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Tools for Tough Times

No activist or nonprofit executive needs to be reminded that times are tough. The reactions to George Floyd's death and the economic meltdown caused by COVID-19 have raised questions and created challenges. And those things are in addition to the other big and small social issues that haven't gone away. 

If your organization needs to do more with less or get faster results, there are a bunch of tools out there that can help. I think that's generally true at least. This series on Tools for Tough Times is my effort to offer some useful advice based on my experience and research. (See my revised bio at the bottom of this post.) This post is about asking the right questions. Future posts will explain some tools, techniques, and strategies that you may have read about in books like Thinkertoys, Serious Creativity, and Why Didn't I Think of That. 

Questions:

Whether you want to raise more money over the summer or really make progress on racial discrimination or animal rights, it can't hurt to answer a few questions. No matter where you are in your activism journey, sometimes you just need to back up and ask a big question - Am I working on the right thing? 

This question gets at a couple of things. Are your assumptions correct? What if your operating assumption about the main cause of racism is wrong? What if your one main reason why people won't go vegan is actually not an important reason.  

The Power of Bad Assumptions:

Perhaps - and my instincts may be way off here - the main reason activism efforts don't pay off is because we assume our target audience doesn't know enough about the issue. I would bet my Ph.D. that lack of knowledge is only a smart part of the challenge. More likely, people face peer pressure, or lack the money, or lack the knowledge of how to take the first step. 

Maybe you want people to stop consuming animal products. You assume people lack knowledge Make sure you know this, not just assume it. 

If people seem disinterested in fighting racism. maybe a lack of knowledge is the issue and maybe it isn't. 

If you assume a lack of knowledge is your main challenge, then your response is logical. You try to educate people. If you do this, and education isn't really the answer, then you wasted lots of time and money. You'll never get the time or money back.

The Power of Journalistic Questions:

Who, what, where, why, when, and how are the classic journalistic questions. In a serious news story, you want to answer those questions in as much depth as you can. Then you write the story. Before going after that grant or planning that program, ask some questions about it:

In activism, the most important question may be "Why?" Why does the problem exist? Why is it more of a problem here versus there? Why hasn't the problem been solved? Why aren't people further along in solving the problem? 

The BIG QUESTION: Will my solution work or do I just want to believe it will work? 

A Case Study - Diversity at Work:

Back in the 1990s, there was a trend where office workers and college students were being trained insensitivity to issues of race and gender. This training did not focus on good workplace behavior. Nope. The training focused on getting learners to understand and appreciate women and minorities. I'm somewhat oversimplifying to make a point, but only a little. One of my professors asked a fascinating question about these programs. This question is over 20 years old now, so I'll have to paraphrase: Do you really think 8 hours of sensitivity training will "fix" a guy who spent much of his life believing that Blacks are less evolved than Whites and women belong in the home?

Next time I'll dive deeper into a tool for exploring your challenge, regardless of whether you want to destroy racism, smash climate change, replace capitalism, or just make sure the local animal shelter always has enough resources. 

(About Chester Davis - I earned a Ph.D. in Sociology many years ago. Since then I have worked for the government and the private sector when I wasn't freelancing or being a bum. I've also worked for or volunteered for about a dozen nonprofits. Finally, I have spent 1000s of hours reading about and writing about social innovation stuff like that stuff I write about on this blog. 






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