LEADERSHIP, ORGANIZING & ACTION: LEADING CHANGE
FEBRUARY 10TH 2014 – MAY 28TH, 2014
---------------------------------------------------------------------------FACULTY INSTRUCTOR
Marshall Ganz
marshall_ganz@harvard.edu
FACULTY ASSISTANT
Gerta Dhamo
617-384-9637
gerta_dhamo@hks.harvard.edu
TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT
James Brockman
James_Brockman@hks.harvard.edu
HEAD TEACHING FELLOW
Rawan Zeine
rawanzeine@gmail.com
TEACHING FELLOWS
Ashley Ardon
aarden@hoggan.com
Ana Babovic
anababovic@live.com
Uyen Doan
uyendoan@gmail.com
Kanoko Kamata
kanoko.kamata@gmail.com
Achraf Hamzah
achrafhamzah@gmail.com
Randa Naffa
randa@jo.jo
1
“In democratic countries, knowledge of how to combine is the mother of all other
forms of knowledge; on its progress depends that of all the others.” — Alexis de
Tocqueville
A. OBJECTIVES
Fulfilling the democratic promise of equity, accountability and effectiveness requires the
participation of an “organized” citizenry able to formulate, articulate and assert its shared
interests effectively. Organizing, in turn, requires leadership: accepting responsibility for
enabling others to achieve shared purpose in the face of uncertainty. Organizers identify,
recruit and develop leadership; build community around that leadership; and build power
from the resources of that community.
In this course, participants practice leadership by organizing a leadership team to work with
him or her to mobilize members of a “constituency” to work together to achieve specific
outcomes in the pursuit of a shared purpose by the end of the course. Participants learn five
core leadership practices: building committed relationships; using narrative to translate
values into the capacity for agency; turning resources into power by strategizing; turning
intentions into effective action; and structuring organization so as to develop leadership,
engage constituents, and achieve goals. Participants learn to coach others as well receive
coaching. They also learn the limits of mobilizing resources in the short-term – as in getting
petition signatures or mouse clicks – unless linked to organizing people for the longer-term –
as in building an organization or movement.
B. P A R T I C I P A N T S
This course is for people interested in learning how to exercise leadership to create social
change through collective action. There are no prerequisites. People with and without “real
world” experience find the class equally useful. Participants with a strong commitment to
the community, organization, or goals on behalf of which they are working will be most
successful. Because this is a practice course, it requires trying new things, risking failure, and
stepping outside your comfort zone. As reflective practitioners, students will learn through
critical reflection on their experience, feedback and coaching. If you are not prepared to step
outside your comfort zone, this course is not for you.
C.PEDAGOGY
People learn organizing from the experience of doing it, reflecting on their experience,
learning from their reflection, and trying again.
Learn
Try again
Experience
Reflect
2
This requires leading an organizing project, reading background material, participating in
lecture, writing reflection papers, completing skill practice assignments, taking part in
section meetings, receiving coaching from your Teaching Fellow and coaching each other.
Students are expected to invest an average of 10 hours per week doing all of the above.
The course is organized in nine modules. Each module focuses on specific “Learning
Objectives.” Each module also specifies an “Action Objective,” a particular skill to be
practiced with your peer-learning partner. Each module builds on the previous learning and
action objectives.
D.COURSE FLOW
2 WEEK FLOW
1-WEEK FLOW
E. GETTING STARTED
STEP 1: SET UP YOUR COMPUTER
Tuesday, Feb 11
9:00-11:00am EST
Wednesday, Feb 12
2:00-4:00pm EST
Students are required to visit the LOA
Technology Testing Room and confirm that
they are able to use WebEx technology to
transmit and receive the audio and video
required for participation in class and
section. Follow the instructions on the
“Getting Started” tab on the course
website. Students must also participate
3
STEP 2: MEET WITH YOUR TF
Scheduled by TF
STEP 3: MEET YOUR SECTION
Thursday, Feb 13
STEP 4: AQUIRE READINGS
from the same stable internet connection –
not any mobile unit. Please make sure you
have a working microphone, headphones
and webcam connected to your computer
in a quiet space.
Students are required to meet their
teaching fellow and receive coaching on
their project. The teaching fellow will
request a 20-minute WebEx one-to-one at
a scheduled time prior to the first section
meeting. Students will also meet one-onone at mid-term and at the end of the
class.
Students are required to attend an
introductory meeting with their designated
section. At the section meeting, students
will be introduced to their section
members, set team norms, learn the
technology, and receive clarification
regarding the pedagogy. Students will be
informed of the exact timing a week prior
to launch on the course website and via
email.
The required readings, videos, and other
materials can be found on the course
website. Students will be required to have
read the required material for Module 1
prior to the first lecture.
F.COURSE COMPONENTS AND SCHEDULE
1. Organizing Campaign: Students base class work on what they learn from their
experience leading an "organizing campaign" of their own choosing or design.
Practicing leadership means organizing a leadership team to work with one to
mobilize members of a “constituency” to work together to achieve specific
outcomes in the pursuit of a shared purpose by the end of the semester.
