ORGANIZING NOTES
(2000)
Learning to Organize
(#1)
In his discussion of the difference between the "raft and the shore", Thich Nhat Hanh distinguishes among frameworks with which to structure learning, learning itself and what is learned. Although we do not need it once we have crossed a raging river, we do need to know how to build a good raft to get across. Our organizing "praxis" can serve us as a "raft" to focus on critical tools, pay attention to key questions, see how elements of organizing interact and share a common language to learn from each other's experience. In a classroom no one learns how to organize. That is a life's work. But you can learn how to learn to organize - that is a reasonable goal.
Organizing is a practice. Learning practice is different from learning "theory" because it can only be learned from the experience of taking action. Taking action, in turn, requires the courage to take risks - risks of failure, of making mistakes, of losing face, of rejection, etc. Because organizing is a relational practice – done in interaction with others – the more you can distinguish between your own goals, the goals of others, and how they interact, the easier it becomes for you to take risks learning requires (Kegan and Lahey 1984). And the more deeply committed you are to your project, the more you will learn because you will be motivated to risk gaining new experience from which you can learn.
Organizing is also theory. We do not learn theory to "apply" it. Theory is not how things "really are". Theory is a way to simplify reality more or less useful for specific purposes, such as predicting a likely outcome. We all have theories – the generalized lessons we learn from our experience (or experience reported by others) so we have an idea of what to expect (Gardner 1991). Using theory "mindfully" requires stepping back from our experience, writing about it, reflecting critically upon it, and drawing lessons from it. Learning what we can learn from our experience requires the discipline to place it in perspective, compare it with that of others, and reflect on it analytically.
Learning the "praxis" (theory of practice) of organizing may challenge some of your assumptions (your own theories) about how the social world works. These may be assumptions that serve you perfectly well in your private life, but may not work as well in the public work of organizing. Fiske and Taylor explain how we develop "schemata" with which we organize our understandings of the world. Schemata enable and constrain. They enable us to make sense of things, generalize, make choices, draw conclusions, and act. But, as stereotypes, they can inhibit our clarity of perception, cause us to see what we expect to see, and make it difficult for us to learn. Langer offers some ways to learn to be more "mindful" of our assumptions so they become less constraining - and develop more useful theory.
To facilitate our discussions I use charts because we are learning about social processes often more easily visualized than verbalized. The four basic patterns embedded in these charts are those that depict relationship, purpose, feedback-loops, and focus. Relational charts depict interactions, balances, and exchanges among parties fundamental to organizing. Purpose charts depict movement or development toward a goal, a peak, an outcome. Loops -- or more accurately spirals -- depict ways action leads to outcomes that influence subsequent action. Focus charts show the effect of concentrating diffuse energy and resources on specific targets.
Our approach is rooted in the traditions and values of democratic organizing - mobilize people to take action around common interests, generating leadership that is accountable to them. Although some tactics may be similar, organizing is not about how to organize an army, a corporation, or a social service agency. The values that motivate democratic organizing are found in our moral traditions – religious, cultural, political -- traditions we draw upon for our motivation to act. The understanding of organizing I build upon emerged from the Judeo-Christian and democratic traditions of the West, but as democracy has become a goal of peoples around the world, this tradition has been both challenged and enriched. The most important 20th Century innovator of democratic organizing, for example, was Gandhi. His combination of Eastern and Western traditions created a legacy further developed in the African freedom movement, the American civil rights movement, the work of Solidarity in Poland, and elsewhere.
Engaging in new experience, critical analysis of that experience, and reflecting on the values within which that experience is rooted can be very challenging. This is why much of what we do is in interaction with others – constituency, classmates, colleagues, and instructors. This is not an "extra" but at the core of the learning process. Learning how to challenge, support, and motivate those with whom we work - and to be challenged, supported, and motivated by them - can be one of the most useful "organizing" lessons you can take from this experience.