The Activist for Activists. Author of Make a Difference with Mental Health Activism and The Happy Activist: Journey the 5-Step Activism Path to Focus Your Passion and Change the World. Teacher, Psychologist, Environmental Activist, Animal Lover.
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Last Updated on October 23, 2024
Are you one of those people who can plan a course of action and execute it on time?
Is it easy for you to manage schedules?
Administrative work may be your superpower. And although it doesn’t sound like traditional activism work, these skills are in high demand to support social justice movements.
Administrative Work
Those in movement support take care of tasks for others. Supporting others allows activists to focus on their work and can multiply the impact of an activism community.
In general, administrative work is the most needed area in activism. The positions include managers as well as operations staff.
People in operations roles act as multipliers, aiming to enable those in the organisation to maximise their productivity. They oversee the functions crucial to every top performing organisation, such as management, overseeing budgets, helping to hire and train new staff, and so on. 80,000 Hours
Administrative work supports most activism efforts. Think about all the tasks required for an activism event, such as holding a forum for your cause. The event would not happen without someone creating and duplicating educational materials, researching and scheduling space, arranging for food, setting up the microphone, and a multitude of tiny details. Done right, these increase the odds of affecting your cause.
What Does Activism Administrative Work Look Like?
What does administration involve? Depending on the organization and the level of the position, these are tasks that form administrative work.
Hiring and Managing Staff
Hiring is a challenge for any organization. But getting the right person into a position can make a huge difference to a cause. A person in this role understands what makes up the positions in the organization. Also, they use sound selection techniques to fill the roles.
The responsibility likely includes recruiting and managing volunteers. Doing this well can make a big impact. Read about how nonprofits should develop their volunteers.
Once the right people are in place, they need to be oriented to the job and provided training to ensure their success.
And all of this is supported by performance appraisals, benefits, and other required recordkeeping.
Strategic and Tactical Planning
Hopefully, the organization has a strategic plan for their movement. If not, a manager may be responsible for strategic planning sessions with staff, board members, and volunteers. Following up with tactical plans to support the strategic goals, and managing these plans, can make a big difference in impact on the cause.
Administrative Support
Event Planning. Paying the bills. Making sure the copier has toner and paper. Managing an executive’s schedule. Planning an event. These are tasks that you can handle to free others to use their skills for the betterment of the cause. An excellent administrator creates processes that streamline work for others. For example, some tasks happen every week, month, or year, so an administrator can set up systems and reminders.
Is Administrative Work Right for You?
If being the center of a project and managing all the different pieces so they can come together as planned appeals to you, this might be the way you can make the most impact for the cause closest to your heart.
I volunteer as Treasurer of a credit union and feel so grateful for the executive assistant that helps me. There are specific tasks I’m in charge of, including the CEO’s performance appraisal. She noticed the process seemed cumbersome in spots and asked about helping streamline it for me. With her ideas implemented, the mechanics are more straightforward, and I can focus on what is most important – reviewing the ratings, working with the board to set goals, and ensuring our CEO is receiving the support he needs from us.
How to Get Started
If you’d like more information about matching your skills to administrative work, The Happy Activist: Journey the 5-Step Activism Path to Focus Your Passion and Change the World (formerly What’s On Your Sign? How to focus your passion and change the world) and the companion The 5-Step Activism Path Workbook (formerly The What’s On Your Sign? Workbook) will help. What’s On Your Sign? contains a chapter on inventorying your activism skills and knowledge. The 5-Step Activism Path Workbook contains inventories and exercises to help you set goals.
Resources
Effective altruism organizations need more policy analysts, researchers, operations staff, and managers.
The website 80,000 hours helps you decide how best to use the time in your career (about 80,00 hours!) to make change happen. Read their survey on talent gaps. Spoiler alert: administrative work is needed.
Read more posts about how to make an impact for your cause.
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