Citizen Works - Tools for Organizing

Planning is necessary if you want to avoid wasted activity, and make your collective efforts count. It should move from the general to the specific, from the big picture to the small, from the long term to the short, from "what" to "how". Planning entails:

- Setting a goal
- Devising objectives (or strategies) to achieve the goal
- Devising actions to achieve the objectives.

Look beyond the obvious to find good objectives
In trying to deal with a problem like growing juvenile crime your group might decide on the obvious objective of getting more police. If you looked beyond symptoms, at causes, you might decide to try to open local schools during evenings. Research can help you look beyond the obvious.

How do your objectives score?
Generate ideas for objectives that will lead to your goal, and then decide which to pursue. Test alternative objectives by asking:

- Does it have strong group support?
- Is it specific enough? ("Reduce crime" is too general. "Eliminate street prostitution on Angus Drive" is specific.)
- Is it easily attainable?
- Will it have an immediate visible impact?
- How will we know when we've reached our objective? How do we measure progress?

To be effective, your group should pursue no more than one or two objectives at any given time. New groups should begin with small projects having a high probability of success over the short term.

Plan the action
Generate ideas that will lead to your objective, then decide which to carry forward. Once your group agrees on an action, create an action plan. It should include a time-frame; an ordered list of tasks to complete; persons responsible for each task; a list of resources required including materials; facilities and funds. Keep action plans flexible so you can respond to the unexpected. One good way to identify a group's priorities is to ask people to write their views with thick markers on large post-it notes. Each person sticks their notes to a board or large sheet of paper where everyone can see them. A facilitator then helps the group arrange the notes into clusters with similar characteristics.

Acting

Once you've completed the necessary groundwork, you need to act. Surprisingly, many groups never get around to acting. John Gardiner says, "Many talk about action but are essentially organized for study, discussion or education. Still others keep members busy with organizational housekeeping, committee chores, internal politics and passing of resolutions." While many interest groups get together just for discussion, community groups tend to work best when acting accompanies talking. Otherwise, they tend to shrink to a few diehards for whom meeting attendance has become a way of life.

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Community Organizing
The Citizen's Handbook:
A Guide to Building Community in Vancouver
© Charles Dobson / Vancouver Citizen's Committee