Identifying the issues that motivate people into taking action

BOND issues

People become active to improve their lives. The anger over existing problems combined with the hope for change gives them the energy to take action. It is the glue that can hold your diverse community together, despite their different experiences and beliefs. To effectively mobilize people, you need to translate issues that are felt as urgent problems into strategic, actionable goals and vice versa.

Curious questions

Activation starts with systematically engaging your (potential) community and asking open, curious questions about which issues are deeply felt, while actively listening. This is not just about the content, but also about the emotions, the way, and the specific words people use to express themselves. You might ask questions such as:

• If you were in charge for a day, what would you most like to change in your neighborhood?
• If you could wave a magic wand, what would you most like to change at your workplace?
• Think of your ideal living environment: what is currently missing, and what would you want to make happen?

Next, it must be investigated whether an issue enjoys sufficient broad support, rather than it being an issue that only a vocal minority feels emotional about. One way we can do this is by recording the outcome of one-on-one conversations, a survey, or a petition.

Whether something is current and urgent depends partly on objective facts that we can list. Is something happening now, or is it pain from the past accompanied by resentment? It is difficult to mobilize people around an issue that cannot be reversed, even if an unjust situation has occurred. However, whether something is urgent is sometimes also a matter of feeling and not always based on clear facts. If the community has accepted a bad situation for a long time, as an organizer you can sometimes help investigate whether there are ways to change it anyway.

Finally, this brings us to the strategic consideration:

Is this issue solvable?

• Can we solve this with the people in our community if we unite and become active?
• Or can we formulate a smaller, achievable interim goal for the major issue?
• Or can we formulate intermediate steps to build up our strength in such a way that we can tackle this major problem?

BOND issues per target group

To identify a BOND issue, it helps to establish a well-defined target group. You then adapt the scale and method accordingly. Flexible contracts might not seem like a BOND issue until you specifically ask people with temporary contracts.

Important questions for your organisation are:

• Which issues can activate your constituency at the local level?
• Which issues regarding a specific theme or target group can activate your community?
• Which issues can activate members nationally or broadly?

Some examples:

• Three separate cases are reported about poor guidance and handling during long-term illness at the same company. In this case, it may be worth investigating whether there is an unhealthy workload and/or social insecurity.
• Increasing numbers of people turn to your food bank. Then it becomes relevant to examine why people need this help and what collective problem could be solved so that fewer people require assistance.

It is also possible that an issue is not BOND because it will only emerge in the future, is not solvable, or does not evoke strong emotion. This does not mean your organisation cannot lobby for it, research it, or simply monitor it.

Hot issues and cold issues

Within the issues that qualify as BOND, a distinction can be made between “hot” and “cold” issues. Simply put, hot issues are urgent, high-intensity problems that people come to you about immediately, while cold issues are those that simmer in the background but, due to a lack of initiative or perspective, have not yet led to tangible change.

An example of a “hot” issue is sudden budget cuts that threaten layoffs. Everyone is in a state of alarm and discussing it. Irreversible steps may happen quickly, so there isn’t time to calmly build your campaign structure, it must be addressed immediately. To clarify the difference, we provide a list of examples below.