Are You Organizing?

When we take on all the work, we take on all the power, and that is not organizing.

Last week I was sitting at a church dinner with an organizer and eight new members. The group is in a big fight to prevent the closure of a beloved county-owned nursing home in their small town. 

We start kicking around the idea of generating some media highlighting the negative impact of nursing home closures on farmers. One of the farmers agrees this is a good idea, and then asks where we could find statistics to strengthen our case. How the organizer reacts to this simple question is an organizing choice-point. 

One possible reaction would be for the organizer to see it as their job, responding with statements like: “Well, I’ll look into it,” or “We could get someone on staff to dig into that.” In organizations with really big budgets the answer might be, “We have a consultant who can find the data for us.” 

The organizer in this meeting chooses a different route, and says “Yeah, good point, some data to back up our case would be good.” He then asks the rest of the group where we might get that data. People start brainstorming. “Maybe the farmers union, they put out great research.” “There's someone at the local college who does research on farm towns. We could call them.”

In moving the question back to the members, the organizer is encouraging people to think through their own networks and are now solving this problem as a group.

This choice to resist the temptation to take on the work may seem small, but done over and over it shapes the culture of the organization, putting work and power into the hands of more people. It also protects against a culture where paid staff have all the solutions and relationships. 

Another organizer I work with just went with a crew of working-class moms to Washington, DC to push for federal support for childcare. The moms created the talking points and the “leave-behind” materials. They bought iron-on letters and made the t-shirts themselves, and they made and brought the signs too. One of the moms landed a meeting with a US Senator. These are all things that a paid organizer could have chosen to do, but did not, because this is not their organization, it’s the moms’ organization. 

Yes, the organizer helped people think through how to land meetings with their representatives, gave feedback on the talking points, and landed a couple of the legislative meetings through their relationships. But at the end of the day, most of the work done for this organization's first trip to Capitol Hill was done by the moms. 

They went home with new confidence, ready to take on more work, and more sure that the organization belonged to them, because most of what happened in DC was because of them. 

When we don't share the work, we fail to draw on the knowledge, creativity, and power of the people who make up the organization. This means we are leaving potential on the table. We must never forget - it is only when lots of people are carrying the work that we will get big enough to win the toughest of fights.

Next time you think the answer is for you to take on the work, or someone says “we need more capacity,” look around and see if who you need is already at the table, waiting to be asked.