4.1 Generating And Sustaining Commitment
Commitment
forms the backbone of community-based mental health promotion.
It is what gives an initiative its strength. In this section
we’ll discuss why it’s important to build and sustain commitment,
and suggest different ways of doing so.
Everyone
has the potential to become committed to the goals of your
mental health promotion initiative. Your project will no doubt
strike a chord with many people in the community -- and you
want to make sure those people get involved and stay involved
so that you can work together to accomplish as much as you
can.
Why Is Commitment
Important?
People
who are committed to your mental health promotion project
care about the goals of the group, and they also care about
the people in the group. They show up, follow through, and
stick with it.
Committed
people contribute an enormous amount of their time, energy
and spirit, in many d different ways. They:
- arrive
at a meeting early to make sure that the room is set up
and the coffee maker is working;
- actively
promote your mental health promotion project in the community;
- stay
late to stack chairs and clean up after a community meeting
finishes;
- hang
in there when the going gets tough.
Here are
a few other reasons why having committed people involved is
an essential ingredient for reaching your community mental
health promotion goals:
- Committed
people can be effective in influencing others -- people
take note when someone speaks
or acts with resolve. If a whole group acts with determination
and commitment, great numbers
of people can really pay attention.
- People
who are committed don’t give up easily, but persist in the
face of discouragement. They set
an example for those who don’t have the confidence or experience
to go through the difficult times and hold out for the rewards
of success.
- Commitment
inspires co-operation. It fosters camaraderie, trust and
caring -- the stuff your project
will need to keep it going over the long run.
What Makes People
Become Committed?
How do
you get people to come forward and join your efforts to promote
mental health in your community?
People
aren’t born committed to a community or a cause. They become
that way. Commitment grows within people over time, as they
gain experience:
- feeling
successful at what they do;
- making
decisions together;
- working
through conflicts;
- supporting
each other’s leadership;
- appreciating
and respecting each other;
- having
an impact on something they care about;
- learning
from mistakes and setbacks;
- having
solid, committed leadership.
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People
commit to a group because they gain something important from
their involvement. When you invite someone to become involved,
you are offering them an opportunity to:
- take
action on an issue that’s important to them;
- do
work that helps others;
- meet
and spend time with like-minded people;
- be
challenged and held to high standards;
- do
something significant.
Your mental
health promotion project will be an important contribution
to the life of your community. When you invite people to become
committed to initiative, don’t feel that you are imposing
something on them, but rather, that you are offering them
something of value.
Who Will Become
Committed?
As you
mobilize people to become involved in your community effort,
you may not know at the start who will become committed and
who won’t. The factors that inspire participants to become
committed to an initiative may not reflect the reasons they
initially became involved.
Sometimes
people will surprise you. There might be person who is quiet
and shy at first, but who, over time, becomes a pillar of
your initiative.
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In
the Forest site of the Inclusion in Community project,
a group of people came together and sat around a table
discussing ways to promote the mental health of people
in their community. There were a number of people present:
the local minister, staff from the community health
centre, members of the nearby First Nations community,
and people who themselves had experienced mental health
problems. The group brainstormed different strategies
for raising the awareness of community members of the
importance of mental health, and the need to support
people who had experienced mental health problems, and
who were trying to take part in community life. One
young man, who had firsthand experience on the need
for this kind of support, sat quietly through the discussions,
listening and observing more then taking an active part
in the meeting.
After
a long discussion, the group voted to use theatre, specifically
role plays, to address the issue of providing support
and understanding to people in the community who had
experienced mental illness. The group was very excited
to have chosen a strategy that fit so well with the
needs of the community, and there was great enthusiasm
to move ahead with the project. The quiet
young man didn’t share the same infectious enthusiasm
for the idea - in fact, he had some doubts about it
-- but said that he would like to continue to attend
the meetings, as an observer rather than an active participant.
As
the group moved from sitting around planning tables
to developing and performing the role plays for various
local organizations and groups, the young man became
an increasingly involved and committed member of the
group. He began by helping out with the technical aspects
of the group’s work, such as setting up the space before
the role plays began.
Eventually,
he became the group’s narrator -- skillfully handling
the interaction between the players and the audience,
leading the discussions after the role play ended, and
contributing the insights he had gained through his
own experience to captivated audience members.
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How Do You Foster
And Maintain Commitment To Your Project?
Although
commitment grows in a natural way, there are a number of things
that you, as a leader or group member, can do to foster commitment
to your initiative.
The first
thing to do is to think about why people become involved in
and committed to a group. Start with yourself. Why are you
committed to your mental health promotion initiative? What
is most important to you?
