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Effective Conversations

People who are going to maintain contact with others throughout a campaign should be trained on the following points and given a chance to role play using these techniques:

1. Decide whether it is best to approach a particular person one-on-one or to get one of his or her friends to help you. With some people, involving a friend makes them feel more comfortable and also creates a positive kind of peer pressure. Other people may feel they are being ganged up on or may not feel comfortable talking honestly in front of other people.

2. If appropriate, show some interest in the individual as a person. Ask something about their work, their hobbies, their holiday plans, etc.

3. Explain the purpose of the contact—a survey you are distributing, some information about the campaign you need to relay, etc.

4. Give the person a chance to ask questions or voice concerns. Instead of jumping in to answer each question or objection, ask another question so you can learn more… “What’s an example of that?” or “How would you like to see things changed?”

5. When you do respond, emphasize your common ground, not your differences. For example, if you are asking a person to come to a demonstration and she says, “I’d love to but I really don’t think I have time,” don’t respond with a lecture on how “if we all take that attitude we won’t win.”

Instead, start with something like, “I know what you mean. I know what it’s like to try to do your job and take care of your family.”

Having established common ground and shown you are not quick to judge or criticize, then you can show how, faced with the same problem, you decided to get involved:

“Sometimes when I’m really feeling overwhelmed, I think how much harder it would be trying to juggle all that if we didn’t have some of the rights and benefits we’ve won in the past. If we could win X, Y, and Z that we’re proposing now, we’d all have more time with our families.”

“You may not have as much time for union work as some people, but to win we really need everyone to do what they can to help. This demonstration is an example. It’s important to show management that we’re all behind our negotiating committee, and a handful of us can’t really show that. This is one of those events where we need everyone to help out. It won’t last too long, and we’re setting up carpools to help with transportation if that’s a problem. Do you think you can be a part of it?”

6. If the person is supportive, let them know what they can do to help. Invite them to a meeting, or ask them to find out more facts about a problem they mentioned to you. At a minimum, make sure they know who to come to if they have questions.

7. If the person is not supportive, leave the door open for more discussion. Promise to get back to them with more information on a problem they raised. Tell them you will be keeping them informed as the campaign progresses. Don’t say things that will make them dig in their heels against the organization.

8. If you don’t know the answer to a question, find out and report back. If possible, get the person to come with you to find out from someone who knows.

9. Leave behind some written information or other material the person can refer to. This should be done to supplement the conversation, not to take its place. Don’t just distribute written material and assume no conversation is needed because the person will read everything they need to know.

10. Write down some notes about the conversation as soon as possible after it happened. What are this person’s concerns? What would they like more information about? Who do they seem to rely on for information? What’s the best way to appeal to them in the future? What commitments, if any, did they make? What follow-up is needed?

Let campaign leaders know if there are problem areas or tough questions they should know about – or if things went well in a way that others should know about.

Courtesy TheWorkSite.org