2. Readings: Readings provide valuable background for class discussions. My
“Organizing Notes” frame the readings, explain charts, and articulate a learning
framework. Students are expected to complete required reading before each
lecture. Should students wish to pursue a topic more deeply, optional readings are
provided. Training materials are also available for students to use with their team via
links to the New Organizing Institute’s Toolbox.
3. Live Lecture Discussions: Students learn to use our organizing framework to
integrate lectures and reading with critical reflection on their project experience.
Live lectures (1.5 hour long) led by Prof Marshall Ganz will be held on Wednesdays
from 11:00am-12:30pm EDT. Students must attend all classes and take an active
part in discussions. You must “show up” for class at 10:45am EST/EDT to troubleshoot any technological problems before lecture begins.
4
Live Lecture Dates:
Feb
Feb
Mar
Mar
Apr
Apr
Apr
May
May
19th
26th
12th
26th
9th
16th
30th
14th
21st
4. Reflection Papers: Students are required to submit reflection papers of no more
than 2 pages double spaced in which they analyze and reflect on their experience of
their organizing project. Each week on the course website, questions will be posed
to stimulate reflection. Papers are due at 6:00pm EST/EDT each Friday following
lecture. Late papers will be downgraded. Submit your reflection paper by uploading
it to the online dropbox assigned to student’s teaching fellow on the course website.
They will be returned with feedback from the teaching fellow by 9:00pm EST/EDT on
the following Sunday.
Reflection Paper Due Dates:
Feb
Feb
Mar
Mar
Apr
Apr
May
May
May
21st
28th
14th
28th
11th
18th
2nd
16th
30th
5. Skill Practice Assignments: Skill practice assignments offer students the opportunity
to practice key organizing skills with a ‘peer learning partner’ from their section.
Students will set a regular meeting time with their ‘peer learning partner’ to
complete the Skill Practice Assignment online together. Assignments will be posted
each week on the website so feedback can be provided by the Teaching Fellow. The
Teaching Fellow assigns peer learning partners.
Assignments are due at 6:00pm EST/EDT each Monday on each week without a
lecture. Upload video and/or worksheet assignments to the online drop box
assigned to student’s section on the course website. Skill Practice Assignment
feedback will be provided by the student’s teaching fellow by 9:00pm EST/EDT on
Wednesday of the same week.
Practice Assignment Due Dates:
Mar
3rd
Mar
Mar
17th 31st
Apr
May
21st
5th
6. Section Meetings: Section meetings provide students the opportunity to wrap up
their learning in each module by reflecting on their projects with other students.
Section meetings will be a 1.5 hour meeting and will occur on Thursdays. Students
are required to participate and ensure they have a stable Internet connection in a
5
quiet space. Students can find which section they are in and what time the section
meeting is held on the course website.
Section Meeting Dates:
Feb
Feb
Mar
Mar
Apr
Apr
Apr
May
May
13th
20th
6th
20th
3rd
10th
24th
8th
15th
7. Office Hours. Office hours provide students the opportunity to discuss their
learning, projects and receive coaching from Professor Ganz. These sessions will
happen every two weeks either on Mondays or Tuesdays. Students will not have to
book a time for Marshall’s office hours; office hours have a first come, first serve
policy. Teaching Fellows will also be available for one-to-ones with students
throughout the course.
Office Hours Dates and Time:
Feb
Mar
Mar
Apr
Apr
Apr
May
May
24th 10th 24th 7th 15th 28th 13th 19th
10:0011:00am
EST
9:3010:30am
EST
10:0011:00am
EDT
10:0011:00am
EST
10:3011:30am
EST
10:0011:00am
EDT
10:0011:00am
EST
10:0011:00am
EDT
G. CERTIFICATE REQUIREMENTS
We expect an appropriately high level of commitment from participants. To earn a course
certificate, students must complete all of the following on time:
 Attend and participate in 9 course lectures and 9 section meetings
 Submit 9 reflection papers and 5 practice assignments
 Hold an introductory and mid term 1:1 with their TF.
 Submit course evaluations.
Make Up Policy. In case of a work or family emergency that cannot be rescheduled without
putting jobs/health in jeopardy, students may miss up to two scheduled sessions (lecture or
sections). There are three requirements to make up the missed session:
 Explain your absence to your TF in advance and in writing if possible.
 Watch the video (available on the course website under "section debrief").
 Within 2 weeks after a missed session submit a ½ page written evaluation of the
video (takeaways, pluses, and deltas) to your TF.
Papers will also be due by the set deadline. If an emergency occurs and the paper may not
be submitted on time, students have a maximum of two weeks to submit it. Any paper
submitted two weeks late will be an equivalent to missing a session.
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H. COURSE OUTLINE
The following is the breakdown for each module. Please note, some modules are 1 week
(Module, 1, Module 5, Module 8, Module 9) indicated with one * while others are 2 weeks
(Module 2, Module 3, Module 4, Module 6, Module 7) indicated with **.
The letters to the right of each reading indicate whether the focus is theoretical (T), practical
(P), or historical (H). Readings designated with a * are important for class discussion.
PRE COURSEWORK | SECTION LAUNCH
Thurs
February
13th
Welcome! This week we get acquainted with our section, review course
requirements and discuss how we will work together. We will get oriented
on what to expect from one another for the remainder of the course.
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES



