Taking the Step Back

The Iron Rule of Organizing, attributed to Mr. Alinsky, is this: "Do not do for anyone what they can do themselves."

When one is organizing a community, in close conjunction with local government, it seems almost too easy to do seemingly simple actions which would push your organization forward: brainstorming with other organizers, calling local authorities, making phone calls to locals, etc. The Midwest Academy suggests that every time an organizer stuffs an envelope or knocks on a door, they need to recognize that they are doing a job which could be done by a volunteer.

The recruiting of volunteers and the delegation of tasks to them is incredibly important. I know that it took me a pretty serious change of perspective to see that asking local residents to hand out fliers or make phone calls was not a negative thing. It is not a hassle, it is not the passing on of unpleasant jobs: the purpose of delegating these things is to empower the volunteers, to allow them to invest their time and labor into the organization. With this comes a certain sense of ownership, a more solid belief that the organization is truly a People's Organization, as opposed to another professional non-profit.

This type of delegation is also key in building sustainability in an organization. If you're lucky, your People's Organization will outlive you. The assumption here is that your organization is not a single-issue solution-driven organization, but rather an ongoing pro-democracy power-sharing type deal. If this is the case, the ongoing life of the organization depends upon the constant influx of volunteers, and the constant assignment of tasks. It is only by asking people to perform that the organizer is able to filter the reliable from the unreliable.

With this type of empowerment driven delegation comes a caveat: the organizer must be willing to step back, to avoid micromanaging, to truly place his or her trust and good will in the hands of the people. For an organization to truly be a People's Organization, it must reflect the people within it, for what else is there? Remember that, as organizers, our ego must be set aside: we exist only as tools to be used by the People, and the People's Organization. It may seem a small thing to let go the responsibility of stuffing envelopes - and for some, this warning may be useless! But know that the step back is important, is key in building a sustainable People's Organization. The training wheels cannot stay on forever.