advocacy 301: next steps
DESCRIPTION
Going Beyond Basic AdvocacyTRANSCRIPT
Advocacy 301
• Next Steps in System Change
Fighting for LTC Reform at the Michigan Capitol
Limits of Basic Advocacy
• Laws are limits on change– Complaints only deal with rules violations– Risk of turning over your future to an
Administrative Law Judge• Money is always scarce– Money always goes to stupid purposes– Money is always already committed to something
else• Policies are never clear and true
What Else Can I Do?
• Negotiation
• Technology
• Social Networking
• How to Deal with Charisma and Power
• Organizing our organizations
• Strategy
Negotiation
• Negotiate from values, not positions• Use mediation techniques• Don’t humiliate an opponent, ever, no matter
how tempting• Don’t make decisions if you are afraid or
angry-take a break and calm down.• Understand the meaning of BATNA• Precedent (control) and cost are the levers
Technology
• Assistive Technology has great potential for our Community
• Get Broadband! And Learn Tech!• Useful computers are dropping below $300• Video conferencing is becoming very cheap
and easy• Tech infrastructure is necessary for social
networking
Social networking
• Blogs: We don’t write enough!• Twitter: Status and passing on links• Finding articles, ideas, and cutting edge
advocacy info: Blogbridge• Facebook• Aggregators:– Digsby– Ping.fm– Peoplebrowser
Charisma and Power
• Double-Edged swords• Shared Attention: key organizing tool• Gossip and humor: power balancing tools• Art of Getting Things Done: People driven by– Power– Achievement– Affiliation
• You need people driven by each and all
Organizing Our Organizations
• Organizations are created and maintained by using tools of cooperation
• The Tools of Cooperation fall into 4 categories:– Leadership– Culture– Management – Power
• Which tools to use depends on consensus about:– Reality– Goals
Leadership Tools
• Low consensus on reality; high consensus on goals– Charisma– Vision– Role modeling– Salesmanship
• The Tools create consensus on reality
Culture Tools
• High consensus on reality and goals– Folklore– Religion– Rituals– Democracy– Tradition– Apprenticeship
• Culture maintains and expands consensus
Mangement Tools
• High consensus on reality; low consensus on goals– Measurement systems– Standard operation procedures– Training– Performance appraisals
• Tools build consensus on goals
Power Tools
• Low consensus on reality and goals– Role definitions– Hiring and promotion– Fiat– Control systems– Threats– Coercion
• Tools build consensus through Force
Separation into New organizations
• Can’t reach a consensus on course of action• No one has the power to coerce cooperation• You need to divide the conflicted groups into
separate organizations with high consensus in each group
• Think of the separate organizations as different tools for dealing with future change, not different religions
The Future of Our Organizations
• Most are Driven by Culture right now– Common Training– Common beliefs about oppression– Common personal interests
• Success will bring with it requirements for management tools
• As resources and power accumulate, success will also bring conflicts over goals and reality
Responding to Cultural “Drift”
• Re-engagement with oppression• Build management tool sets within our
community• Acknowledge the right to “pass” as a form of
separation• Accept and work with a diversity of
organizations on the continuum of activism• Take an “Evolutionary” approach to change
Strategy
• Four levels of Planning and Action:– Tactics: concrete accomplishment of local goal– Operations: integrated accomplishment of many
tactical goals– Strategy: Overall Outcome– Grand Strategy: How our values and culture drive
what we consider to be good Outcomes• We don’t get good at them in this order
Development of Strategy Skills
• First we get good at Tactics• Then we run into a resource constraint, and
have to come up with a strategy (very important and dangerous decision)
• Then we integrate the strategy and our tactical skills to create operations
• Grand Strategy is often unconscious and contains contradictions
Tools of Strategy
• First Develop Consensus Around Vision!!!• SWOT Analysis– Strengths– Weaknesses– Opportunities– Threats
• These days, keep it down to one to two years
Scenario Planning and strategy• Develop Possible Futures– Best Future under current circumstances– Worst Future under current circumstance– Oddest Future under current circumstances
• These are NOT predictions, but possibilities• Build your strategy so you do well under all
three• As change occurs, tweak scenarios and strategy
The Strategic conversation
• Talk about your future a lot• Don’t fall into the trap of believing that the
organizations most like you are your competitors. Your competitors are those with very different values from you who are using scarce funds for other goals
• Everyone scans the environment for information useful to your organization
Soul Resources
• Two sides of the advocacy coin:– Fire: Being a warrior– Spirit: Being a saint
• Your quality as an advocate will depend on how well you integrate these two very different people in your one personality
• Two books to help:– The 33 Strategies of War– Nonprofit Stewardship
• Only You can integrate these capabilities
Web Resources
• Telling your story can be powerful advocacy:http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools
• Maps can be powerful communication tools:http://www.policymap.com/map
• Free High End Project Manager:http://gantter.com/
• All Things Business, Change, Information, etc.:http://www.brint.com/
My Resources
• My Twitter Account: mdrcngd• My Blogs:
– The Recovering Life– LTC Reform– Communities of Power– Universal Education
• MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/• Linkedin Profile: http://bit.ly/s1mS• Email: [email protected]• Download This Presentation: http://bit.ly/gCm16• Comment on this Presentation
Final Thoughts
• "An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.“- Victor Hugo
• "Real change always entails the redistribution of power."- Peter Block
• "You've got to think about "big things" while you're doing small things so the small things go in the right direction."- Alvin Toffler
• "Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?”- Abraham Lincoln