Entries from April 2009 ↓

I recently wrote a guest post about the rally to stop a coal-fired power plant in Bay City on the Great Lakes Law blog. Check it out. Continue reading →

Peter Bregman has a great post on How to Counter Resistance to Change.

He makes several great points, and I recommend you read the full article.

Here are two gems:

1. “People don’t resist change, they resist being changed.” That means they can often go along with change if they have some level of control and decision making in the process.

2. “Don’t sell it or try to get “buy-in.” Instead of seeking agreement, try to surface disagreement.” This is both how you allow for that control mentioned above and how you improve your proposal by incorporating feedback.

This is a re-print of a handout I created for a discussion on getting the word out now that our local paper, the Ann Arbor News, is  closing.

The mass-market broadcast model (How things were)

Synopsis: The established media market was a broadcast system. There were few players that had the resources to run large-scale newspapers, TV, and radio. Because there were few sources, it was harder to get any coverage, there was danger of bias of these sources. But, they did have resources for investigative journalism and if you got covered in these sources, you had a reasonable assurance that you would be noticed.

Strengths:

• Covers a broad range of topics (sports, business, community, etc)
• Both quick beat coverage and in-depth investigative coverage;
• Broad circulation–reaches most people who follow local issues;
• Accessible, you just need to be able to see and read
• Discussion of opinions (editorials, letters to editor, other voices)
• Analysis
• Provide some level or authoritative coverage

Weaknesses

• Gatekeeper keeps out some voices
• Bias to not aggravating advertisers
• Only so much space for coverage
• Resource intensive (a lot of trees cut and a lot of gas burned)
• Discussion through letters to the editor is slow and limited to just a few voices

The micro-media/social media model (How things are becoming)

Synopsis: In a world with hundreds of cable TV channels, satellite radio, blogs, podcasts, Internet video, Facebook, Twitter, and more, no one source has the same level of reach, influence, or market share that the major print and broadcast media had. This means that it is easier to get a message out; there are fewer corporate media filters. It also means there is much more competition to get your message listened to. Personal recommendations and word of mouth play a larger role in deciding what people pay attention to.

Strengths:

• Fewer barriers to entry, less gatekeeper/censor role for mass media
• More community based
• Increased opportunity for discussion
• Fewer dead trees
• More information is available and easier to retrieve
• Length of a story is not constrained by a limited number of space on the page

Weaknesses

• “Drinking through a fire hose” effect
• Self-selecting narrows range of opinions people are exposed to
• Online reading tends to be more superficial than print reading
• Limited accessibility
• Will there be funding for investigative journalism?
• Questions of reliability
• Fragmentation of media creates difficulty to create broad awareness of issues

Key challenges/opportunities

• Ensure access to information means for all residents, overcome the digital divide;
• Ensure that solid investigative journalism takes place
• Develop capacity of local groups to use new tools

Resources:

Local issues:

• AnnArborChronicle.com: Community news site with excellent coverage of City Council, County Commission, and AATA Board meetings.
• ArborUpdate.com: primarily a site for discussion of community issues.
• ypsiciti.com, the Ypsilanti Citizen: Local news site for Ypsilanti
• AnnArbor.com (when it starts up): Site of the Newhouse replacement for the Ann Arbor News.
• ArborWiki.org: community directory, think Wikipedia about all things Ann Arbor.
• Progressive Ann Arbor Web Calendar: listing of Washtenaw County progressive events

How to use new media:

• Social Media Marketing and Campaigning for Nonprofits:  Audio file from workshop at Craigslist Foundation Nonprofit Boot Camp
• Social Media Listening Literacy for Nonprofits:  Article by Beth Kanter

Recommendations:

• Personal: Learn to use RSS Reader like Google Reader or Bloglines to help you keep up with local news sites
• Organizational: Learn to use the tools out there (Facebook, blogs, twitter, etc); develop relationships with new media news sources;
• Movement: Expand the Progressive Ann Arbor calendar to a more comprehensive Progressive Ann Arbor/Washtenaw site;

Okay, you’ve researched and you’ve picked a strategy.

