Maintaining a Group

Building Relationships

Personal relationships are the building blocks of organizations; good ones build strong organizations, not-so-good ones can destroy organizations. Incorporate strategies for working on personal growth, conflict resolution, and acceptance of diversity.

Community organizing is based on the idea that "a people united will never be defeated" (a popular chant in many grassroots groups). However, one of the biggest challenges for activists is knowing how to keep their groups united and active. Many issues in U.S. society make it difficult for people to come together and work effectively, such as economic injustice, racism, sexism, consumerism, etc. These difficulties may be disguised as personality conflicts, power struggles, financial conflicts, political and ideological conflicts, or blaming a single person for the problems of an organization.

A clear and effective group structure and decision-making process will be a big help in preventing and resolving difficulties. But in order to keep going for the long haul, groups also need consider how to build strong, long-lasting relationships among their members and supporters. We need to ask things like: Do we listen well to each other, with respect and caring? Are we aware of the ways we have been affected by the oppressions in our society and how we act them out with others? Can we take a stand for each other? Can we interrupt behavior that is hurtful to the cause without rejecting the person?

Unfortunately this can get distorted into a requirement that everyone follow the same, usually white, middle class, and Protestant, standards of behavior. This means: no getting excited, no waving your arms around, no getting loud. Listening with respect and caring doesn't necessarily mean people can't disagree vehemently with each other. The bottom line needs to be a willingness to respectfully struggle as friends to resolve differences. Before a group comes up with ground rules, there needs to be lots of room for people to identify what makes them feel respected and safe.

Introducing your members to tools for personal growth, conflict resolution, and acceptance of diversity can be extremely effective in building a strong team. One-to-one relationships are considered the building blocks of any effective community organization. Individuals are more likely to say "yes" when asked for support and involvement if they are asked by someone they know and trust. Members will stay involved in the group if they consider others in the group their friends; it is harder to leave a friendship than to leave a group.

The Long Haul

Take good care of your group and yourself, and have fun. This will help you keep going when your goals take awhile to accomplish.

It takes years to accomplish the mission and goals of most groups. Therefore, it is crucial for the organizers and leaders of successful groups to pass on their knowledge and skills to other members and to organize the group so that it will survive and grow even if the founders leave.

• Maintain a core of people who keep the organization going. Core members should change over time, even if group founders are still active.
• Create an organizational structure that is written and works well over time. Ask other groups for copies of their by-laws, policies and procedures to see how they are organized.
• Plan regular education and training for members so they can take on leadership and more active roles with confidence.
• Establish dependable and ongoing funding for the group so it can continue in spite of ups and downs.
• Give support and appreciation to group members so they experience organizing as fun and worth continuing.

• Find ways to take care of yourself and have others give you the support you need, financially, emotionally, and physically, to keep going.
• Have a sense of humor and make sure organizing is something to enjoy. Remember the feminist proverb: "She who laughs, lasts."
• Get paid to do organizing or find a source of financial support which will allow you to volunteer your time as an organizer.

Organizing can be a joy as well as challenging, hard work. The more organizers can find the fun in organizing, the easier it is to keep on keeping on!

I started organizing with an all business attitude that looked at a meeting as being over when the gavel fell, and at the hanging out and laughing and drinking coffee afterwards as a distraction and a waste of time. I missed the community part of community organizing.

These people were building a community, and sharing their fears, their hopes and their vision of the future over a beer at the club after the action was just as important as the planning meeting. I learned that meals and birthdays and Christmas parties and the summer picnic are organizing too.

I learned that the posters that got made in the office with pizza and pop by the gang of volunteers we could scare up on a Friday night were far more important to the organization than the same posters made separately in peoples' homes. I learned that using humor to embarrass a public official brought a feeling of power to folks that straight, serious conversation about our rights and their responsibilities could never come close to. I learned the power of FUN! and I vowed to try to make organizing at least as much fun as TV...

--Dave Beckwith, Community Organizing: People Power from the Grassroots (P. 15).
Reprinted with permission.