Potential Macro Practice Problems

As I'm learning more about macro practice there are three problems that have stood out to me that could be potential problems. These include not understanding the problem or goal well enough, there is no clear direction or communication within the group, and not having enough money to sustain the program or initiative.

Not Understanding the Problem or Goal Well Enough:
To fix a problem and come up with a goal it is extremely important to understand what the actual problem and goal are. We must first identify the problem and explore what it is that is making it a problem. Once we have identified a problem we must learn how extreme the problem is and what it is affecting. A great strategy to use to avoid this problem is a baseline. A baseline is a great way to start from the bottom and work your way up. You must first figure out what is happening in the first place by what factors are involved. Learning how frequently the problem is occurring and the intensity of each factor. Then use these factors to measure the changes of each problem. This is a good strategy to use because it allows you to see the changes more easily and to see how well you are progressing towards your goal.

Having No Clear Direction or Communication:
Working with a large group makes it difficult to have good, understandable communication. It makes it hard to understand the direction each person is going in and making sure everyone is on the same track as one another. Communication is a very important factor when it comes to macro practice. Some ways to prevent unclear directions and communication is by using VMOSA. This is a vision, mission, objectives, strategies, and action plans. This helps create a basic plan so that everyone can follow it together. Once these steps are created every part of the group can move forward from this beginning point. Another great way to help keep clear communication is to designate leaders. Any ideas and thoughts should be brought to the leader and they should be the one to pass along the thoughts, ideas, or any other important information to the rest of the group. This is helpful because when too many people are putting their input in at once it can become confusing and overwhelming for other parts of the group.

Not Having Enough Money to Sustain the Program or Initiative:
To start any program or project it is extremely important that you know where the funds are coming from to make the program successful. Every program will need some type of funding to be able to sustain itself and to continue its progress. Some problems that you may come across while beginning and maintaining a program are the fundings. Where are you getting them from? How much do you have? How much do you need? Or running out of sufficient funds. Some ways to avoid these types of problems are to market with outside resources. Types of marketing are image-building, friend-raising, membership development, community relations, political activities, and citizen education. When it comes to funding you can't particularly go around asking for money. It is important to sell your program and make it appealing to those who are available to help. The reason it is important to do so is so you can obtain more resources to enable you to survive, to gain valuable insights on the community your working with, and to gain a better focus on the current resources that are available. To obtain these initiatives you must make it aware to the community that the group or program exists and share what it does, make everyone in the community like your group/program, and to then convince them to support the group. There are many different obstacles and tools you can utilize to complete these three tasks but they vary from each community and each project.