the cocoon(?) of traditional organizing
A few weeks ago I spent some time talking with a friend about my current attempt to find useful organizing design patterns, part of my attempt to do better organizing in real time (and at work, better scrum coaching).
Conversation is a good thing, but if I thought that my talk about how there were things common in Scrum and IAF-style organizing would strike a chord, I was wrong. For the umpteenth time, I have yet to find the language that speaks to the organizing imagination. Just as Scrum Masters and Project Managers listen to my talk about IAF-style organizing as though I were describing characteristics of Asian fruit trees (interesting, perhaps, but utterly irrelevant in Boston), my friend was mystified as to why I thought scrum might offer insight. He did like my emphasis on transparency--something we often don’t see in community organizing. But, I did not get the impression that it was something that he saw as relevant to his own practice.
He discussed how he teaches union members about social media--that they don’t build relationships. “But they get people you didn’t know before to the table!” I interrupt. He concedes the point and it disappears as we continue to talk.
But, here’s the thing. Union membership is at an all-time low compared to its peak, and still dropping. The reputation of Unions is even lower than the reputation of the bosses who grab even more of the national pie as our anti-aristocracy laws are rebranded “death taxes.” Huge swathes of the country see Unions, and community organizers, as the enemy.
Once we get people involved, yes, we need those relationships, community ties, one-on-ones, and the rest. But we have a lot to do with social media to change perceptions, get people to show up, and get them engaged--and talk with excitement to their friends. Mass media without those human connections keep us on the fad track. But, all the organizers in the world aren’t going to create change if we’re seen as the enemy, and if we’re not present where our potential members spend their attention.
I don’t know how to make this all work. I don’t even know how to get organizers to pay attention. But I remain convinced that if we can pull these tools together we can create a sustainable movement for change. In the meantime, am I talking with the wrong people? Totally wrong about these synergies? Irrelevant? No proof otherwise.
