Seats On The Bus
Over ten years ago, I worked on a U.S. Senate campaign as Deputy Political Director. My primary responsibility was to ensure that our Field Directors across the state met their voter contact goals. These goals involved recruiting precinct captains and volunteers to conduct voter identification calls, get-out-the-vote calls, and door knocks in their regions.
Campaigns operate on a sink-or-swim basis. Staff members have little time to acclimate, and falling behind is not an option. There is no overtime on political campaigns.
We had a staffer whom we genuinely valued. He possessed a pleasant personality, strong character, and deep roots in his community. However, he consistently fell short of his recruitment and voter contact goals.
Around the same time that this region lagged behind, our campaign received its delivery of 4x8 signs (the large signs placed along highways, on barns, and similar locations). Although signs ranked low on my personal priority list, they mattered greatly to our candidate, as they almost always do, and therefore they mattered to me.
Our leadership team decided to reassign this staffer to 4x8 sign placement. He already had established farm contacts and owned a truck. He felt unhappy in his current role and welcomed the change enthusiastically.
The reassignment proved ideal. He traveled the state and covered every major highway with 4x8 signs. As our candidate traveled, he expressed great satisfaction with the visibility of the signs. Our senior staff appreciated that we no longer needed to devote attention to signage.
This shift allowed us to concentrate fully on voter contacts, which contributed to a decisive 14-point victory.
In the book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t, James C. Collins offers the analogy of a bus. The seats on the bus represent positions within an organization. Sometimes individuals occupy the right seat, sometimes they need relocation to a different seat, and sometimes they belong on an entirely different bus. A person who struggles in one role is not necessarily a liability. A key responsibility of an effective campaign manager, or leader in any professional space, is to recognize when such changes are necessary and to implement them promptly.
From volunteers to staff members, observe people’s strengths and passions. Connect them to the tasks that must be accomplished.
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