Learn how to set team norms
Learn how to build relationship with section members
Understand course flow and requirements
 REQUIRED ACTION FOR THE MODULE


Complete the initial draft of your project
Confirm commitment for the course
SECTION DISCUSSION

Thursday February 13th
MODULE 1* | COURSE OVERVIEW: LEADERSHIP, ORGANIZING
& ACTION
[ONE WEEK MODULE]
Welcome. Today we get acquainted, discuss course goals, our strategy for
Wed
achieving them, and requirements. “What is Organizing” introduces our
February
learning framework, explained more fully in "Leading Change: Leadership,
19th
Organization, and Social Movements.” “Organizing for Democratic
Renewal,” offers a view of organizing in the US on the eve of the first
Obama campaign, in which organizing played the key role Exley documents. But the work of
organizing is rooted in traditions – in the West, for example, in the faith, civic, and popular
traditions. Organizers empower constituents. They do not serve them as clients nor market
to them as customers – as argued by Alinsky, McKnight, and Giridharadas. Organizers do not
avoid conflict, challenge, and tension, but embrace them as constructive, central to strong
democracy, and to be engaged. Because it is a practice, learning organizing requires doing it,
a distinction to which Kierkegaard alerts us. To learn new ways we have to be willing to let
go of old ways – a point on which Thich Nhat Hanh offers a wise parable and Langer offers
wise advice. Dweck reminds us that failure in the service of learning is evidence of effort, not
lack of talent, urging us to adapt what she calls a “growth mind set” as opposed to a “fixed
7
mind set.”Sitkin argues short-term failure is often required for success . . . while fear of
failure can ensure it. The “Organizing in Action” readings are snapshots of some recent
examples of different ways in which organizing has been influencing public life.
DAY
ONLINE
Wednesday
Thursday
Live lecture
11:00am-12:30pm EDT
*Section will be scheduled for Thursday,
depending on your section (see course website)
Friday
INDIVIDUAL WORK
SKILL
PRACTICE
Complete readings
Submit reflection
paper by 6:00pm EST
Feedback by TF due Sunday 9:00pm EST
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES




Welcome, review norms, set goals
Learn how leadership, organizing, and change work
Define organizing project: differentiate from advocacy, service, or awareness
Learn how to coach
 REQUIRED ACTION FOR THE MODULE

