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So much this by @marybeth_sb. Decades ago, @MarkDilley and I were kinda organizing consultants for AFT grad unions. We asked 1 question that always predicted where a local was: "How many of your major decisions are made after extensive conversations between you and your members?" https://twitter.com/marybeth_sb/status/1353442839376523270
Sometimes, of course, we had to push them to be truthful, but whenever we got through to the truth, that one question told us all we needed to know.
Understand that this wasn't about corrupt leaders or autocratic leaders. It was just that they only talked to each other.
Understand that this wasn't about corrupt leaders or autocratic leaders. It was just that they only talked to each other.
Important to highlight this was in addition to standard union democracy. All these locals had votes, sent out surveys, followed their bylaws. But on top of that, leaders needed to get out and have conversations with rank and file members, and see them as integral to their roles.
There's extensive research that shows leaders and members in unions aren't in the same place, and think about the union in different ways. Talking with folks different than you is VITAL to leadership. It's why I always recommend @JamesSurowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds.
For those still reading the thread, I'll geek out a bit more.
What I think @marybeth_sb is saying, what I'm definitely saying, is different than a lot of theories of organizing conversations that are out there today.
What I think @marybeth_sb is saying, what I'm definitely saying, is different than a lot of theories of organizing conversations that are out there today.
In lots of models/theories, the purpose of 1:1 conversations is primarily leader identification. The idea is sort of that the leader-organizer's job is to go find natural leaders in the workplace or community or wherever, and then help leverage all those leaders' networks
for the purposes of taking action. This is definitely necessary and a good thing, but the practical outcome of this modus operandi is that a leader-organizer ends up talking only to other leaders.
A local union or CLC president, for example, might only ever talk to other officers in the organization, and, so long as those conversations were intentional 1:1s with all the best practices of a 1:1, feel like they were doing an organizer's work.
My point is that even an apex leader needs to spend some time talking to the rank and file. And not the people they already know. A leader, no matter how high up in the hierarchy, needs to make time to have real conversations with average members they don't know.
Not noblesse oblige, "look at me I'm talking to the little people," kinds of conversations.
Not conversations just with members who call the union with a problem or concern.
Seek out average members with no particular reason to be talking to the union, and talk with them.
Not conversations just with members who call the union with a problem or concern.
Seek out average members with no particular reason to be talking to the union, and talk with them.
I'm not saying a leader should change their mind or shift the organization based on one or two conversations, far from it. I'm saying that leader who, on the regular, seeks out members for serious convos will be a more thoughtful, reflective, and effective leader and organizer.
I have zero idea if this is true, but I suspect one of the reasons why so many people in labor are excited about @FlyingWithSara is that the union she leads, @afa_cwa, is relatively small. I'd bet a reasonable amount of money that Nelson, (how much by happenstance, and...
...how much by design, I couldn't guess), even as the leader of that union, finds herself in conversation with rank-and-file members on a fairly regular basis, regular members with whom she ends up connecting. I'm betting that keeps her grounded, which is part of why we like her.
On the other hand, I suspect most of the leaders of the big internationals go months at a time without ever even meeting a rank-and-file member for a 1:1, outside of large events and photo ops. It disconnects you, even if you're a good and thoughtful leader.
It's not a coincidence that Henry V's rousing St Crispin's Day speech (which I have memorized, btw, should you ever need to hear it) follows a night where he disguises himself as a common soldier and wanders through his camp, meeting the common soldiers and hearing them.
Too often, the 1:1 organizing conversation is thought about primarily for how it impacts the person the organizer is talking to. We don't think enough about how important it is for the organizer themselves to have grounding convos with the rank and file. It matters.
