Advocacy

The Internal Battle
by Steve McCurley

Niccolo Machiavelli is famous for writing a book entitled The Prince, which is about gaining and exercising Power. "Power" is something that you don't hear discussed much among volunteer managers, since most of them don't have it. In fact, the closest the typical volunteer manager gets to studying "Power" is if they encounter the works of David McClelland and learn about "affiliators," "achievers," and the "power-oriented," and then make use of that knowledge in interviewing and matching volunteers to positions....

The External Battle
by Susan J. Ellis

There are two reasons to take the search for power outside your agency's walls:

• It allows you to join forces with colleagues and collective action always carries more clout.

• If you gain the respect of others, your own organization is forced to view you differently, too.

Again, as a profession, we tend to resist making waves. The trouble is that often we won't even get into the water! There are as many consequences to doing nothing as to doing something. The question is which consequences are more painful? .....