Reflect on your leadership experiences. What type of leader are you? What has
worked? What you have found challenging? Set your personal leadership goals.
 READING
REQUIRED READING
 ►Marshall Ganz. Organizing Notes: “What is organizing?” 2013. (T)
 ►Marshall Ganz, “Leading Change: Leadership, Organization, and Social
Movements,” Chapter 19 in Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice, edited by
Nohria and Khurana; HBS Press, 2010 (pp. 527-568) (T).
 Marshall Ganz, “Organizing for Democratic Renewal”, TMP Café, March 27, 2007. *
 The Bible, Exodus, Chapter 2-6. (H)
 Saul Alinsky, Reveille for Radicals, Chapter 1, (pp.3-23). (P)
 ►John McKnight, "Services are Bad for People," (pp.41-44). (T)
 ►Anand Giridharadas, “Real Change Requires Politics”, New York Times, July 15,
2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/16/us/16iht-currents16.html (T)
 ►Marshall Ganz. Organizing Notes: “Learning to Organize: Notes, Questions, and
Helpful Hint #1” 2014. (T)
 ►M.S. Kierkegaard, “When the Knower Has to Apply Knowledge” from “Thoughts on
Crucial Situations in Human Life”, in Parables of Kierkegaard, T.C. Oden, Editor. (P)
 ►Thich Nhat Hanh Thundering Silence: Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Catch a
Snake, "The Raft is Not the Shore," (pp.30-33). 2001 (T)
 Ellen Langer, Mindfulness, Chapter 3, "The Roots of Mindlessness," (pp.19-35);
Chapter 4, "The Costs of Mindlessness," (pp.43-55); Chapter 5, "The Nature of
Mindfulness," (pp.61-77); Chapter 7, "Creative Uncertainty," (pp.115-129). (P)
 ►Carol Dweck, Chapter 1, “The Mindsets” from Mindset: the New Psychology of
Success (2006), (pp.1-10) (P)
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 Sim Sitkin, “Learning through Failure: The Strategy of Small Losses,” Research in
Organizational Behavior, Vol.14, 1992, (pp.231-256). (T)
 ►Coaching as Leadership Practice, adapted from work of Ruth Wageman, Marshall
Ganz (2014). (P)
 Organizer’s Journey Handout, Jonah Evans, 2012. (P)
ORGANIZING IN ACTION: Examples of organizing campaigns across the world
 Dan Cantor's Machine, in The American Prospect, Jan. 6, 2014 (New York Mayoral
election)
 How Domestic Workers Won Their Rights: Five Big Lessons, Yes! October 9, 2013
http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/how-domestic-workers-won-theirrights-five-big-lessons
 The NRA Has a Head Start Against Newly Energized Gun-Control Advocates, in The
Daily Beast, Dec. 18, 2012
 Young Immigrants Say It's Obama's Time to Act – New York Times, Nov.30, 2012
 Edward Walker, John McCarthy, “Continuity and Change in Community Organizing”,
Social Policy, Summer, 2012. Study: http://www.communityorganizingreport.org/.
 Duncan Meisel and Joshua Kahn Russell, “Case Study: Tar Sands Action”, in
Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution by Andrew Boyd and Dave Oswald
Mitchell (pp. 376-379).
 Zack Exley, “Stories and Numbers – a Closer Look at Camp Obama”, Huffington Post,
August 29, 2007.
ORGANIZING TOOLS:
 New Organizing Institute Training Resources: The Choice:
http://neworganizing.com/toolbox/training/the-choice/
FOR FURTHER READING:
 Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, Chapter 11, “Resolution,” (pp.221-239).
 Louis Fischer, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi, Chapter 31, “Drama at the Seashore,”
(pp.263 -275). (H)
 Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in
International Politics, Chapter 1, Introduction, (pp.1-38). (H)
 Howard Spodek, “The Self-employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India:
Feminist, Gandhian Power in Development”, Economic Development and Cultural
Change 43 (1), Oct 1994, (pp.193-202). (H)
 Timothy Garton Ash, The Polish Revolution: Solidarity 1980-82, Introduction, Chapter
1 "Inside the Lenin Shipyard," (pp.1-67). (H)
 Aristotle, Politica, Book 1, Chapter 1-2 (pp.1127-1130). (T)
 ASSIGNMENTS

Reflection Paper #1 - due by 6:00pm EST on Friday February 21st
SECTION DISCUSSION

