Asset-Based Capacity Building: A Checklist*
- Be in it for the long haul. It's more than a process. It's a way of life.
- Start with what you can control and change: common organizational practices, the way you communicate with others, the questions you ask. The rest will follow.
- Start with strengths and assets, not deficits and needs. You can't motivate others by focusing first on what they lack.
- Hire and train staff who share your organization's strength-based principles and goals. Create a culture of learning.
- Work more collaboratively in groups and networks. Resilience is not a lone ranger exercise.
- Don't be a control junkie. Resilience arises from self-organization, active learning and adaptation. Self control arises from mastery. Develop that first.
- Develop social support through peer to peer networks. It helps to meet with others in the same boat as you.
- Build bottom up, not top down. This starts with natural, caring relationships.
- Be a coach and an ally, not an expert.
*Adapted in part from "Ten Rules of the Road" in Resilience: Health in a New Key, St. Luke's Health Initiatives, Fall 2003.
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