Editing Taking Action: Tactics & Timelines (section)

== Step 5: What are the Tactics? ==
We can think of '''strategy''' as our plan for making change, and our '''tactics''' as the actions through which we implement our strategy. Just as it’s important to devise effective strategic goals, it’s important to choose the most effective tactics to meet those goals. Your organizing effort will quickly run into challenges if you use tactics that fail to move you towards your strategic goal. Similarly, if you spend all your time strategizing without putting it into practice via tactics, you will have wasted your time.

=== The Sweet Spot ===
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A tactic is most effective when it meets these five criteria:

* Implements your '''theory of change''': it results in concrete, measurable progress toward your campaign goal. In a power over campaign, you must be able to answer how the tactic gives you leverage over your target.
* '''Adds resources to your organization''': it attracts and engages new people; it adds resources to your campaign; it increases your community’s capacity to work together to make change.
* '''Develops leaders''': it builds the leadership, skills, and capacity of your community.
* Aligns with your '''values''': we should never sacrifice our values for an easy win.
* '''Prioritizes movement-building''': we are not operating in isolation in our campaigns - our actions affect others that are working towards justice and we must be mindful of that as we choose tactics.

When choosing tactics to implement your strategy, you’re aiming for the “sweet spot” where all of the first three criteria overlap. There may be times when, due to particular constraints or context, a tactic may only hit two of the three criteria and you will still go ahead with it, but ideally most of your tactics will meet all three.

However, there are two criteria that you don’t want to compromise on meeting. In order to ensure that we are building towards the world we want to live in as we design and implement our tactics, it is essential to choose tactics that always align with your values and don’t undermine other campaigns, communities or allies in the movement.

=== Commitment and Motivational Engagement ===
There are two central components to engaging people in effective action: '''commitment''' and '''motivational engagement'''.

First, action requires that leaders engage others in making explicit '''commitments''' to achieve specific, measurable outcomes. We know that we cannot achieve our goals on our own, so we need others to join us.

Second, to successfully engage others in a way that expands rather than depletes our resources, we need to design action mindfully through '''motivational''' '''engagement'''. Once we have secured commitment from others to join us in action, it is important that they have a meaningful experience when they join us. If people don’t feel like what they are doing is important, or they do not grow and learn as they act, then they are unlikely to say yes the next time we ask for a commitment.

There are three characteristics of a motivational action:

# '''Meaningful''': people can see that the action is significant and makes a difference towards achieving a meaningful goal.
# '''Autonomy''': people are given levels of responsibility according to their skills and abilities to achieve a particular outcome.
# '''Feedback and Learning''': people can see the progress of their work, measure success, and receive coaching and support from more experienced leaders so they can learn and grow.

These three characteristics lead to greater motivation, higher quality work, and greater commitment. In designing and delegating action steps, then, the key is to commit people to engage in ways that facilitate such experiences.

In addition, there are five assessment criteria that serve as guidelines for designing motivational action:

# '''Task Identity''' – Do people get to do the whole thing from start to finish?
# '''Task Significance''' – Do people understand and see the direct impact of their work?
# '''Skill Variety''' – Do people engage a variety of skills, including “head, heart, and hands” (or strategic, motivational, and skills tasks)?
# '''Autonomy''' – Do people have the space to make competent choices about how to work?
# '''Feedback''' – Are results visible to the people performing the task, even as they perform it?

The more we ask people to commit to actions that meet these five criteria, the more likely they are to continue taking action. Nearly any action can be redesigned to provide a more meaningful experience that supports individual creativity and growth while achieving the campaign’s goals.