The success of a group depends very much on the way its members work together. Different groups structure themselves in different ways, here we give you some ideas to think about.
Roles
Often, the best way to take on roles is each time to work out all the things that need doing and then divide them up amongst yourselves using delegation techniques.
Sometimes you might want people to take on permanent roles: your Students’ Union might need a named treasurer, or it might make sense for one person to build up contacts with the student and local newspapers.
Some common roles in P&P groups
- Group contact - takes responsibility for overseeing the group and contacting the P&P office.
- Secretary - organises agendas and minutes for meetings.
- Treasurer - looks after the money.
- Media - organises press coverage on campus and locally and sends in reports to the P&P office. People & Planet now runs special training for people taking on media roles within groups.
- Publicity - designs posters and other materials.
- Campaign Co-ordinators - co-ordinate different national or local campaigns that the group is working on.
- Social Secretary - makes sure that the group bond by engaging in the odd social activity as well as all the campaigning.
Your group will be stronger if tasks, and the knowledge of how to do them, are shared. You won’t end up with a core of very stressed people, handing over at the end of the year will be easier, and new people can get involved more quickly.
Structures
There are as many structures for People & Planet groups as there are groups. How you want to hold your meetings depends on the size of your group and the number of campaigns you are running. Here are a few structures that several groups use:
One weekly joint meeting
You could separate into smaller groups if you are running a couple of different campaigns for a part of the meeting and then come back together to discuss group issues, or alternate campaign planning meetings and speaker or discussion meetings.
Separate weekly planning and action meetings
This means people who want to engage with the group at different levels can do so.
The planning meeting might involve:
- reviewing the last action meeting and planning the upcoming action meeting
- talking about upcoming national or local events and actions
- discussing how to get new people involved and the profile of the group
- organising socials
The action meeting might include:
- a speaker or discussion about a campaign issue
- planning a stall, lobby or upcoming campaign action
- a workshop by someone from the People & Planet support office
One main meeting and separate campaign meetings
Different campaigns that your group is running all hold action meetings at different times during the week with one central meeting for discussions, speakers, workshops and socials to bond the group. Make sure you advertise all the campaign meetings centrally so that new members know they are all campaigns by the People & Planet group.