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Action

By now your group should be well organized. You should have a clear vision of what you hope to accomplish and you should have a detailed plan to follow. Now it is time to put your plan into action. As you execute your plan step by step here are some things to look for and to consider.

Evaluate Each Step

• Did it take longer than expected?
• Was the problem anticipated or unexpected?
• Was the problem a lack of resources - money, personnel, etc.?
• Can the problem be fixed?
  • How long will it take?
  • Will other steps be delayed?
  • What other steps are dependent upon this one?
  • What adjustments can be made to the plan?
  • Does this derail the rest of the plan?
• Did it take less time than expected?
  • Can other steps be started sooner?
  • Do you want to start any step sooner?
• Did it take the amount of resources expected?
  • If it took less resources, are those available for other steps?
  • If it took more resources, where will those extra resources come from?
• Were there any pleasant surprises?
  • Did you get less resistance than expected?
  • Did you get new support from an unexpected source?
  • Was public reaction more positive than anticipated?
  • Will any of these affect the following steps?

Continuously through the process:

• Encourage and support your volunteers
• Build community power
  • Keep your story in the media
  • Control the story as much as possible
  • Be positive in your message
  • Look for and accept new partners
• Answer your critics
  • Acknowledge their concerns
  • Be positive, polite and calm when stating your case
  • Don’t get sidetracked onto other issues
• Monitor your resources
• Evaluate your progress
• Make adjustments as needed

While a major evaluation will be done in the next step after the plan has been executed, it is important to be able to react to the current situation and make changes when needed. Some contingencies should have already been built into your plan. However, there will always be unforeseen problems that will need to be dealt with immediately. If your group is well organized then your leadership should be able implement minor changes while your plan is being put into action. It is important that any changes made be communicated quickly to your full group so everyone knows whose assignments have changed and what the new assignments are. Any adjustments to the remainder of the steps in the plan should also be communicated to the full team.

If major changes are needed or the plan has been derailed then it is probably time to stop for now, reevaluate and regroup.  

Next Step

Regardless of the amount of success you have achieved you will arrive at the end of your plan. Your work is not yet finished. You need to move to the next step, Progress, and determine where to go from here.

Help

Please feel free to reach out to the Mercy and Justice’s Waves of Justice Subteam if you have any questions during your journey to justice. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions about this toolkit, we would like to hear from you. Our contact email is waves_of_justice@greatplainsumc.org.