Entries Tagged 'leadership' ↓

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.

I picked up another great tip from Tools for Radical Democracy by Minieri and Getsos.

In their amazing chapeter on recruitment, they recommend recruiting new activists with one-on-one conversations. That’s nothing new, but what I hadn’t thought of systematizing was doing a quick rank of prospects so you know who you most want to follow up with.

Minieri and Getsos recommend a 3-point ranking.

Does someone really get it? Do they seem like they really want to get involved? That’s the person you most want to follow up with. He’s a 1. You want to make sure you get back to him and soon.

That person who is interested in the issue but doesn’t necessarily seem keen on getting involved? You still want to follow up with her, but she’s not as high of a priority. She’s a 2.

And that guy who signs your petition to get you out of his way? He’s not worth a lot of time. He gets a 3. Keep him on your list for suveys and such, but you don’t want to put a lot of time into him.

Now, this is something most of us get intuitively. It’s not rocket science to follow up with the people who are the best prospects for getting involved.

What I like about this is the idea of creating a system for identifying who those best prospects are and recording it right then and there so you don’t forget.

If you’re a community organizer, your job is to help people take actions that lead to positive social change.

Sure,  there’s other important dynamics about leadership development, issue education, and community building, but if you don’t help people take action, you’re not doing your job.

And if you’ve been doing this work for longer than a week, you know that getting people to take action takes a bit more work than just saying “go do something about this issue.”

So, how can you make it more likely that people will act?

1. Make it very clear what action you want people to take.

While you think about your issue 25 hours a day, you’re lucky if the people you work with think about your issue 25 minutes a week. That means that if they have to take the time to figure out what to do about global warming, human trafficking, or banning cluster bombs, they just won’t do it.

So you’re job is to make it very clear what you want them to do. Here are some examples:

• “Call Representative Bigwig and at 1-800-cashbag and tell him to listen to support the Voter Power Bill, HR 1234, limiting the power of big-money lobbyists. Here’s a script for you.”
• “Show up at the corner of Rise and Up at 12:30 on March Fourth to join the rally to save the legless turtles.”
• “Come to our office at 123 Sesame Street from 3-5 on Friday to help us mail out our newsletter.”

All these examples tell people exactly what they need to do. They don’t need to ponder it or puzzle out exactly what do do, they just need to do it.

2. Get people to make a commitment to act, preferably a public one.

Often we are engaging with people to take action, but they need to go home to take the action. So we tell them, “When you get home, make this call,” or “write this letter.”

The problem is that many people will say, “I’ll think about it,” but by the time they get home they’ve cooled off and now their more worried about doing the dishes than they are about taking your action.

One way to up your chances that they’ll write your letter before doing the dishes to get them to commit to acting. For example, we could tell them:

What I need you to do when you get home is to pick up a pen and paper and write a letter to Senator Beltway telling him to save the legless turtles. Will you do that? Hands up everyone who will write that letter. Look around! This is exiting! Now I want you to plan it out right now. Where is your paper? Where are your stamps? Write that letter before you turn on American Idol or Lost, and together we will save the noble legless turtles.

Notice here that people had to make a commitment in the moment to take action. They decided then and there to take action, rather than putting off the decision until they got home.

Yes, there’s also a bit of peer pressure here, you don’t want to be the only heartless clod without her hand up.

Peer pressure is part of the power of a public commitment. Also, a public commitment creates public accountability. People will realize “Miguel saw me raise my hand and commit to writing a letter. Maybe he’ll ask me about it next time we meet. I’d better write that letter.”

There’s also a bit of visualization here so that people know what they’re doing right when they get home.

3. Remove barriers to action.

If you want people to write a letter, as in the example above, think about what they have to do. They have to remember until they get home. They have to find paper, an envelope, a stamp, the address to write to, and think about what they have to say.

How many of these barriers can you remove?

I can tell you from experience you will have more people write letters if you give them paper, envelopes, a sample letter, the recipient’s address, and some time to write a letter just then, especially if they know you expect to collect their letters before they leave and that you’ll stamp and mail them.

If you make it easy to act, more people will act.

4. Follow up.

Okay, so you can’t get people to take action then and there, but you passed around a clipboard or you asked people to fill out a pledge card commiting to take action.

Now follow up with them.

The next day send them an email with the sample letter and address to remind them to take action.