Now it’s time to plan what you’ll actually do.

Again to Tools for Radical Democracy by Minieri and Getsos, “Without a campaign plan, you are more likely to engage in unfocused activities that do not contribute to getting targets to meet your demands.”

There are many formats for campaign plans out there. I’m very impressed with the The Just Enough Planning Guide. Which planning format you use matters less than that you create a plan. It should include:

• Your goals;
• A roadmap for how you will get those goals met;
• A timeline with objectives that you can measure your progress against;
• Your message;
• What resources you have;
• What allies you want to bring on board and what adversaries you will have to deal with.

The important this is that after you create this plan, you keep looking back at it.

Yes, it will probably change as you move forward, but looking back at it will make sure you don’t spend three weeks trying to get a visit with a newspaper’s editorial board if your plan tells you that getting the support of union reps is more important.

Research. Choose a strategy. Plan your actions.

Then do!

Tools for Radical Democracy by Minieri and Getsos has a great chapter on strategy. To define strategy, they explain:

Campaign strategy is the way or ways that a  community power-building organization uses its power to win a demand. . . . If the organization just plunges into action with no clear strategy, it goes from event to event with no deep payoff.

This is key. Choose a strategy based on your best analysis of if it will give you what you want.

Don’t choose it based on what you want to do. Or what another group is doing. Or what you’ve done before.

Of course, this takes research into your issue, your target, and how you can actually have the impact you want.

Rallies and sit-ins can be fun. Media activism can feel empowering. Legal strategies have generated great wins. But this doesn’t mean that any of these are right for your specific issue.

Minieri and Getsos list seven different strategies:

1. direct action
2. disruption
3. legislative
4. advocacy
5. alliance-building
6. media
7. public education

Each of these  have their own benefits and drawbacks. And no, you can’t do them all at once.

If you’re building a house, you have to know when to use a hammer and when to use a saw. Likewise, when fighting for social justice, you have to know when to sue and when to sit-in.

It may not always be fun, but to succeed in your campaign you have to do your homework

One of the things I really appreciate about Tools for Radical Democracy is that it puts a lot of emphasis on researching and planning campaigns and actions.

Take for example the chapter “Researching the Politics of an Issue.” Minierni and Getsos talk about the need for thorough campaign reaserach: going to the library, talking politics with people, going to political meetings, etc.

All this needs to hapen early, before you start putting pressure on a target.

You know what? This kind of planning and preparation is hard work. It’s takes time. It slows you down. Many people find it boring.

And this kind of planning and preparation is absolutely essential if you want to be successful. You need to know your issues, the people and the communities involved,  and the poltical landscape.

Your mother was right, y0u need to do your homework if you want to pass the test.

Sometimes events, issues, or groups loose their support. Sometimes they die. It's not always a bad thing.

Today I met with Laura Russello of Michigan Peaceworks, and she told me about how they are discontinuing one of their regular fundraisers.

The fundraiser has been a lot of fun, but they’ve seen that it’s been lagging a bit in the last few years. So their shutting it down to try something new.

This happesn. People change. The public mood changes. And sometimes events, projects, or issues that were very relevant before no longer seem relevant.

What should you do when this happens:

1. Admit the truth. I’ve seen groups go into denial when their beloved event or cause stops resonating with the public. You can’t change reality unless you face reality.
2. Identify your options: Honestly look at your alternatives. You could keep working on a particular issue. For example, even if nuclear weapons aren’t in the news, that you could choose to keep working for their abolition. You could also choose a new topic or event. Or, maybe it’s time for your group to close. What are the different ways you could deal with the new reality.
3. Evaluate tradeoffs: Remember, everything you do means that you’re spending time and money doing that rather than doing something else, so think carefully about the impacts of your choices. Yes, maybe your current fundraiser turns a profit, what other fundraising opportunities are you missing to pull that event off? Economists call these “opportunity costs,” and you have to evaluate these costs against the benefits of other choices or the status quo.
4. Make a decision and act: After you’ve thought about it, do something. We’ve all been in those settings where people keep talking about an issue and never acting on it. Don’t let that happen to you. Make a decision and follow through with it.

