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Question: i work for a mid sized non profit organization and we just completed our 2014-2017 strategic plan. one of our initiatives for year 1 requires the creation of a workgroup. Do you recommend using section 2 for this?
Answer: Thank you for writing us at the Community Tool Box – and congratulations on having completed your strategic plan! It is natural that forming a work group would be part of such a plan. To help do so, Chapter 2 in the Tool Box may be helpful, as you suggest; but we would especially recommend the Tool Box chapters on leadership and management (Chapters. 13-16), in particular the sections in Chapter 16, on group facilitation. The sections in Ch. 18, on deciding when to start, may be useful as well. Some general thoughts in addition: As you begin to form your group, some key questions to keep in mind are who will be the group members?; who will lead or facilitate the group?; what will be the guidelines for how the group actually operates in practice, both formal and informal (e.g., How often will the group meet, when, and where? Who should join, and who could join? How will the group communicate with the larger membership? And who brings the cookies?) We hope these comments may be helpful to you. Thank you again for writing to us, and all best wishes for continued success in your work.
Question Date: Tue, 01/07/2014