Leadership reaches beyond your organization

Decisions outside your immediate authority can shape what your organization can achieve. A budget decision, a customer requirement, a public policy change, or a partner’s operating practices may determine whether a good idea moves forward.

Advocacy is the work of translating operational realities into clear, actionable messages that influence decision-makers. Transformational leaders connect the people who understand a problem with the people who can help resolve it. They make the case for change, build support, and stay involved through implementation.

The approach below applies to a business seeking an operational improvement, an association advancing a shared priority, or a nonprofit improving the services it delivers.

• Understand
• Translate
• Influence
• Build shared support
• Show the work
• Put it into practice

Understand the change and its consequences

Begin with the people who experience the problem. Ask what is changing, where the pressure appears, and what the organization needs to protect or improve. Look beyond the immediate complaint to the decision or condition creating it.

• Gather observations from staff, customers, members, or the communities you serve.
• Identify who controls the relevant decision and when that decision will occur.
• Separate established facts from estimates and information that still needs verification.
• Describe the consequences for service, cost, safety, capacity, or the organization’s mission.

Your output: A short problem statement supported by evidence, with the decision-maker and decision timing identified.

Turn experience into a clear case for action

People outside your operation may not understand its constraints. Explain the problem in language they can use to make a decision. Connect your proposed change to their responsibilities and the outcomes they care about.

A useful case answers five questions:

1. What is the problem?
2. Who experiences it, and what evidence demonstrates its effects?
3. What change are you requesting?
4. What would that change require, including costs and tradeoffs?
5. How would you know it worked?

Use a concrete example alongside your evidence. A brief account of a service delay or operating constraint can help a decision-maker understand the issue. Protect confidential information and obtain permission before sharing another person’s experience.

Your output: A concise explanation and a specific request that someone can act on.

Engage the people who can move the decision

Identify the person with authority, the people who advise that person, and those who will carry out the decision. Understand their concerns before asking for support. Choose an opportunity to engage when there is still room to shape the outcome.

• Listen for constraints, competing priorities, and questions your proposal must address.
• Bring the colleague or stakeholder who can explain the operational effect directly.
• Make a specific request and agree on the next step.
• Follow up with the evidence requested and a clear account of what was discussed.
• Assign responsibility for implementation and establish a way to assess results.

Record responses accurately. Confirmed support, conditional support, interest, and pending outreach mean different things. A productive conversation creates an opening. A commitment identifies what someone has agreed to do.

Your output: An engagement plan with an owner, a next action, and a realistic decision timeline.

Build a coalition around a specific outcome

You can advocate effectively on your own. Coalitions allow you to punch above your weight, have a greater impact, and increase the likelihood of success. Organizations can strengthen their case when they show that a problem affects more than one operation. Look for partners who share the desired outcome, even when their reasons for supporting it differ.

Agree on the request before presenting a joint position. Decide who will speak, what information each partner will provide, and how the group will handle disagreement. Keep partners informed as the proposal changes. Confirm authorization before listing an organization as a supporter.

Make the operating reality visible

Facility visits help decision-makers see how policies, funding requirements, and operating conditions affect people and services. They turn abstract issues into concrete examples and give the people doing the work a direct voice. A well-planned visit can build understanding, strengthen relationships, and create an opening for practical action. Its value grows when the visit ends with a clear request and focused follow-up.

1. Choose one issue. Select the process or service that best illustrates the problem.
2. Choose the stops. Show where the constraint begins, who handles it, and where its effects appear.
3. Prepare the people doing the work. Give them a clear purpose and room to explain their experience in their own words.
4. Address access and confidentiality. Plan safety arrangements and identify information that should remain private.
5. Close with the request. Explain the action sought and confirm the follow-up.

Organizing a facility visit: a practical guide

Build your visit around these six planning steps:

• Choose the purpose, audience, and specific ask.
• Invite decision-makers and coordinate with their staff.
• Plan the route, timing, speakers, safety, accessibility, and confidentiality.
• Prepare employees to explain their work naturally.
• Create an agenda, briefing materials, and a leave-behind.
• Close with next steps and follow up on commitments.

Assess what the visit achieved. Improved understanding, a request for more information, and a commitment to act are different outcomes. Record each accurately and track the follow-up that turns the conversation into progress.

A nonprofit might walk a funder through how a person receives a service. A business might show a customer or public official how a requirement affects production or delivery. The purpose is to make the consequences understandable and the proposed response practical.

Start with one decision you need to influence

Use these prompts to prepare your next conversation. Keep your initial plan to one page.

• Issue: What needs to change, and why does it matter?
• Evidence: What can you demonstrate, and what still needs verification?
• Decision: Who has authority, and when can they act?
• Request: What specific action do you want?
• Support: Who shares the goal, and what support have they actually confirmed?
• Follow-through: Who owns the next step, and how will you measure the result?

Two illustrative starting points

Nonprofit leader: A service program faces delays because a funding requirement adds repeated documentation. Measure the delays, gather staff and participant experience with appropriate consent, and request a defined process change from the funder. Agree on a way to test whether the change improves access while preserving accountability.

Business leader: A delivery requirement creates avoidable downtime. Document the operating effect, identify who controls the requirement, and propose a limited pilot with clear measures. Include the people responsible for implementation so the proposal addresses practical constraints.

Diakon Partners leadership guidance, adapted from Michael Taylor’s FleetCon workshop, September 16, 2025, in Glendale, Arizona.

Back to the starting point