Advocacy 301

• Next Steps in System Change

Fighting for LTC Reform at the Michigan Capitol

Limits of Basic Advocacy

• Laws are limits on change– Complaints only deal with rules violations– Risk of turning over your future to an

Administrative Law Judge• Money is always scarce– Money always goes to stupid purposes– Money is always already committed to something

else• Policies are never clear and true

What Else Can I Do?

• Negotiation

• Technology

• Social Networking

• How to Deal with Charisma and Power

• Organizing our organizations

• Strategy

Negotiation

• Negotiate from values, not positions• Use mediation techniques• Don’t humiliate an opponent, ever, no matter

how tempting• Don’t make decisions if you are afraid or

angry-take a break and calm down.• Understand the meaning of BATNA• Precedent (control) and cost are the levers

Technology

• Assistive Technology has great potential for our Community

• Get Broadband! And Learn Tech!• Useful computers are dropping below $300• Video conferencing is becoming very cheap

and easy• Tech infrastructure is necessary for social

networking

Social networking

• Blogs: We don’t write enough!• Twitter: Status and passing on links• Finding articles, ideas, and cutting edge

advocacy info: Blogbridge• Facebook• Aggregators:– Digsby– Ping.fm– Peoplebrowser

Charisma and Power

• Double-Edged swords• Shared Attention: key organizing tool• Gossip and humor: power balancing tools• Art of Getting Things Done: People driven by– Power– Achievement– Affiliation

• You need people driven by each and all

Organizing Our Organizations

• Organizations are created and maintained by using tools of cooperation

• The Tools of Cooperation fall into 4 categories:– Leadership– Culture– Management – Power

• Which tools to use depends on consensus about:– Reality– Goals

Leadership Tools

• Low consensus on reality; high consensus on goals– Charisma– Vision– Role modeling– Salesmanship

• The Tools create consensus on reality

Culture Tools

• High consensus on reality and goals– Folklore– Religion– Rituals– Democracy– Tradition– Apprenticeship

• Culture maintains and expands consensus

Mangement Tools

• High consensus on reality; low consensus on goals– Measurement systems– Standard operation procedures– Training– Performance appraisals

• Tools build consensus on goals

Power Tools

• Low consensus on reality and goals– Role definitions– Hiring and promotion– Fiat– Control systems– Threats– Coercion

• Tools build consensus through Force

Separation into New organizations

• Can’t reach a consensus on course of action• No one has the power to coerce cooperation• You need to divide the conflicted groups into

separate organizations with high consensus in each group

• Think of the separate organizations as different tools for dealing with future change, not different religions

The Future of Our Organizations

• Most are Driven by Culture right now– Common Training– Common beliefs about oppression– Common personal interests

• Success will bring with it requirements for management tools

• As resources and power accumulate, success will also bring conflicts over goals and reality

Responding to Cultural “Drift”

• Re-engagement with oppression• Build management tool sets within our

community• Acknowledge the right to “pass” as a form of

separation• Accept and work with a diversity of

organizations on the continuum of activism• Take an “Evolutionary” approach to change

Strategy

• Four levels of Planning and Action:– Tactics: concrete accomplishment of local goal– Operations: integrated accomplishment of many

tactical goals– Strategy: Overall Outcome– Grand Strategy: How our values and culture drive

what we consider to be good Outcomes• We don’t get good at them in this order

Development of Strategy Skills

• First we get good at Tactics• Then we run into a resource constraint, and

have to come up with a strategy (very important and dangerous decision)

• Then we integrate the strategy and our tactical skills to create operations

• Grand Strategy is often unconscious and contains contradictions

Tools of Strategy

• First Develop Consensus Around Vision!!!• SWOT Analysis– Strengths– Weaknesses– Opportunities– Threats

• These days, keep it down to one to two years

Scenario Planning and strategy• Develop Possible Futures– Best Future under current circumstances– Worst Future under current circumstance– Oddest Future under current circumstances

• These are NOT predictions, but possibilities• Build your strategy so you do well under all

three• As change occurs, tweak scenarios and strategy

The Strategic conversation

• Talk about your future a lot• Don’t fall into the trap of believing that the

organizations most like you are your competitors. Your competitors are those with very different values from you who are using scarce funds for other goals

• Everyone scans the environment for information useful to your organization

Soul Resources

• Two sides of the advocacy coin:– Fire: Being a warrior– Spirit: Being a saint

• Your quality as an advocate will depend on how well you integrate these two very different people in your one personality

• Two books to help:– The 33 Strategies of War– Nonprofit Stewardship

• Only You can integrate these capabilities

Web Resources

• Telling your story can be powerful advocacy:http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools

• Maps can be powerful communication tools:http://www.policymap.com/map

• Free High End Project Manager:http://gantter.com/

• All Things Business, Change, Information, etc.:http://www.brint.com/

My Resources

• My Twitter Account: mdrcngd• My Blogs:

– The Recovering Life– LTC Reform– Communities of Power– Universal Education

• MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/• Linkedin Profile: http://bit.ly/s1mS• Email: ndelisle@prosynergy.org• Download This Presentation: http://bit.ly/gCm16• Comment on this Presentation

Final Thoughts

• "An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.“- Victor Hugo

• "Real change always entails the redistribution of power."- Peter Block

• "You've got to think about "big things" while you're doing small things so the small things go in the right direction."- Alvin Toffler

• "Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?”- Abraham Lincoln