Helping Allies to Act

Actions by allies are indispensable: it is they who will ‘make’ the project in real terms. Once the first circle is formed, and once it is working, two types of behaviours should be avoided by the project management: Leaving the allies on their own. Leaving the allies to act totally on their own runs the risk that they will stop at the first difficulty, or, worse, that they might lose track of what is to be achieved. The first circle of allies is constructed to ensure it is composed of people who take initiatives; that is why they were chosen in the first place. However, if they sense that they are not being followed up and sustained, they may become discouraged. The level of autonomy of these players is weak — from a few hours to a month in the best cases. Therefore they must be ‘re-primed’ at least every month, and more likely every week or two. Acting for them. If allies are poor at organising themselves or acting, it is tempting to tell them what to do or even for project members to do it themselves. In fact the allies’ real problem is in doing things. How many allies support a project but do nothing? They speak, they applaud, they give words of encouragement but they don’t go on the stage: they remain spectators. By telling them what to do, by replacing them, there are two risks: first, it increases their antagonism, which is what happens when a point of view is imposed on someone who does not agree; and, second, preventing their ownership of the project means the failure of the strategy of the lateral project.