What are the most common time-wasters when working on community outreach projects?

In my experience it is important to have basic knowledge on the culture of the community to be engaged, this breaks down barriers and ensures community entry points are respectful to all persons. It is also key to ensure that the message on what one wants to do is aptly stated and meets the needs of the community. Thus a needs assessment is key to ensure targeted social approach to issues at community level.

Every community outreach needs to start with needs analysis. Too often, prescriptive one-size-fits-it-all development models are forced on communities that create more harm & unintented consequences, than any good. Working in the international non-profit sector, I also learned that it matters a lot to whom you speak in the community. Different people have different versions of reality and agendas, sometimes very selfish ones too. Based on differing education levels, there is also a massive risk of misunderstandings and things getting lost in translation. A proper needs assessment can not be done over the course of an afternoon. It requires genuine relationship- and trust-building with the planned beneficiaries, and that takes time.

This is a good question. My initial thoughts are to really understand and think through why you are doing this outreach, who are you really serving through this outreach, who are the trusted partners you are collaborating with, what is going to be better because of the outreach and how are you going to follow up for this outreach effort? It needs to be more than checking off a box or just showing up or optics. As I read the question again, I couldn't help but to immediately think the biggest time waster is wasting the time of community members who come to an outreach event and it's not meaningful, informative, helpful or what they thought it would be because of misinformation or broken promises.

I have a wide history of community outreach under some definitions: Girl Scout leader; Leader of Girl Scout leaders; Habitat volunteer; alumnae event coordinator; neighborhood organizer (political and just neighbors)...Time waster - repeating instructions. My strong point is preparing the details - time line, resources needed. I optimistically assume associates will read and respond! However, my patience reserve is deep and I believe folks perform as they can, when they can!

The biggest waste of time is to impose your intentions without discussing it with constituents. Find out what THEY want and craft what you can do to THEIR needs. Just because you can help doesn't mean you know how.

Communication is a two-way street. In community outreach, listening is the most important skill. Until you are willing to listen and show that you understand the community, you will not have true communication and outreach to a community.

Poor communication has killed many a project. When getting to clarity as mentioned above, include a written agreement that outlines who/how to communicate in advance. And not by email. Arguably the biggest time waster of all. Instead, utilize a web-based project management tool that everyone can access in real-time.

? Effective communication is not just about conveying information or ideas; it is about understanding different perspectives, fostering collaboration, and building strong relationships. Yet, we often encounter situations where individuals fail to express themselves clearly, listen actively, or respond appropriately. ??

Understanding effective communication is a necessity not an accessory. It's a skill not a personality trait and it's learnable and it's scalable.

In my experience, communication is the most important aspect of any project. You have to be willing to listen, and they have to be willing to share. Communication is a two-way street, everyone involved needs to be willing to speak out and give their opinion and thoughts about the project. Trying to accomplish anything without proper communication will lead to road blocks, delays, confusion, and an all-around bad working atmosphere.

?? It's important to remember that success takes time and hard work. It's not about overnight success or having it all figured out. It's about setting realistic goals and working towards them step by step.

In my experience, it’s important to not use a one size fits all approach when working with community projects. It’s crucial to treat each one individually based on its needs and desire outcomes.

In my experience, it is also very important to note that communities also have their own priorities and will probably not focus on what you’re bringing to them. For example, if it is a community with market days, the members will likely prioritize their trade as their source of livelihood. So in planning it is important to bear this in mind, manage expectations, and work with the communities and your team on their timing.

Community behavior change takes time and must be flexible to engender ownership of interventions and desired result. Because communities are not made of homogenous people we have to discount for the positive or negative reactions to the implementations of our interventions it takes time. We may never get all on board but we try.

Real Life is rarely convenient. Disruption must be expected and accepted. Prepare, plan, and engage remembering your goals and sharing your perspective on progress without despair. Focus, faith and fortitude will push you past obstacles.

Your priority should be the community interests first, organizational fit, second. A community-led project is going to lead to better engagement and you're not going to get far or have impact without true collaboration.

Again, it's not about you or your team. What are the community's priorities? Focus on those. Too often funders or organizations get excited about what they want to do and not what the community wants.

In any community outreach event, certain activities will have a more substantial impact than others. By prioritizing these high-impact actions, we can ensure that our efforts are directed toward activities that are meaningful and purposeful. This requires careful consideration of the goals and objectives of the event and aligning our actions accordingly.

