Saturday, 27 June 2015

Tips on advocacy from a social worker

Though I don’t have any degree in Social Work, but I prefer calling myself social worker because it is easy to explain what I do as a Social Worker than to explain what I do as a District Program Officer. 

When you work for a Not-for-profit organisation, you have two major customers- Government and Community.
Though, customer could be anyone whom you serve, for instance, Boss, colleagues, investors, etc., but in this blog, I would use the word client to describe both government, and community.
These tips are largely inspired from my Managerial Experience, but I believe anyone from any industry can use these tips for effective advocacy.

Advocacy simply means to take support from someone, for some cause. Remember, if you want people to get into action, you’ll have to give them some motive. 

If you really want to succeed in your business, you will have to take support from your client. I am simply here to share what I have learned from my experience in social work, and advocating something to my clients.
1.      Your biggest competition is ignorance of your client. When your client does not know about you, your company, and your work then you’ll have to devote lots of quality time in making a rapport with your client. Meet your clients, share your work, tell them how you can help, and the more your client is aware about you, the more you can advocate easily about some cause.
2.      Make yourself special in some way. If you are like any other person, then people would treat you jus’ like any other person. Dress up properly, communicate effectively, and make your personality your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
3.      Meet your client in the office, in morning, and at home, in evening. (Though, I don’t do this, but I have found many social workers doing this to get the rapport.)
4.      Your competitor can be your mentor. You’ll find people in your district or town who are already serving your clients effectively. Learn from them. See what they are doing, and you are not. Remember, success always leaves the tracks, if you do the same things what successful people do then you’ll also get the same results.
5.      The best time to meet your client is when you have made a strong appearance at some platform. Success increases your confidence, and best time to meet your client is when your confidence and influence is high.
6.      Prepare yourself before every advocacy, prepare your conversation. Meeting even a  one single client is a ‘meeting’. Give your best. The more you prepare yourself, the more would be the impact of your advocacy.
7.     It is easy to advocate anything to your client, when he thinks that you are harmless. If your client is afraid of you or does not trust you then it would decrease the impact of your advocacy. If you don’t care about your client then why should they care for you? Remove fear from your client. Tell him that you want his good. Create an environment where your client can talk with you freely.
8.    Suggest your client the benefit of a decision- tell them how they can get profit or how can they avoid loss?
9.   When your client does what you want them to do then appreciate your client. The action which is appreciated gets repeated. 
10.  Position yourself as a consultant or advisor, who can be approached anytime for the problem solving.
11.  Advocacy does not mean that you should do all the talking. Ask questions, and listen. Person who asks questions has control on the conversation. Quiet and introvert people are the most effective people in advocacy. 
12.  Make a list of your primary and secondary clients. Put your maximum energy with your primary client than on your secondary client.
13.  Don’t compromise with your self-respect in order to get any favour from your client.
People, who have high self-respect, have positive emotions, and that gives them power to persuade anyone with their conversation.
14.  You may do all this, but then also your client may reject your points of advocacy. Don’t worry; reach up to a level where you do not feel rejection or failures. Move forward towards your next goal. 

The above points are followed by all the top executives I have met in life. Follow them, and soon your productivity would rise. All the best for your future.

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