Know The Skills You Need
What Do You Need to Know How to Do?
by
Phil Bartle, PhD

Training Handout
Skills you need for mobilizing

 The skills that you need as a mobilizer are not exceptionally
 difficult to learn, but can be very powerful tools. They can be
 misused. As an analogy, think of the skills of a locksmith. A
 locksmith performs many useful and valuable services, but they can
 be misused for breaking, entering, and theft. As you learn
 mobilization skills, use them for the benefit of the community, not
 to benefit yourself at the expense of the community.

 Since your target group is the community as a whole, most of your
 needed skills belong to communication abilities. You need to learn
 how to be a public speaker, but not just any kind of public speaker.

 The kind of public speaking you need to know is the kind needed for
 leadership and facilitation. You must learn how to draw information
 and decisions out of a group, which requires a full understanding of
 your goals and a relaxed confidence in front of people. You must be
 able to recognize preaching, lecturing, and making speeches, and
 avoid those styles.

 The technical skills you need as mobilizer include: public
 speaking, planning, managing, observing, analysing, and writing. The
 best way to learn these is through being self taught. You also need
 to develop a personal character that is honest, enthusiastic,
 positive, tolerant, patient and motivated.

 You have to know how to listen and understand when people talk.

 You have to know how to ensure that information is accurate. You
 have to know how to illustrate a point and make it interesting to a
 listener. You do not preach like a preacher; you do not make
 speeches like a politician; you do not lecture like a professor. You
 need to learn how to remain confident while sensitive to others
 while standing among or in front of many people. You need to know
 how to know and to like people. You need to know how to avoid being
 self centred, vain, or arrogant. You need to know how to lead a
 discussion without being bossy, dictatorial or sarcastic. Teach
 these to yourself.

 You learn these skills by doing (not by just reading a text
 book). If you went to classes in community development, and only sat
 and took notes, you did not get the best training. You should
 practice, first in front of your classmates, then in front of a
 community group. See Training Methods.

 Since you must organize community groups and form executive
 committees, you need some organizational skills. Since you also
 strengthen by giving management skills, you need management skills
 yourself. Since you guide community groups through their own
 planning, you need some planning skills yourself. Since you advise
 and guide groups to keep honest and accurate financial records and
 accounts, you need some accounting skills yourself. Since you guide
 groups in writing reports and need to write your own reports, you
 need writing skills. Learn by doing.

 You need to know how to learn a language fast, (see An Aural Method
 to Learn an
 Oral Language) and to become familiar with several languages in a
 community.

 More than just technical skills, you need to have some
 personality characteristics that are necessary for success as a
 mobilizer. (Look at the training handouts: To Be a Mobilizer and Job
 Description). Your reputation is your strongest asset. If you are
 known to be honest, diplomatic, fair, hardworking, moral, clean
 living, tolerant, enthusiastic, humble, and forthright, your
 reputation will assist your mobilization efforts. If you are not,
 seek a different calling or vocation.

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Updated: 2003 March 23