- your
vision of what’s possible?
- the
time you’ve invested in the group?
- what
you’ve learned in your group?
- the
satisfaction you get from doing significant work?
Once you’ve
thought through those questions yourself, it will become easier
for you to express your commitment to others, and thus encourage
them to become committed, too.
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Here are
some other practical suggestions that will help you find and
keep committed participants.
Welcome
people into your group
Something
all people need in order to become involved is to feel
genuinely welcome - and if people don’t feel welcome,
they will not stick around. Try to personally welcome
people when they arrive, and ask questions and get to
know them.
Make
it part of the culture of your initiative to provide a
welcoming environment to newcomers, as well as those who’ve
been involved since the start.
Be
sensitive to cultural diversity
Those
involved in community mental health promotion initiatives
need to explicitly communicate their openness to cultural
diversity. People will become committed to your initiative
if they feel they are respected and their cultural identity
is valued.
Try
to be aware of how different cultures might interpret
the language, symbols and process used in the initiative,
which may have different meanings to people of different
cultures.
Be
open and clear about your mission, goals and objectives
People
have to know what they are committing to. They will want
to join your initiative if they share the same principles
and goals. In fact, people will be more committed if they
have gone through the process of naming the goals and
objectives themselves.
Post
your mission, goals and objectives in your meeting space,
so that everyone will be familiar with them. Talk openly
about why they are important to your group.
Model
commitment yourself
Everyone
looks to the leader or leaders of a group to see if they
are committed. If you care about the work of the initiative,
it will show in your attitudes and actions. People will
watch to see how you act, and they will follow your lead.
If they can count on you, it’s more likely that you will
be able to count on them. Commitment is contagious.
However,
if you are working so hard that you are burnt out and
unhappy, people will take note of that too, and they will
shy away from following your lead. Remember that the process
of mental health promotion is as valuable as the outcome!
Give
people the right kind of work to do
People
need to feel they’re making a significant contribution
in order to feel committed. Find out what they are interested
in doing and see if you can match their interests to some
work that needs to be done.
Pay
attention to picking the right level of challenge for
people, so that they don’t end up feeling either overwhelmed
or bored. As you get to know people better, you can give
them increasingly challenging work to do. Being challenged
keeps people excited about the work they’re doing.
Sometimes
people will need encouragement to try things they have
never before considered. Talk to people about what kind
of jobs they would like to try. Also give people jobs
that bring them into contact with other people involved
in the initiative, so that they will begin to feel they’re
a part of the group as quickly as possible.
Build
a culture of appreciation and respect
People
need to feel respected and appreciated in order to stay
connected and committed to your project. Try to create
an environment where people treat each other well, and
appreciate each other’s work.
In
heated discussions or conflicts, make sure that people
continue to show respect for each other Conflicts are
natural and can provide important growing periods. Conflicts
need to be acknowledged and openly addressed by recognizing
the legitimate interests of those involved and the goals
of the group.
To
ensure that they are useful rather then destructive, do
not let people personally attack each other. Keep discussions
focused on the issues. Remember your ground rules, and
hold people to them!
Listen!
Since
an important key to mental health promotion is participation
in decision-making about issues which affect one’s life,
it’s important to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard
when those decisions are being made. Active and respectful
listening is a crucial element of creating the kind of
initiative that people will want to commit to.
As
we’ve seen in the Helping Skills project, listening is
a powerful tool. Everyone could use someone to listen
to them. When you listen to others with respect, they
sense that you have confidence in them and are interested
in what they think. In turn your interest and confidence
in them helps them to think clearly and creatively.
Support
people’s leadership
Even
though people have different levels of leadership skills
and experience, everyone can contribute something of importance.
To help sustain commitment in your initiative, think about
each person as a potential leader, and help them to recognize
their leadership talents. Leadership means more than chairing
meetings -- the person who informally resolves conflicts
is performing an important leadership function, and so
is the one who gets everyone laughing during a long meeting,
when the group’s energy is at a low.
If
people view themselves as leaders, they will develop a
sense of ownership, and will be more likely to take initiative
to make sure things work well.
Have
fun together
Last,
but not least, don’t forget to celebrate your accomplishments
and enjoy each other’s company! Spending some social time
together helps people to get to know each other better and
feel more a part of a cohesive group.
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"Commitment
requires hard work in the heat of the day; it requires
faithful exertion in behalf of chosen purposes and the
enhancement of chosen values." 1
Gardner,
J. 1990
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4.2
Keeping Track - A.
Obtaining Feedback About Your Project >
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