Clarity of purposes is the single most important factor in successful engagement. Whether it’s civic engagement, commercial engagement or even personal engagement, without clarity of purpose, even the world’s best strategy and execution just take you further off target.

This post is an extension of my last one where I defined what I mean by “engagement.” In that piece, I wrote that “to engage someone is to attract them, build connection and commitment with them, and facilitate working together with them in shared purpose.” The focus of this post is defining what that purpose is.

In a very generic sense, the purpose of almost all forms of engagement is to influence decisions. Allow me to explain, and if you can find exceptions by the time you’re finished reading this post, I’d appreciate your letting me know.

Types of Decisions

The purpose of commercial engagement is to influence a particular type of decision – a purchase decision. There’s lots of decision influencing that goes on inside companies that has nothing to do with purchasing of course, but what I’m talking about here is engagement of people outside the company’s organizational boundaries. In most cases, this means customers and influencing them to decide to purchase the company’s goods and services. The same is true for stockholders too; it’s just shifting the purchase to an equity stake in the firm’s future.

The purpose of interpersonal engagement is to influence personal decisions. But wait - if I’m a teenage guy trying to convince my girlfriend to go all the way with me, or a parent trying to convince my young child to brush his teeth every night, aren’t the end goals something besides the decisions themselves? Aren’t they sex and clean teeth?

Decisions as Levers of Change

Decisions represent a critical moment in time when a person internally commits to a particular course of action. It is true that it’s that action – and ultimately the outcomes of that action – that are the ultimate, underlying purpose. Teeth brushing and healthy teeth are clearly the end goals, but from an engagement perspective, the decision to brush is the critical commitment that makes it all happen. The decision is the lever that, once pulled, sets in motion a chain of activities that get you to your end goal.

This is what I meant in my last post when I included building connections and “commitment” as a key component of engagement. The decision to commit to something is a huge lever, literally capable of moving mountains. That’s why clearly identifying decision makers and their decision points is so critical to the success of all engagement campaigns. It’s why product companies invest millions of dollars researching consumer purchasing decisions.

Decisions and Civic Engagement

Influencing decisions is the purpose behind all engagement, and that includes civic engagement. The purpose of civic engagement is to influence decisions that impact society. Those decisions – and the people who make them – come in lots of shapes and sizes, which is what makes civic engagement so darn challenging – and interesting. It might be the head of a major corporation or a lowly clerk in its purchasing department. It might be a city council member, a state or provincial legislator, a premier or governor, or just someone doing their very specific job in a very specific agency.

All social change organizations need to start with a clear understanding of their mission. From there it is also important that they can articulate exactly what social changes need to happen in order for them to fulfill that mission. A “theory of change” is an excellent tool for articulating these goals. With that in hand, the task then shifts to identifying the decision makers and decision points that the organization needs to influence in order to effect their desired change. These decisions are the levers of change. To move them is to move mountains. For when a person commits to something on the inside a powerful shift occurs; one which brings you together working in shared purpose.

Engagement Capacity

Wielding that kind of influence is not easy. It requires investment and focus in strengthening an organization’s “engagement capacity” – that is, its ability to attract people, build connection and commitment with them, and facilitate working together with them in shared purpose.

In later posts, I will explore the new models that ONE/Northwest is developing to help environmental organizations strengthen their engagement capacity. For now, I simply wanted to share some of these ideas about decisions being the lever that engagement uses to move mountains.

It’s a simple idea really, but one so important that ONE/Northwest has reoriented itself as an organization around this principle. Our new strategic framework centers on helping the environmental movement influence decisions that impact the environment. Innovative engagement tools and strategies are how we will do that, but the purpose behind what we do is influence – influence over decisions – and that, I believe, is the purpose for all engagement.