Usually the organizations are working at their own priorities based on mandate, funding allocation and or political influences rather to find community priorities.

Someone who was the head of a food waste nonprofit once told me, "You want to say 'yes' to so many things, but you have to say no to 90% or more things." Focus on fewer things - and make that list shorter still!

When involved in community outreach the community gets excited to have someone on their side and tends to want to share their stories. They are often struggling and surviving and need support. This can interrupt sessions where there is a focal target. One needs to practice discretion and make sure one makes time to connect and empathise, or support, the people as well.

Internally focusing on limits may feel like beating yourself up. However, it sets the stage towards resiliency on how to bounce back faster. Expect failure, but hope for a speedy recovery in mindset. With a positive outlook on rainy days or low traffic days, you can utilize the time to complete cold call or follow up on past clients for testimonials. Re-organize your workspace from paper clutter and invest in organization systems. Make a meditation corner to take quiet time to reflect on self care activities including hobbies. Arrange your strategic plan to incorporate these elements for continued success. A downturn is an opportunity to look back and see why you chose this field of study in the first place.

The social impact industry is riddled with shiny exciting new projects that then fall to the way-side after the initial excitement wears off. Shiny new projects aren't always better. Compounding off of exiting successful projects might be less sexy, but often present opportunities for meaningful results.

Do not let perfect become the enemy of better, nor allow better to become the enemy of good. Too often though our "holistic systems thinking lens" we begin to see all the "interconnected and compounding challenges" faced by a community and we begin to think that our one intervention has to solve it all. Forget that. Narrow your focus. Do one good thing. Then do another.

The idea that perfection is achievable by overworking the problem, because no definition of done was defined. Realistically, we all want to execute work at a high level and grow as leaders. However, not clearly setting what when and how something should be achieved or completed in the beginning will create unnecessary ambiguity.

Another pre-requisite for outreach: need to address power inequity. Power gets expressed in doing outreach, as clarity emerges on why people are being contacted or gathered. "Community"= social fabric, so "outreach" should build peoples understandings of and capacity for healthy relationships. If the outreacher(s) have structural decision-making power, can that power be shared to form a community of common interest? Start with a sharing circle on a topic, use "open space", set rules for mutual respect and transparency. Strive for agreement on objectives, regularly remind people of agreements and review progress. And if its not fun, it will be boring so frame common purpose to challenge a particular issue celebrate success along the way!

Hi - Here are my two cents about perfectionism and procrastination - "Done is better than perfect. Because perfect is never done." Anonymous

Yes indeed proscastination was my worst enemy, if your in a comfortable situation you tend to procastinate more , so what I do usually to get back in track make a drastic action that makes your life discomfortable , can be anything changing your workplace, buying something that you can't afford,

It’s important to note that there’s a big difference between community outreach vs community engagement. The goals and impact vastly differ for both. Community outreach is ultimately transactional and isn’t rooted in relationship. Community engagement is relational and all about building a relationship *with* a community. In my opinion, community engagement is much purposeful because the community is who benefits. Before considering the pitfalls and challenges with community outreach, be sure that outreach is really what you want to do, and be clear on why. Outreach is not engagement.

The importance of cultural competency in community outreach cannot be emphasized enough. Language proficiency, financial capacity, and availability for volunteering vary among individuals. Additionally, attitudes toward the organization's mission differ from person to person. It's essential to ask yourself: How well do you truly understand the community you aim to engage with? Merely having one representative from the community involved in planning is insufficient. It's about learning from a diverse cross-section of community members, beyond just your preferred target audience.

My experience has been the biggest time waster is lack of planning and organization, which leads to inadequate prioritization of activities and tasks, and poor communication because organizers often think volunteers just know what to do or how to do it. Organizers typically have a clear purpose and usually can communicate the intention and value in what they are trying to accomplish. They are able to attract stakeholders and volunteers, but fail in execution because they don't prepare ahead of time so the activity at hand can be executed well, and then in identifying the macro-tasks and delegating management of that with clear direction so that coordinator can manage the micro-tasks for completing the project.

Community stakeholders who have ulterior motives, may also derail your work and waste your time. It is important to ensure that all stakeholders are on board with the project. Understanding who the stakeholders are and thier interests will help better with planning and mitigating their impact on the project.

Navigating Time Wasters in Community Outreach Embarking on a community outreach journey, addressing unclear goals, fostering effective communication, coordinating efforts, overcoming bureaucracy, securing resources, and defining metrics propel our heroes towards impactful change.