications
tools are one way we can create a grassroots community,
instead of being a substitute for it. Are you utilizing
the medium to create espirit de corps, or only
to ask for favors?" |
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Amyism #35
Rogue Grassroots Advocates: "Not all rogues
should be summarily dismissed from your grassroots
efforts. One of the reasons the Rogue exists is
because he or she does not know better. It's our
responsibility to teach them to know better so
they do better." |
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Amyism #36
Government Relations Value: "When you relentlessly
tout only what your new technology does instead
of your insights and strategies, you instantly
and unwittingly devalue your contributions to your
organization." |
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Amyism #37
The Grassroots/PAC Brand: "Just like any company
is known by the quality of its customers, so too
is a government relations department known by the
quality of its grassroots or PAC customers. Potential
PAC and grassroots members are attracted to reliable,
successful brands. If you aren't happy with the
quality of your customers, you need to alter your
brand." |
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Amyism #38
Implementation: "The politics of implementing
your programs cannot be ignored. Do you have internal
support for your efforts? If not, do you have a
strategy to gain that support, or do you expect
your colleagues and key leaders to mindlessly follow
your initiatives?" |
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Amyism #39
Recognition: "The notion of relying solely
on scheduled formal recognition is flawed and leads
to missed opportunities to increase grassroots
and PAC productivity. It is more important what
you do 365 days a year in the informal recognition
moments, rather than the extravaganza-laden events,
plaques, and other ceremonies." |
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Amyism #40
Education vs. Persuasion: "The government
relations profession prides itself on educating
its advocates. Why then don't our advocates enthusiastically
respond? Because the link between education and
persuasion is weaker than you'd think. There is
much to persuasion beyond education." -- Kelton
Rhoads, Ph.D. |
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Amyism #41
Grassroots Advocate Retention: "It's not how
many grassroots advocates you find, it's how many
you keep that matters." - Laura Feldman |
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Amyism #42
Advocate Participation: "Allegiance to your
cause isn’t an entitlement. The organizations
that foster an emotional allegiance strategy will
have more committed, fervent advocates than those
who assume that a dues payment or a paycheck
equals commitment." |
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Amyism #43
PAC Recruitment: "When we think of 'solicitation,'
the mental picture hardly conjures up welcoming
images. By removing the 's' word from your PAC
vocabulary, you will subtly alter your PAC’s
image. Think of recruiting, instead of soliciting,
for PAC membership." |
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Amyism #44
Motivating Key Contacts: "The most common
mistake in motivating Key Contacts is thinking
that they are similar to the general public, and
treating them that way." |
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Amyism #45
Motivating: "Instead of shopping for lightening
bolts and trinkets to motivate your advocates,
analyze the context of your legislative and organizational
situation. Develop strategies and tactics based
on your current context, not on what is most expedient
or convenient." |
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Amyism #46
"Organizations (and politicians) tend to believe that science is optional.
It’s not. If you run ads and they don’t work, it doesn’t matter how you spin
it; they didn’t work. We may have all sorts of business and theological reasons
to challenge a piece of science, but denying the reality of a tested universe
never leads to a positive outcome." -- Seth Godin |
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Amyism #47
Grassroots and PAC Persuasion: “As influence agents, we must learn to think
in story, talk in story, and present our arguments in a narrative form. Because
story can persuade and inspire where reason and logic and argument fall flat.”
-- Kelton Rhoads, Ph.D. |
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Amyism #48
The Competition to Influence: “Many psychologists refer to the human mind as a dark stage lit by the single spotlight of conscious attention. That’s why it’s smart to have the guy running the spotlight on your payroll.”
-- Kelton Rhoads, Ph.D. |
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Amyism #49
Grassroots Effectiveness: “When you meet with your legislators, do they congratulate you for your grassroots prowess, or do they admonish you to develop your grassroots prowess? Listen to what they say, as well as what they don’t say to determine your true grassroots effectiveness.” |
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Amyism #50
Recognition: “We can either recognize
our volunteer grassroots and PAC advocates when it's convenient for us, or engage
in the principle of strategic spontaneity to
maximize our grassroots and PAC allegiances.” |
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Amyism #51
Measurement: “Organizations measure what is important and do not measure what is unimportant. Smart government relations professionals know that what gets measured gets attention, so those who welcome and even initiate metrics will have more organizational clout and resources than those who do not measure beyond the number of emails sent and PAC receipts.” |
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Amyism #52
Motivation: “Before you can motivate others, you must be consumed with the cause yourself. Before you can move them to action, you must be inspired. To convince them, you’ve got to believe.” |
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Amyism #53
Motivation: “Believing in your cause and the impact your work makes is not essential if you are in a transactional environment. If, however, you are persuading busy executives to engage in your cause, belief is not an option. I'm concerned that many government relations professionals are operating in a transactional role rather than in a transformational leadership role.” |
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Amyism #54
Benchmarking: “While it is nice to know what other similar organizations are doing, when we benchmark we can become benchparked. The numbers tells us what is expected, not what is exceptional. How do we know, for example, that the average corporate PAC participation rate of 27% should not be 50%? A better approach is to find out why certain milestones were not achieved, and then create early warning systems to avoid the same pitfalls in your organization.” |
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Amyism #55
Government Relations Results: “When we know what brings the greatest return, but do not do it, we have to ask ourselves if we really believe in what we are doing, or just doing what is easy. We get a short-term rush, but not as many long-term gains.” |
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Amyism #56
PAC Pride : “Your PAC can't be like the crazy aunt or uncle who you keep in the attic but never talk about.”
- Meaghan Killion Joyce
International Paper
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