Three days later have a volunteer phone bank to ask them if they’ve written that letter yet (and if they want to come to your fundraiser in two weeks).

We’re all so busy these days we tend to do what we’re reminded to do, so you want to be the one reminding, not the one forgotten about.

Yes, I know it takes a bit more work to figure out exactly what you want people to do, to get them to make a commitment, to make it easy for them to act, and to follow up.

But if you do these, you will see a lot more people take action. You will be farther along in winning the postive change. And you will be serving the people you work with by helping them create a better world.

Frodo volunteers to take the One Ring to Mordor, even though he isn't a hero and he does not know the way.

One of my favorite examples of courage and uncertainty comes from Lord of the Rings.

Early in the story, there is a council where great leaders from the different peoples of Middle Earth are arguing what to do about the one ring. Famous Dwarf, Elf, and Human fighters and wizards all try to show that they are brave, and full of bluster they fight over how to destroy this ring that has the power to destroy them all.

The only way the ring can be destroyed is to throw it into a volcano in Mordor, in the heart of the evil Sauron’s territory. And even though all of the heroes want to seem brave and strong, they are all afraid to take the ring there.

And so the argument continues.

Until one person, Frodo Baggins, a small hobbit speaks up. He is no heroe. He has won no battles and he knows no magic.

Frodo steps forward and says, “I will take the ring to Modor! [pause] Though… I do not know the way.”

Can you be like Frodo? Can you take on task even when you do not know the way?

Often in peacemaking and jusice organizing, we are called to great challenges: fighting racism, trying to end wars, working to rebuild communities. And we often do not know they way.

We are often called to work we feel unprepared for, when we do not know the way.

In all honesty, I do not know the way to peace in Iraq of Israel/Palestine. I do not know how to stop global warming.

And by humbly admitting what I do not know, I am open to new insight into how to proceed.

This sense of being sent out and receiving guidance along the path is also a common theme in the Bible. When Moses was sent to Pharoah, God promised guidance, saying “I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (Exodus 4:12)

Isaiah writes, “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8).

And in the New Testament, Jesus tells his followers when they face persecuting by the authories that they should “not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (Luke 12:11-12)

Do not let not knowing the way stop you from beginning, there is a community with you to support you.

In Lord of the Rings, after Frodo volunteered to take the ring, he did not go alone. The heroes shared the journey with him, as did his loyal friend Sam. All of them together played a role in overcoming Sauron.

In our work for peace and justice, may we, like Frodo, have the courage to go forward even when we do not know the way, and if we surround ourselves with a supportive community.

A training plan gradually built up my strength and prepared me to run a marathon. How can you build up your organization's strength to achieve your goals?

When I started running I could barely make it 3 miles. After that, I was out-of-breath, my knees screamed, and my stomach felt woozy.

But I kept at it. I ran a bit farther each time. The more I ran the more I could run.

Now, I have three marathons under my belt, and it came from consistently doing what was just at the edge of my ability, and watching my ability increase.

Community organizing is the same way. Organization strength grows just like running strength does; by consistently completing efforts that are just at the edge of your ability.

I see too many social change organizations that want to do the equivalent of running a marathon without working up to it.

So when faced with the recent escalation in Gaza, for example, I hear people saying we need to completely reverse US policy toward Israel, that we need to stop Congress from passing a resolution supporting Israel’s “right to self-defense,” and that we need to do this immediatly.

Let’s be honest, that’s more than running a marathon, that’s more like running the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon.

I would like to run Badwater, and I would like to see the U.S. have a balanced policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but I know I’m not ready to do either just now.

Is this a call to despair? No, far from it. This is a call for honesty and a movement “training plan” to make us strong enough to achieve our goals.

Keep that long-term vision of a balanced US foreing policy toward Israel and Palestine. Keep that goal of running Badwater. Keep that goal of universal health care, of eliminating nuclear weapons, and eliminating malnutrition.

Then develop a plan to build up the strength or your organization and your allies to get you there.

Each of my three marathons has been difficult. For each of them I followed a training plan to get me ready to run all 26.2 miles. This training plan told me how far to run, how hard to run, when to run, and when to rest. And that marathon training plan came after I had successfully shorter races.