Thursday February 20th
9
MODULE 2** | PEOPLE, POWER & CHANGE: MY PROJECT
[TWO WEEK MODULE]
Organizers start by asking three questions: who are my people, what is
their problem, how can they use their resources to solve the problem?
Who are your people? Who is your constituency whose values are at risk?
What urgent challenge do they face? How could they turn resources they
have into power they need to solve the problem? How could you design a
campaign to achieve an outcome that would help solve this problem within the next 12
weeks?
Wed
February
26th
What does organizing look like? How is it different from mobilizing? How is it different from
marketing? As a “case,” the Montgomery Bus Boycott can help us see concepts fundamental
to organizing work. Alinsky and Miller help us consider reactions we may have to word what
we need to explain organizing: power. We focus on actors, values, and interests to map a
constituency, other actors, and an opposition. We ask the four questions to track down
power by drawing on Loomer to see how it can be created with others or used over others.
Gaventa shows how to make power over others visible. Hirschorn draws attention to the
role of timing in campaigns. And Chris Lawrence-Pietroni’s “What Is Organising” is a very
clear reminder of what an organizing project is and what it isn’t.
DAY
Wednesday
ONLINE
Live lecture
11:00am-12:30pm
EDT
Thursday
Friday
Work on skill practice assignment
Submit reflection paper
Work on skill practice assignment
by 6:00pm EST
Receive feedback from TFs on reflection papers by Sunday 9:00 pm EST
Submit skill practice assignment by
6:00pm EST
Prepare for section
Receive feedback on skill practice
assignment by 9:00pm EST
Section
Complete next week’s
readings
Complete next week’s
readings
Monday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
INDIVIDUAL WORK
Complete readings
Work on reflection
paper
SKILL PRACTICE
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES





Learn to identify your constituency and its values, resources and interests
Learn to define the challenge your constituency faces
Learn how they can get the power to meet the challenge
Learn how to focus on a strategic goal they can achieve over the course of the
semester
Learn how to design a 10 week campaign to achieve that change
 REQUIRED ACTION FOR THE MODULE

Develop your “organizing statement:” I am organizing (who) to (do what) by (how)
by (when)
 READING
10
REQUIRED READING:
 ►Marshall Ganz, “People, Power and Change: Notes, Charts, and Questions,” 2013.
 ►Marshall Ganz, “Introduction to Montgomery Bus Boycott,” 2010.
 ►Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, Chapter 4, “First Trombone” (pp.120-142),
Chapter 5, “The Montgomery Bus Boycott,” (pp.143 -205). (H)
 Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, “A Word About Words,” (pp.48-62). (P)
 ►John Gaventa, Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in an
Appalachian Valley, Introduction, (pp.3-32). (T)
 ►"The Campaign Approach to Change," Hirschhorn and May, Change Magazine
http://www.grantcraft.org/pdfs/campaignapproach.pdf (P)
ORGANIZING TOOLS:
 New Organizing Institute Training Resources: The Theory of Change
http://neworganizing.com/toolbox/training/theory-of-change/
FOR FURTHER READING
 Thucydides, The Peloponnesian Wars, Book V, Chapter 7, “The Sixteenth Year – the
Melian Dialogue,” (pp.400-408). (H)
 Bernard M. Loomer, “Two Kinds of Power,” The D.R. Sharpe Lecture on Social Ethics,
October 29, 1975, Criterion, Vol. 15, No.1, 1976 (pp.10-29). (T)
 Jean Baker Miller, Women’s Growth in Connection: Writings from the Stone Center,
Chapter 11, “Women and Power,” (pp.197-205). (T)
 Connie Gersick, "Pacing Strategic Change: The Case of a New Venture," Academy of
Management Journal, February 1994 (pp.36-42). (T)
ASSIGNMENTS


Reflection Paper #2 – due by 6:00 pm EST on Friday February 28th
Skill Practice Assignment #1 – due by 6:00 pm EST on Monday March 3rd
SECTION DISCUSSION

