This is a great handout that you can print out and use to help you and group think through what action or tactic might be useful for your campaign. It’s a great tool for facilitators as well. Basically the tool asks you a series of questions to help you identify the components and consequences of your tactic, from messaging to building the capacity of your group.
Most experienced campaigners know to think through these steps, but sometimes it’s helpful to have a piece of paper and a set of guiding questions to help focus your group’s conversations about strategy.
When I facilitate this exercise, I often have groups discuss the questions with people they typically work with, and then report back to the larger group. To liven things up, I sometimes ask groups to tell a story about the action as if it has already happened, keeping in mind that they should share their answers to some of the questions in the tactics star as they do so. I’ve also had groups draw a picture of their action and report back to the larger group by referencing their drawings.
This tool was originally designed by Beyond the Choir (see the original here), and there have many adaptations, including my own and a tool developed by Josh Kahn Russellthat is geared to groups working in solidarity with frontline communities, such as a community living next to a coal mine they are campaigning to shut down.