Campaigning is the art of using what we have to get what we want. At its core, effective campaigning requires clarity: clear goals, defined outcomes, the right partners, and meaningful inclusion of the people affected by the changes we aim to create.
But right now, most of us are working in conditions that feel anything but clear. Queue the tremble-inducing term: polycrisis. No sooner do we develop a strategy for advancing our agenda when the ground shifts beneath our feet. For those of us holding the line, the challenges can feel existential.
Even if we’re not talking about it, many of us are feeling the weight of all we’re carrying in our bodies: clues including feeling your shoulders hovering at your ears, breathing shallowly, inability to focus, dreaming of Netflix binges, and one that feels especially unnerving: sometimes the very things that we’ve relied on to bring us joy start feeling like even they are exhausting.
* NEW* Campaign Strategy Office Hours
June 16, July 21, and August 18 Drop-In Sessions 11-12 PT
Got a campaign strategy pickle you’re noodling on? Looking to brainstorm some new creative tactics, or talk through a question about coalition partnership?
Drop in for real-time, on-the-spot consulting with Bruce Passmore and Kristi Chester Vance.
No agenda required – questions, conundrums and opportunities are all welcome.
And check out our new campaign strategy resources!
When the distance between what we have and what we want expands, so does the grief. It takes time and space to care for ourselves and our communities. Making and taking that time runs counter to a very familiar pattern that many of us have when facing heartbreak and challenge: doing more.
The Instinct to Pedal Faster
When things get tough, we often push ourselves to work longer hours, launch more tactics, attend more meetings, send more emails, and respond to every new threat.
Like no doubt many of you, when I’ve been hammered by pressure at work, especially when facing an acute crisis like being served with a $300 million SLAPP suit at my prior job, my response was to double down and do more. I tried my hardest to be calm in the face of the storm, like a duck gliding across a whirlpool disguised as a pond, all the while paddling furiously underneath. But the truth was: it showed.
My colleagues noticed. My team felt it. And my nervous system most definitely did. While I took comfort in giving my all, if I’m really honest, I’m pretty sure that a healthier approach would have been better for the work. And without a question, better for my health. Chronic stress, born inequitably based on our identities, has serious consequences.
How We Are With Each Other Matters
As external pressures mount, we become collectively more reactive, more tense, more easily triggered. Meetings that once moved quickly now carry an invisible weight. This is not a failure of our teams, it’s a natural response to the overwhelm and exhaustion being created by design to wear us down.
Which is why, now more than ever, how we show up with one another matters most. Create spaciousness in your agendas. Make room to connect, to care for one another as people, and to celebrate small wins, even and especially as you face immense headwinds. It will take longer to get through your agenda. Do it anyway.
When teams feel grounded, connected, and supported, they become far more capable of doing the strategic work that real change requires.
The Three Cogs of Change
In our leadership programs, we often talk about a simple model for understanding how change actually happens. Think of it as three interlocking cogs:
- Ourselves — our leadership, capacity, and well-being
- The systems we operate in — our organizations and campaigns
- The culture we’re swimming in — the broader norms and narratives shaping society
Too often, we fling cog #1, ourselves, at the middle cog: our work in the world. The campaign plan. The tactics. The deliverables.
But individuals alone cannot win campaigns, or solve the scale of problems we’re facing.
When it comes to traction within our organizations and campaigns, strategy is one of our most powerful tools. Not being busy, but being strategic. Being strategic in how we spend our time and resources allow us to be disciplined in how we spend our collective energy. And that’s essential: the everything, everywhere, all at once chaos and stress we’re experiencing is created, by design, to exhaust and overwhelm us so that we become less strategic and engaged.
The goal is not to do more. The goal is to do what moves the needle — and to take care of each other along the way.
For a deeper dive on creating powerful campaign strategies, check out TREC’s webinar, Harnessing Your Power to Win and download our new campaign plan template. If you’re looking for a fun refresher on the key elements of campaign strategy, take a peek at out Wizard of Oz Campaign Strategy overview.
Beginning in June, we’re also delighted to offer drop-in campaign strategy office hours.
And we’ll be hosting webinar with Kristen Grimm, founder of Spitfire Strategies, on May 7th.
To build the momentum – and the movement – we need to be strategic with our resources, especially with our most precious one: each other.
For the world we’re building together and the courage it takes to get there,
– Kristi
Campaign Strategy Essentials
Winning campaigns don’t happen by accident—they’re built on clear strategy, grounded in purpose, and driven by power.
In this practical, tool-packed webinar, you’ll learn the five essential steps to designing effective and impactful campaigns. We’ll share trail-tested frameworks, real-world examples, common pitfalls to avoid, and hands-on tools to help you build from a place of strength.
Campaign Plan Template
This worksheet helps you turn big ideas into a campaign plan that’s strategic, sharp, and ready to roll.
Grounded in thoughtful planning and creativity, it was designed to help you to turn your ambitions in real-world action that’s informed by your teams’ capacity and strengths, your community’s needs, and your best points of leverage, creating space for joy along the way.
Visit Our Website
Through our website, we’re honored to offer more support to take the bold, grounded, actions that will empower your work in the months and years to come.
A streamlined job board and referral board for easier access to opportunities and connections. TREC’s newsletters will also be posted on our website blog, and most blog posts are open for your discussion!
Explore Our Learning Guides
Tailored to your needs, offering everything from foundational insights to complex solutions in our core offering areas.
Explore individual guides in TREC’s Core Offering Areas:
Kristi Chester Vance
Co-Executive Director
If you could have any animal sidekick (real or mythical), who would it be and why?
If I could have any animal accompany me through my life, it would be a humpback. I worked to protect the Great Bear Rainforest off the coast of British Columbia for 16 years. Three months into my job, I was invited to go to the Great Bear and was absolutely flabbergasted to discover that the seemingly narrow rivers in the forest were in fact, deep fjords and home to many transient humpbacks. I spent two weeks falling in love with the curious, gentle giants and have never stopped scanning the waters of the Pacific again for them since.
What’s your favorite way to reconnect with nature or reset your energy?
Hot springs, anytime, anywhere