Blog
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Why I banned "Civic Engagement"
Sometime ago I found myself standing in front of a thousand people giving a speech and saying that I had banned the phrase ‘civic engagement’ from The Harwood Institute’s work. The phrase has become a catch-all, a kind of Good Housekeeping seal that we’re doing honorable work in the name of community and the common good. But what I find is that the phrase gets in the way of our very goals.
As soon as the phrase ‘civic engagement’ enters a conversation people become activity happy. Right away, you’ll hear them launch into an animated discussion of how many forums they want to hold, the number of flip charts they need, how many different color magic markers they want (and whether they are scented!), and concern over what to do with all the pages of newsprint they put up on the wall. It’s enough to drive me crazy.
Somewhere in the litany of activities we lose sight of our real purpose and the real people that we profess to care about. We push aside what we must actually learn from people; what we’ll do with what we learn; and the kinds of pathways into the community people are seeking to create for themselves. Instead, “people” become props in our process. For me, the point is people – their aspirations, their concerns, their fears, among other things – and the kind of community they seek to create. Our engagement efforts are mere supports in their unfolding narrative.
So, on the one hand the work is about people; on the other, it is about impact. That is to say, our task is to figure out how to help improve, even transform people’s lives and their communities. But too often ‘civic engagement’ is more like a badge we wear to a cocktail party or conference, where we find ourselves boasting about the extraordinary engagement process we cooked up and implemented. People and impact take a back seat. We produce events not impact.
Meantime, we find ourselves in endless, mind-numbing meetings where we examine every element of our civic engagement work. But the real work doesn’t happen in our conference rooms, but in communities. And yet such navel gazing can blind us to the realities of communities, the challenges we must take on, and the true power we must exert to create a new force for change in communities. Endless talk and countless deliberations won’t get us there.
In my own work, the focus is on deeply understanding about people’s lives and the context of communities so people can be more strategic in their efforts to spark and mobilize change. It is about the dynamics of communities and the very conditions that enable or stymie change – such as the leaders, networks, relationships, norms, and boundary spanning organizations that underpin change. It is about how each of us must step forward to root our efforts in community and stay true to ourselves.
This isn’t about civic engagement; it’s about how we see and engage with the world around us.
So you won’t find the term ‘civic engagement’ on our web site, in our literature, throughout our work. I don’t talk about it in speeches anymore. I’ve banned it, plain and simple. For too often our obsession with ‘civic engagement’ causes us to take our eye off what really matters: people and impact. -
Organization-First Report goes International
Amazingly, all across the U.S. and in 24 countries and territories people have ordered The Organization-First Approach Report. After 20 years of innovation with communities in the U.S. we are excited by the strong interest and applicability of this report across the globe.
So far copies have been downloaded in: Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Ghana, Great Britain, India, Iraq, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Virgin Islands.
Please help us continue the spread of this report. If you haven’t already done so, order your free copy of The Organization-First Approach Report, and send free copies to friends and colleagues in your community and abroad.
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Office of the Repealer
People’s anger over politics and more continues to envelope the country, and the question is: what should we do with it? One answer comes from U.S. Senator Sam
Brownback, who is running for governor of Kansas. He’s proposed an “Office of the Repealer,” a new state office to terminate stupid, idiotic, and silly laws and regulations. Why not, right? Well, there’s a better path for us to take.
I don’t doubt that there are numerous laws and regulations that need to be repealed. I often argue with my colleagues and friends who believe government action must be the solution to every problem. I fear when any institution gets too big or too powerful. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why I do the work I do: I believe in a strong civic culture, made up of many groups, organizations, networks and individuals, all working out what’s best for society over time.
But I also disdain cheap shots like “Office of the Repealer,” and especially now, when so many individuals, families and communities need support, and when positive, constructive actions are called for. Going around Kansas – or any community or state for that matter – and pretending that an Office of the Repealer will make a big a difference in people’s lives is simply folly. And it’s cynical.
Indeed, the very notion of a repealer is about what one is “against”; but what I want to know is what an individual is “for.” For instance, those who are running for office:
What are you for when it comes to acting on the challenges involving vulnerable children and families? What are you for when it comes to dealing with housing foreclosures?
What are you for in terms of meeting our energy needs – and the trade-offs that confront us at each turn?
What are you for when it comes to helping communities get back up on their feet after losing industry and jobs?
I could go on. It’s easy to say what we’re against, what we seek to pull down, what we want to dismantle. But what we are for – that’s something different entirely. For starters, it requires that we see and hear people and genuinely speak to their concerns and aspirations. It demands the building of public will so we can take effective action. It means that we must allocate scarce resources.
In short, “what we are for” requires that we put a stake in the ground about what we believe in, what we will fight for, what we hope to become. We must make ourselves and what believe visible. There is little notion of responsibility – or accountability – in saying what we are against. All we must do is find a good target and fire away.
