Post by wtpmegan on Nov 8, 2018 21:07:38 GMT -5
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book, and I highly recommend it IF -- and that's a big if -- you don't fall asleep reading text books lol. This book is pretty dry, and a bit difficult to read at times.
BUT
If you missed the community organizer We The People workshops in 2017 & 2018, this is a really good place to start with how organizing works and what good organizing looks like. For the people who were able to attend the workshops, this is a good deeper dive into cultivating leadership in activists and building sustainable organizations.
I think my most favorite lesson from the book is that we have to structure our work so that we are most successful when we're working with other people. No matter how small or large the task -- whether we are cleaning up after potluck, strategizing during a campaign or planning a statewide summit -- it's vitally important that we work with others while we're doing. This is for relationship building, this is for practicing being in the larger movement, this is for sustainability and avoiding burnout, this is for FUN.
I'll quote adrienne maree brown (see my other thread on Emergent Strategy):
So, as organizers, we create opportunities for people to work together.
My other favorite takeaway from How Organizations Develop Activists is the quote:
That's a lot of fancy words. But I actually have this in my journal in big, bold hand writing because I think it is so, so important. To me, this means that we always have to be looking ahead -- to what's downstream, and if it can be bigger or better than what we're doing now. That mean's...
- I think proactively about what I want and how I will get it. (How do my actions and my work affect the future success of my group or organization?)
- I intentionally incorporate downstream effects when I engage with my people. (How is what I'm asking them to do building their leadership and their capacity? How will this ask transform them and my organization's work?)
- I will engage with my people actively and not passively. (How is my outreach, recruitment and engagement happening in a way that I don't simply expect people to come to me?)
- I seek to build genuine relationships with my people. (How am I starting and then continuing to deepen these relationships over time?)
- I will intentionally build community. (How are my people grounding their efforts in their commitments to the cause and to each other?)
BUT
If you missed the community organizer We The People workshops in 2017 & 2018, this is a really good place to start with how organizing works and what good organizing looks like. For the people who were able to attend the workshops, this is a good deeper dive into cultivating leadership in activists and building sustainable organizations.
I think my most favorite lesson from the book is that we have to structure our work so that we are most successful when we're working with other people. No matter how small or large the task -- whether we are cleaning up after potluck, strategizing during a campaign or planning a statewide summit -- it's vitally important that we work with others while we're doing. This is for relationship building, this is for practicing being in the larger movement, this is for sustainability and avoiding burnout, this is for FUN.
I'll quote adrienne maree brown (see my other thread on Emergent Strategy):
The strength of our movements can only be measured by the depth of our relationships.
My other favorite takeaway from How Organizations Develop Activists is the quote:
Mobilize with downstream effects in mind. Transactional mobilizing can lead to transformational organizing if we incorporate developing leadership capacity building, creating social capital, and building structures into our mobilizing.
- I think proactively about what I want and how I will get it. (How do my actions and my work affect the future success of my group or organization?)
- I intentionally incorporate downstream effects when I engage with my people. (How is what I'm asking them to do building their leadership and their capacity? How will this ask transform them and my organization's work?)
- I will engage with my people actively and not passively. (How is my outreach, recruitment and engagement happening in a way that I don't simply expect people to come to me?)
- I seek to build genuine relationships with my people. (How am I starting and then continuing to deepen these relationships over time?)
- I will intentionally build community. (How are my people grounding their efforts in their commitments to the cause and to each other?)