How To Create A Personal Inventory List

What Is a Personal Inventory

And why you absolutely need to do this one thing before running for office.

If you’re going to run for office, you’re going to have to know yourself inside and out.

This is because you’ll not only want to build the campaign around who you are and what your values are but knowing yourself gives you a better shot at being able to project the best you while you’re out on the campaign trail.

So let’s talk about the steps that you can take to start getting to know yourself better and start creating a winning campaign.

#1. Take a test

If you’re a test taker, you might want to try to take a personality test like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or the Enneagram test or the Big Five Personality test. This will give a pretty good idea of what your biggest strengths and weaknesses are, so that you (and your team) can use those to your advantage while you’re campaigning.

You might also want to check out this Political Skill Inventory. It explores how astute you are in your Political Skills – skills like interpersonal influence, networking ability, social astuteness and apparent sincerity, all of which are important for someone who has to work with so many different types of personalities and in as many different social circles and interactions as politicians have to. Taking this quick quiz will allow you to see which of the four dimensions of political skills you’re already competent in, and see where you may need some improvement.

#2. get comfortable getting uncomfortable

This adventure is going to have you disrupting the status quo to help make your community a better place. There might be aspects about running for office that scare you or make you feel a little uncomfortable – and that’s totally normal. This won’t always be easy, but it can be very worth it.

Take a minute to reflect on:

• What your fears are in regards to this possible new adventure?

• How might you find solutions, fixes or resolutions for those fears?

You might want to write down the solutions so that you have them on hand for when you’re scared and need an extra boost. We’ve had one candidate tell us that she turned the solutions into affirmations that she wrote on her bathroom mirror; another mentioned having a Note on her phone that she could easily check and reflect on, so that it was always close by and handy on the campaign trail. Do what works for you.

If you’re looking for a little guidance on this, a great video on this topic is Luvvie Ajayi Jones’s TED Talk “How to be a professional troublemaker”, where she discusses what kind of trouble is worth making, and shares the three questions she asks herself to overcome fear.

#3. Consider the barriers

No one is denying that there are many barriers that are keeping women from running for office. Things like lack of confidence, fear of the unknown, worries about the financial aspects of running, or the lack of a local social network are all valid reasons that may have you second-guessing whether or not you want to run for office. And if you are a woman of colour or a member of an equity-seeking group, you face even more serious and entrenched barriers that may give you pause as you begin this journey.

So before we let those fears overwhelm us, we’re going to do ourselves a favour, and we’re going to bat away each of those fears by reading 26 Common Barriers to Running for Office And How To Overcome Them by She Should Run. While they are an American nonprofit, their mission is the same as ours, and that resource has the answers to the same questions that women around the world ask themselves when it comes to running for office. Click on the questions that are echoing through your head to reveal the answers that will help give you the confidence that you need to shake those fears away.

#4. Consider your circle

Now, you’re going to want to start thinking outside of yourself too, and how you’re running for office will affect the people around you. Think of the following:

• Are your family and friends onboard?

• Will you have the support of your immediate circle before, during and after the election?

• Do you have a network to support your candidacy?

• Will this affect your current employment?

  • Will you quit your job? If not, how will you manage work and your commitment to municipal council?

Some of these may be deal-breakers to you. Others might not be. It’s important that you go into this with a clear understanding and expectations, and that those who love you are on the same page.

#5. write down your personal inventory list

This is will have you listing everybody you know – and we mean everybody – on to one list. Just start writing names. Start with the people closest to you, like your partner or family or close friends, and then start expanding outwards, to coworkers or fellow board members or community friends. Then evaluate – will these people help on your campaign in some way? Can you call on them to contribute funds, or knock on doors with you? Remember – volunteering for a campaign doesn’t always mean having to do ‘the political stuff’, but it can also mean supporting you in personal ways that you might need, like providing childcare or making you a few frozen meals. It can also mean donating money or material! If you think that they’d help out in some way, put a + sign in that column for them. If you don’t think the person you listed would support you, put a - sign next to their name. Remember – that can sting, but it’s better to know now than to be surprised by it down the line.

Now evaluate your list:

• Do you have helpers and supporters?

• Do you have moral support?

• Are there areas that you may need to expand your circle a little bit?

Doing this can help you realize where to start putting your resources:

• Should you go meet other ‘political people’ and community leaders in your community?

• Do you need to start thinking about recruiting a team, or can you build your team from the people you know?

• Do you have more volunteers or do you have more donors? What are you going to have to look outside of your circle for?

