Reasons Why Many Youth Groups (initiatives) Don’t Take off

I have come to observe keenly how great ideas dissolve into thin air whilst the existing ones either stagnate at the same location or die slowly. These trends are similar in the business sector or in organizational setups.  On 26th June 2013 I did a small survey on my Facebook wall requesting my circle of friends to give feedback on the subject.  The following were some of the results received;

Question: Do you know why many youth groups (initiatives) don't take off or the existing ones fade into thin air slowly?

Replies;

Nevoh Fidel “they not ready for change themselves”.
John Maroria “Fear of growth and expansion, impatience, untrustworthy, lack of transparency and finally greed”.

Edgar Chris “one thing is eminent the need for instant results when that is not favorable they become discouraged and think the initiative is not working as intended.”

Elijah Mumo  “I was told that goals are no longer SMART but SMARTER, The E and R are for Evolution and Revolution, many initiatives want to maintain the same status quo but things change so you  have to re-strategies every now and then to survive.”

Wilson Masaka “Focus Collaboration and Not Competition for your group ideas to work!"

The information in this feedback is really true, thus  to start a project  you need a lot of resilience, focus and consistency. Many times people won’t believe in your cause and it will be extremely hard to find the perfect match to your passion and drive to achieve the stipulated goals. 

As the founder you might find yourself either doing 120% or sometimes  in the lonely dream zone wondering if the idea will materialize one day.  My advise to all social change makers is to continue following your dreams, and link up with like minded people who will collaborate with you rather than compete with you in the process of achieving the big dream.

Listening is a great virtue as a leader of the initiative while assigning people  different roles. Also,  believing in them is important. If they don’t perform,  it is  crucial to give feedback,  restrategize,  find new creative space, and collaborate more with passionate people in  connecting with the bigger mission and vision. If nothing is happening as planned and you did not achieve your goals, the best things to do it to take the experiences as great learning lessons.

On the other front, existing initiatives lack passionate people who understand the big picture (vision) of why the initiative exists. Young youth groups sometimes also lack leadership, transparency, accountability, professionalism, role model, give back systems, relevant programs among other factors.

Looking at all this and as the founder of Wilsen Initiative (WI) I still feel there is a lot that needs to be done in growing the idea and the best attitude I have acquired is to never give up, observe trends, listen more and restrategise.

Currently I’m attending a course at Amani Institute on SIM ( Social Innovation Management) which will complement my experience from http://thedoschool.org/program/fellows/ in Hamburg, Germany.
In the last lectures at Amani I came to learn the  GROW model which stands for;

G =  Set GOALS for yourself and the project.
R = Where are you now and what REALITIES do you face.
O= What OPTIONS do you have and what OBSTACLES have you encountered.
W =  What are the WAY FORWARD or WILL POWER!
This is all for this month. Please share your thought by leaving a comment.