Laura showed courage in stopping a popular event before it completely whithered into something downright embarrassing. And I’m sure she’ll replace it with something fresh, fun, and that will raise lots of money.

Will you show that kind of courage?

In my job with the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, I’ve had the chance to work with Peter Dietz as part of our Social Citizens Makeover award from the Case Foundation.

Peter’s main recommendation was to create a cycle where we post videos of our events online and use a Facebook Page and email to create a feedback loop to announce the video and promote our next event.

As we’ve worked to implement this strategy, we’ve hit a few snags. Here are Peter’s recommendations to work them out.

PROBLEM 1. blip.tv is not working well for us due to problems converting longer videos to flash format.

RECOMMENDATION 1: Look into Vimeo (and also maybe DoGooder)

PROBLEM 2: quantity vs quality of videos, we will have a hard time getting videos up fast AND having high quality videos.

RECOMMENDATION 2: Also, after each event ask panelists or speakers for short clips, get those up fast as a teaser for the full video

PROBLEM 3: migrating our current Facebook group members over to our page.

RECOMMENDATION 3: Recruit a few leaders to the Facebook page, then message all Facebook group members. Message Facebook Group members every now and then to try to get them to move over.

PROBLEM 4: How to include branding and call to action overlays on online videos.

RECOMMENDATION 4: Use online video hosting tools (such as YouTubes) rather than desktop software.

PROBLEM 5: How to manage email segmentation/integration/double opt-ins.

RECOMMENDATION 5: This is a tough one. Check Salesforce and Vertical Response boards for conversations about this, as well as groups like idealist.com. Perhaps look into products such as Convio’s Common Ground. Perhaps try to get a volunteer to code this.

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS:
Peter recommended to put a lot of website space into promoting Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube feeds. BeExtra.org and the Case Foundation websites are good examples.

He also mentioned Facebook Page applications to integrate our YouTube and Flickr postings into our Facebook Page.

He also recommended that I blog about this process to add to the converstion and get additional feedback (and that’s just what I’m doing!)

Recruiting leaders is like a funnel. You need a lot of contacts to go in the top to get a few leaders to come out the bottom.

The grassroots organizing model is about raising up community leaders to take action for the cause.

How do you get those leaders?

It takes both recruiting them and then building them through training, support and experience.

And you have to recruit a lot of supporters to get a few leaders.

Tools for Radical Democracy has a sobering analysis. They say you need:

• “Four Hundred contacts for whom you have a name, address, and phone number
• One hundred who express an interest
• Thirty who attend a meeting or an action
• Ten who come back again and continue in some form with the organization
• Between one and five who engage in a leadership-development activity…
• One or two who continue to develop as leaders.

I don’t know about you, but this tells me I need to get out their there recruiting, following up, and training!

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.  God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. (Genesis 1:9-13)

Notice how God had to move the water out of the way to make room for land?

Sometimes to create new things the existing ones need to move out of the way.

I’ve seen this in committees. Sometimes a group gets so established in its ideas, its activities, and its ideas that there is no room for new people, new thoughts, or new ways of doing things.

And sometimes then the only way to allow the new ideas is to flourish is apart from the established structures, and that means that the existing structures need to get out of the way.

This can sound harsh, but note that the Genesis story doesn’t say that the new land was good and the old sea was bad. God calls both good. So to say an established thing needs to make room for something new is not to judge one or the other.

For me, this is freeing. It means I can stop trying to plant a new tree on top of the sea. Instead, I can recognize the need for new land and to start making room for a new start.