Remember, this is just about getting organized and taking stock of the plusses in your corner so that we can work with the strengths that you have. Don’t worry if your personal circle isn’t that big, or you don’t know how the result that you got on your personality quiz is compatible with being a politician – this is just about giving you the chance to get to know yourself so that you go into this with clear expectations.

Need a resource to help?

We created a resource especially to help you organize that personal inventory, and it’s absolutely free.

Use this free PDF resource to help you list everybody you know. How should you use it? Start by writing down the names of the people closest to you, like your partner or family or close friends, and then start expanding outwards, to coworkers or fellow board members or community friends. Then evaluate – will these people help on your campaign in some way? Can you call on them to contribute funds, or knock on doors with you? Use this resource to help you keep it all organized and see where you stand as you start to build your core team of supporters.

access this free resource

How To Expand Your Qualifications

Expand Your Qualifications

So that you can be ready when you run for office.

Okay, so you’ve done your homework and now you’re ready to start preparing to run for Office.

Obviously, at this point, you’ve double-checked when you can declare your candidacy. Is it in a couple of weeks? A couple of months? A couple of years? Perfect. That means that you’ve got some time to get your ducks in a row before you make your big splash and announce your run. But there are some things that you can get started on now that will help you get started.

Start by Beefing up your leadership skills

Name recognition is very important in elections, particularly municipal elections. Ask yourself: are you considered a leader in your community? Does your community know you? If they don’t, that’s okay! There are things that you can do that will help you establish community recognition. If you haven’t already, check out the ideas that we wrote in our guide: Things You Can Do Right Now If You’re Thinking Of Running For Office. There, you’ll find 22 ideas that can help get you started, as well as some community ideas that will help you make connections.

Here are some other ideas:

• Join a local board of directors.

• Join a local committee.

• Join your community action network.

• Join an advisory panel.

• Apply for a legislative appointment.

• Volunteering for a local charity or cause that you care about.

• Organize a local fundraiser or charity event.

• Join your child’s school council.

• Join your local church.

Getting governance experience is a really good beginning to help you build community connections, get used to how meetings function, and learn a little bit more about governance before diving into the municipal council.

But this is also a really great opportunity to get to know your community and for your community to get to know you. While you’re out and about in your neighbourhood, take the chance to listen to people and ask them what their concerns are. See how those align with your values and your plans. This is the time to help you get prepared and network to support your candidacy. Take full advantage of the opportunity!

Need a resource to help?

We created a resource especially to help inspire your next adventure in volunteering to help you level up your qualifications before you run for office, and it’s absolutely free.

You’ve decided that you’re going to make a run for it, and you’re feeling inspired … but what next? Here is a handy list of 22 things that you can do right now to help you reach your goal — even if the election is years away.

Use this list to help inspire you or to point you in the right direction.

access this free resource

What We’re Doing to Get Women Elected

Election season is upon us

And we’ve been busy ... 

As the election season creeps closer and close, we’ve been taking stock of the work that we’ve done to help prepare women run for municipal council and school board trustee. We’ve also been considering what we’ll be doing to support them through the election period itself. 

Since spring of 2017, we've been busy offering programming and different resources to women in the North who want to run for council or school board trustee.

Nominations are being filed, and with an end of July deadline to file paperwork, we're gearing up to help the brave women who are running get elected.

So here’s our game plan

Campaign Fundamentals Webinar Series  

Join us as we dive into the different aspects of campaigns with our upcoming webinar series. Did we mention it's free and that you can do this from the comfort of your own home? All you need is an internet connection and an hour to give us on Thursday nights in August.

All women candidates,  female volunteers and people working on women candidate campaigns are welcome to join us. Webinars will be approximately 50 minutes in length with the option for a Q&A at the end. Please register for each webinar individually so that we can send you the proper link as the event approaches. We can't wait for you to join us!

• August 9th: Crafting Your Story

• August 16th: Canvassing

• August 23rd: Fundraising with DemocracyKit

• August 30th: Social Media & Your Campaign

#ElectNOW

We know how much difficulty women that are running have trying to get their stories told in the local media, and we want to change that. We'll be doing a weekly feature that will highlight women candidates running all over Northern Ontario on our blog. The interview will be Q&A style, and candidates can answer as little or as many questions as they would like to give their future constituents the opportunity to get to know them a little better. We'll then put that on our blog and share it on our Facebook page, Twitter page and our Instagram account. Candidates will have the chance to share it as they please. We'll also include a graphic that they can share. This blog post will be available on our website (http://www.polinow.org), where we will also have a designated candidate page that will include the candidate's picture and a link to the blog post. We're hoping to get as many women candidates in the North involved as possible.