Yes, saying what we want to repeal may make good sound bites and make us sound tough. But what we are for actually builds communities, and people’s lives, and hope. It asks us to harness our anger for something productive. Which one do you want? -
Voter Antipathy Rising – Now What?
The Washington Post released a troubling new poll this morning which captures the depth of people’s anger and disgust sweeping the country. Anti-incumbent sentiments have reached an all-time high. But no matter who wins the upcoming primaries in 12 states, the rest of us will have to deal with this antipathy as we try to get things done in our communities. Here’s how.
The Post poll reflects what so many of us already knew: business as usual will not enable us to solve problems and build stronger communities. The pervasive sense of acrimony and divisiveness throughout the country is palpable. It reminds me of when I wrote Citizens and Politics: A View from Main Street in June 1991 with the Kettering Foundation. Then, as now, people were fed up with the negativity and finger pointing in politics and public life.
But there was another finding in that report that I think applies to our situation today. While people had lost faith in “politics,” they still wanted to take action in their communities. That’s still the case today. The question is how to effectively marshal this energy and create impact.
Now is the time for groups and organizations that span boundaries to step forward and bring people together across dividing lines. A key to moving beyond the antipathy is to demonstrate that it is still possible for people to come together. Be practical here and pick your partners well.
Moreover, we must identify actions that serve as positive “disruptions” to business as usual. This does not mean launching the largest initiative possible and trying to convince people that a single initiative or two can get us out of our current funk. They can’t, and won’t. Rather, the essential role of such disruptive action is to demonstrate to people that it is possible to take an alternate path. The size, shape and scope of the action are less important than its symbolic meaning and the sense of possibility it creates.
The next step is to tell a different kind of story about what we are doing. Mere public relations and communications will not satisfy what we must achieve in this toxic environment. Again our goal must be to create a disruption – to breakthrough all the noise so people notice something different and genuine is happening. This requires telling a new narrative – a story – about why you set out to do what you did, what you are achieving, where things have not worked out and why, and where you are going. In the past, I’ve talked about such stories as “civic parables.” Such parables place what is happening in the context of a narrative, one that has broader implications and lessons for what it means to step forward, take action, and go down a new path.
There is yet another telling finding from the Post poll, which is people’s growing disapproval of the tea party movement. The poll found that one-half of Americans now express an “unfavorable impression.” To me, the growing antipathy toward incumbents, anger about the direction of the country, and, now, increasing disapproval of the so-called tea party, suggests that people are looking for an alternative. Anger alone is not enough.
And yet look at the upcoming primaries and you’ll find many candidates merely offering up more acrimony and divisiveness. Just when people thought politics could not – and would not – stoop to new lows, we have found that anything is possible.
So be it, anything is possible. Which means that if you and I and others step forward to offer an alternative to business as usual, if we are prepared to offer clear disruptions to current maladies, and if we brave enough to tell a different story, then it is possible to break through. Now is the perfect time. -
A Simple Prayer for Memorial Day
Welcome back from Memorial Day, which always offers us a day of rest from work and eases us into the summer months. But over the years I have found that for many of us there’s little real connection to Memorial Day itself – I know that’s true for me. The meaning of the day somehow gets lost amid cook-outs and busyness. So, today, I offer a simple prayer for Memorial Day to remind us of the day’s importance.
I was struck by a photo this morning of President Obama standing under an umbrella during an intense thunderstorm at Andrews Air Force Base trying to give his Memorial Day remarks. Eventually he had to tell the audience to disperse for fear of lightening. You’ll recall the president was highly criticized for not attending the traditional Arlington Cemetery activities when he decided to go to the Lincoln Cemetery in Illinois. When it rains it pours. I fear that his words were lost in the storm.
But what would any of us say if we had the opportunity to offer words of remembrance on Memorial Day? What would you choose to focus on – and why? Would your words be long, or brief? Here are some that come to me on this the day after Memorial Day.
May we always remember and give thanks to the men and women who served this country
May we never forget those who lost their lives and call out their names so they may be remembered
May we support those whose son or daughter, brother or sister, did not come home—and always extend them our hand
May we thank and give comfort to those who do return – and make good on our promise to provide them with the resources and love to heal their bodies and minds and souls
May our leaders be clear-headed and humble in their decisions to send our men and women into harm’s way – and not lose themselves in their own bravado and rhetoric
May we help those coming home from war find food, shelter, a job – so that they know there can be true hope about life beyond war
May we live by our word to those who serve our nation and fulfill our obligations to them as they have to us
These are thoughts that came to me this morning. I’ve not toiled over them, nor worked them over. Instead, they simply come from my heart. They are, in reality, an invitation to you to offer your own words. Like mine, they don’t have to be well crafted or carefully chosen. Just speak about what about you know and feel.
Of course, words alone are not enough on Memorial Day, or any day when it comes to those who have served our country. But without words we cannot know what we hold valuable and what we hold in common. After all, Memorial Day is about our common bonds to one another.
Please join me. Add your own words in the comments below.