Welcome back, Saturday Campaign D.I.Y.ers! For those who tune in, welcome to the Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic campaign. Each week we discuss issues that help drive successful campaigns. If you’ve missed prior diaries, please visit our group or follow Nuts & Bolts Guide.
This week, we are talking about Organizing and Mobilizing. How you can move between the two and why the two have significant differences.
Often, I hear people declare that Democratic Organizations do little to elect candidates. Or, that a group or campaign only uses people to get out the vote, without ever providing the organization that tells people why they should be doing those things.
The role of people who can organize and those who mobilize are very different, and it is the time we look at how you build your local groups to make effective use of both tools.
Over the last few months since the election, we have seen a lot of groups organize to form the new resistance to the Trump Presidency. We have also seen groups mobilize to help elect officials. A question that gets asked frequently is: how do we go from organizing to mobilizing? How do we take the energy of newly organized groups and push that power into a ballot box?
Before we get there, though, we have to embrace the fact that organizing and mobilizing are two fairly different skill sets. Unlike machinery, organizations do not simply shift modes and become mobilized forces, and even if we could, we should not look to abandon prior organizational goals.
So, let us start out this week by looking at organizing and mobilizing.
Organizing—Organizing forces are aimed at bringing together groups of individuals in a common cause. Through organizing, you can develop common issues, build consensus, and develop a list of motivators. Successful organization and organizers often push for people to feel as though they are heard and have an opportunity within the group to speak or lead.
Mobilizing—Instead of building direct consensus or evaluating motivators, if you are into mobilizing it is about the action, getting a set of actions together, creating a purpose and having a goal which could be measured by a metric that determines progress being made. Mobilizing efforts can be anything from doors knocked, to phone calls made, or money raised, just a few examples.
An email received this week, among several, asked the question: “we became organized in our group, but now we can not mobilize. How do we convert?”
Others have pointed to common work theory, like Tuckman’s stages of group development or McGrath’s TIP theories on developing a group. While many of these theories effectively cover group communication and development, they do not always cover how a volunteer, ad-hoc group can develop and sustain both an organizing and a mobilizing approach.
So, let us talk about how your organized group can be effective at taking that energy and putting it into the ballot box.
The best organizers and organized entities are not, by default, the best mobilizers
Many well-organized entities, unified by purpose or goal, struggle to mobilize because they seem to think the organization can, in a simple turn of events, become a mobilized effort. But organizational skills and mobilizing skills are too different, and often, the people who were in charge of organizing a group are the same individuals in charge of mobilizing. There are reasons this is not always successful:
- Because organizers focus on building consensus and unity, while successful mobilization efforts often require leadership skills that can direct.
- Individuals brought into an organization around an organizational effort have made the mental association of an organizer in one role, so a transformation of that role can feel to members as though a part of the organization they enjoyed—community—has changed and is not as enjoyable.
- Membership interested in organizing may not be suited for mobilization goals.
- Leadership opportunities that exist in organizational efforts often do not exist in mobilization efforts.
Because of these road blocks, several organizations find that when they try to make a shift, infighting and breakdowns occur. People who joined develop expectations and find their expectations break apart when they suddenly view an organizer turned mobilizer in a way that is contrary to their initial belief. This is the moment you hear a lot of people say: “What made XYZ my boss? Why is ABC in charge of me/others?”
Building opportunities to mobilize
While there are differences between organizing and mobilizing, most organized groups, in the end, want to mobilize to enact change. Very few organize just to drink tea and eat cookies and gripe about Republicans — though if that is all they want to do, there is nothing wrong with that either.
So, how do you get mobilization efforts out of an organized group?
- Form action goals and invite already organized members to join action teams. Depending on the size of your group, you may find that the identified priorities list by your organization effort forms action goals your group can follow. By developing teams, you get an opportunity to keep the organizational effort and interest while building groups of action. In the business world, action teams, sometimes also thought of as pod teams are common.
- Keep the organized group updated on action and mobilizing efforts to encourage more members to join the action and mobilizing teams. But give those teams and mobilizers opportunity to develop their own group dynamic based on action rather than organizational communities.
- Do not assume every member of an organized group can or will be part of a mobilizer’s efforts. Some individuals may be great for community or organized activity that will never turn into a great contributor to your mobilization efforts. Maximize the skill sets of those around you, and do not push people into jobs they are ill-suited.
Identify friction
Many individuals already view themselves strongly as either a person who is part of your group for the organization or for the action. Some individuals will join and be part of your organized activity simply because they want a community to be a part of to share common beliefs. That is OK. Even if they never become part of your mobilization effort, their interest in communication still keeps them an active voter and helps them influence their circle of friends, which has value.
Through your organization, you will also identify individuals who will quickly become disenchanted if there is not a mobilization effort. If you go too long without actions they can perform, they will decide the organization is not worth supporting with time or effort, and drop out of the process.
It is rare to find individuals who fully appreciate both equally. In order to prevent organizational friction, great organizations work to provide opportunities that satisfy both needs of individuals.
My Group is REALLY Small though!
Rural and small group organizations struggle hardest with organization and mobilization. Because their groups may consist of a very small number of people, everyone wears multiple hats to get their jobs done. This offers fewer opportunities to create different mobilizing and organizing leadership.
These groups tend to move toward organizing only — they meet and socialize; or mobilization only, they only meet when mobilization efforts are at hand.
The smaller a group is, though, the more likely organizational atrophy or cancer club problems occur.
What are Cancer Club Problems? Cancer Club is a statement about an organization that tends to communally mourn but is not often very welcoming of outsiders. Because they share a common bond, they share common experiences, but without any mobilizing efforts, a morose sense tends to fall over the group that does not encourage growth. We use the phrase Cancer Club to signal that this is a group not everyone or anyone wants to join.
So, if your group is very small, organizational support is often built in — you all know each other well. But mobilization efforts that could attract growth are still needed. To make this happen, avoid meetings for the sake of meetings. If you are having repeat meetings with no action, meeting fatigue will quickly set in. Try to have action opportunities available when you do meet.
Next week: Your questions answered.