Since June, we have been reaching out to the women filing their nominations in Northern Ontario’s 9 cities and sending out the survey to those who reach out to us. One of our goals here at PoliticsNOW is to amplify the voices of women, we think that a blog series featuring the women running in the North this is a perfect fit. We can’t do this alone, though - we need your help reaching out to women candidates. Not all cities have candidate information readily available online for us to reach out to the women running, and not all smaller communities have the internet capabilities to post it at all. This makes it hard to ensure we reach out to every single woman that is running. Know, though, that we are committed to amplifying and supporting all women candidates, and would appreciate being pointed in the right direction to find them. If you are a woman that is running in the upcoming election that hasn’t received an email from us but wants  to be included in this endeavour, reach out to us.

Please note that these blog posts are not an endorsement. We want to give equal support, equal opportunities and equal voices to all women who are running. As a non-partisan organization, we have chosen to remain neutral in the election itself. We trust that voters will decide which candidate best fits with their vision for their school board, ward or town/city. Our goal is to use our platform to help women reach more constituents, as well as give citizens the opportunity to find which women are running for office in their region.

If this is something that interests you (or you know someone who would be a great feature), please don't hesitate to fill out this form to get in touch with us  

Campaign Resources

We’ve been building our campaign resource page since our inception. Make sure that you check it out and take a look at all of the resources that we have created and curated from around the Internet. Feel like you need a little additional help? Email info@polinow.org to get connected with someone from our org who can offer a little extra one-on-one help. 

Open to Suggestions

We're planning other activities and programs to help women in the North be able to run campaigns more effectively. If you'd like to have your say on what we do, or you have some great ideas, don't hesitate to let us know through this survey.

Thank you so much for helping us elect women in the North!

Don't forget to follow us on social media to get the latest from us and learn more about how you can help #ElectNOW.

Letter Writing Campaigns: How To Make Change Happen

Our members of parliament, members of provincial parliament, and town/city councillors have a unique job requirement—they must cast a vote on issues that affect their constituents, and try to vote with that in mind. They're not mind-readers. They can only vote based on the information they have. This is why it's important that you contact your political representative to let them know how you feel about whatever is at stake.

Sure, But Why?

You might be asking yourself, “Why bother?” But that's the wrong question. The questions you should be asking are, “Is my perspective represented? Has my representative heard it already?” If you answered “no” to either of those questions, you need to contact your representative and make your feelings known implicitly.

Posting on social media is not enough. Sure, it helps make your feelings known in a more widespread way, but most politicians I've spoken to about this have said the internet is a little like white noise since identities can't always be confirmed. Emails are more effective because they need to be read in full. Old-fashioned snail mail is by far the best because you'll stand out. It shows you've put time and effort into your letter and they're going to remember that while they read it.

So I've Got a Cause. Now What?

 Brainstorm the important things that you want to touch on and start organizing your thoughts. It's recommended that letters to politicians be written in a three paragraph format.

1. Introduce yourself and share your background. If you have any qualifications, this would be where to list them.

2. State your case. Use cold hard facts to back up your argument, but don't forget to show your representative how their decision is going to affect you, your family and others that you know.

3. Close with the call to action you'd like to see them undertake. Implore them to vote a certain way, or to look into a certain issue.

Don't forget to give them means to contact you should they need to. Don't be shy to share your mailing address or your phone number.

Quick Tips

• Keep your letter short—no more than a page or two. Think quality, not quantity.

• Be kind and courteous. Any profanity or vulgarity will negate all the great points you make in your letter, and will probably get it thrown out without a second thought.

• Feel free to ask questions in your letter. That will make it even more evident that you’re expecting an answer.

• Follow up in a few weeks if you've not heard back from them. Sending a quick e-mail that says something like, “Thank you for taking the time to read my [letter/e-mail]. I hope to hear from you soon,” goes a long way.

• If your politician goes to bat for you, don’t forget to thank them! They love knowing that you appreciate the actions that they took.

Get To It!

Throw your support behind a cause, and get writing! So many causes need your voice to help them be heard. It's not enough for us to say that we believe in something - we need to start putting our time where our mouth is. That's the most effective way to make change happen. 

This blog post has been cross-posted at Women's March Canada.

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