So if our goal is to change U.S. policy in the middle east, the first step is not a 180-degree shift in policy; it’s a 2-degree shift. Maybe the first step is to get funding for coexistence groups in the Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Maybe it’s getting an interfaith coalition to raise money for humanitarian relief for Gaza to show that Jews, Muslims, and Christians can work together and do all want to end the suffering.

I said earlier this isn’t a call to despair. In fact, it’s the opposite. Always failing because you take on more than you can manage, that is cause for despair. Taking on a realistic, thoughtful way to grow and strengthen so you can accomplish more than you can now? Not that’s a cause for hope.

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For a great tool to plan how to acheive those steps along the way to your goal, check out the Just Enough Planning Guide.

In 1906, Mohandas Gandhi and 3,000 other Indians living in South Africa met to oppose a law that would have required all Indians to be fingerprinted and to carry residency permits, as if they were criminals.

You know how most meetings like this go. Everyone in the room agrees it is wrong.
Maybe they pass a resolution.
Sometimes someone will take action on their own.

And often as not, nothing really changed.

At this meeting, through, something different happened. Rather than just passing a resolution calling for every Indian in South Africa to resist the Ordinance, Sheth Haji Habib suggested that they take things a step farther–that everyone present make a vow before God that they would go to jail rather than submit to the resolution.

Everyone stood up to take the vow.

This is the pinnacle of community organizing: to mobilize a group of people to take a smart, principled action, even at great risk to themselves.

What does this mean for modern-day organizers? Look beyond just intellectual agreement or statements of support. Seek and ask for active support.

It is that active support that will change the world.

I’ve already told you how I think part of what makes Lynn Rosetto-Casper a great radio host is that she is a dream feeder.

I saw again the power of enthusiasm in getting people engaged.

Recently I attended a house meeting for a political campaign, and I was amazed to see how supportive and enthusiastic the organizer was.

When someone suggested and idea for how they could support the campaign, the organizer gushed with positive feedback and encouragement for the volunteer to take on that project.

Do you want to register voters in a senior center? That’s a great idea! Good thinking! Go for it.

Even I found myself committing to more than I had bargained for at the meeting. I started out planning just to say that I would run the Detroit Marathon as a fundraiser for this candidate. Soon, the organizer had me thinking bigger about how we could recruit other runners to do the same thing and to make it an event.

How can you get more out of your volunteers and activists? Cheer them on!

I’ve just finished Bury the Chains, an excellent history of the British abolitionist movement-I highly recommend it.

One of the themes of the book was the odd alliance between two of the movement’s leaders: William Wilberforce and John Clarkson.

John Clarkson was an organizer, and agitator, and a bit of a radical. He was inspired by the French revolution. He was not satisfied with the inequality of British society, for Clarkson the institution of slavery was the most offensive of the injustices.

Wilberforce was very different. In most ways he was conservative. As a wealthy man himself, he thought that society worked well (except for the problem of slavery), and he was repulsed by the French revolution and other examples of popular unrest.

Despite their political differences, Wilberforce and Clarkson needed each other.

Wilberforce alone would have not been able to mobilize popular pressure and galvanize the public against slavery.

Clarkson alone would not have been able to maneuver the House of Lords and actually get legislation passed to ban the slave trade.

Who are you working with who seems totally different from you? How can you find new allies for social transformation?

As we discuss the importance of focusing on transformation, we need to remember that it happens one step at a time.

I was reminded of this listening to the Fundraising is Beautiful podcast. Jeff Brook and Steven Screen remind listeners to do one thing at a time.

They point out that many fundraising efforts fail when they try to accomplish too much at once. They try to educate, inspire grassroots lobbying, show impact, fundraise, raise awareness and more all in one communication. Jeff and Steven point out that when you try to do all that at once, you usually fail at everything.

Instead, they recommend doing one thing at a time. If it’s a fundraising letter, focus the letter on raising funds. Then you can follow up with showing impact or educating in the newsletter.

A key part of their argument is that you have a relationship with your members, so over time you can work on your laundry list of goals, but it has to happen one action at a time.

So while I’m championing the importance of transformation, likewise transformation happens one step at a time.

You can’t transform someone from a passive bystander to an uber-activist in one step; and you’ll probably scare them away if you try.

So plan each action with an eye toward transformation and recognize you’ll get there one step at a time.

Here’s one more plug for why it’s important to be rigorous in pursuing social transformation.

“For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root.”
-Henry David Thoreau