Thursday, March 6th
11
MODULE 3** | PUBLIC NARRATIVE: YOUR STORY
[TWO WEEK MODULE]
Leadership requires enabling one’s people to respond to challenges to
their shared values with purposeful action. Leaders can use public
narrative to access emotional resources needed to communicate why they
have been called to lead; a “story of self,” the values their community
shares, a “story of us,” and the challenge to those values that demands
action, “a story of now”. The capacity to act with agency requires accessing hope over fear,
empathy over alienation, and self-worth over self-doubt. Because it engages the “head” and
the “heart,” narrative instructs and inspires, teaching us not only how we should act, but
moving us to act. It is not public speaking, messaging or image making. As Jayanti Ravi,
MPA/MC 07 said, it is learning how to bring out their “glow” from within, not how to apply a
“gloss” from without. The clearer you are as to your own sources of motivation the better
the choices you – and others – can make about working together.
Wed
March
12th
In my ‘Organizing Notes” and “Public Narrative, Collective Action, and Power” I explain our
basic approach. Bruner grounds our work in the discipline of cultural psychology. Marcus
explains the neuroscience of anxiety, why we pay attention, on the one hand, and that of
response, on the other. Nussbaum helps us understand how we experience value through
the language of emotion, essential for making choices. And Bruner explains how we use
narrative to construct our “selves”. Come to class having completed your “Public Narrative
Worksheet”. This week, we ask you to reflect on what calls you to leadership on behalf of
the mission you have chosen?
DAY
Wednesday
ONLINE
Live lecture
11:00am-12:30pm
EDT
Thursday
Work on skill practice
assignment
Submit reflection paper by
Work on skill practice
Friday 6:00pm EDT
assignment
Receive feedback from TFs on reflection papers by Sunday 9:00pm EDT
Submit skill practice
assignment by 6:00pm EDT
Prepare for section
Receive feedback on skill
practice assignment 9:00pm
EDT
Section
Complete next week’s readings
Complete next week’s readings
Friday
Monday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
INDIVIDUAL WORK
Complete readings
Work on reflection paper
SKILL WORK
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Learn why leadership requires mastery of public narrative: self, us, now
 To learn how public narrative works: values, emotion & story structure
 Learn to tell your story of self and coach others in telling their narrative
REQUIRED ACTION FOR THE MODULE


Write and develop your campaign’s public narrative
Start sharing your public narrative in your organizing work to recruit others
12

If you have a team, train them how to develop their story of self
READING
REQUIRED READING:
 ►Marshall Ganz, Organizing Notes: “What Is Public Narrative?” Charts, Questions.
2013.
 ►Marshall Ganz, “Public Narrative, Collective Action, and Power”, Chapter 18,
Accountability through Public Opinion: From Inertia to Public Action, World Bank,
2011. (T)
 ►Jerome Bruner, “Two Modes of Thought”, Chapter 2 in Actual Minds, Possible
Worlds (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986), (pp.11–25). (T)
 ►Barack Obama, Keynote Address, “The Audacity of Hope”, Democratic National
Convention, July 27, 2004, Boston, Massachusetts (first 7 minutes). (H)
 ►James Croft, 6.2 Minutes, Public Narrative Class, 2010. (H)
PLEASE COMPLETE PUBLIC NARRATIVE WORKSHEET BEFORE LECTURE.
ORGANIZING TOOLS:
 New Organizing Institute Training Resources:
http://neworganizing.com/toolbox/training/story-of-self/
FOR FURTHER READING


George Marcus, “Becoming Reacquainted with Emotion,” Chapter 4, The
Sentimental Citizen: Emotion in Democratic Politics, (University Park: Penn State
University Press, 2002), (pp.49-78). (T)
Martha Nussbaum, “Emotions and Judgments of Value”, Chapter 1, Upheavals of
Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions, (New York: Cambridge University Press,
2001), (pp. 19-33). (T)
 ASSIGNMENTS


Reflection Paper #3 – due by 6:00pm EDT on Friday March 14th
Skill Practice Assignment #2 – due by 6:00pm EDT on Monday March 17th
 SECTION DISCUSSION

Thursday, March 20th
MODULE 4** | BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
[TWO WEEK MODULE]
Organizers build relationships among members of a constituency to create
Wed
commitment to a common purpose. Through relationships we can clarify
March
our own purposes and develop resources to act upon them. Gladwell
26th
reports on the power of relational networks in everyday life – with people
“like us” and people “not like us.” Simmons and Rosin describe
relationship building in action. The workshop material offers ways to teach relationship
13
building in practice. The second Gladwell piece and Brandzell’s response explore differences
in “online” and “offline” relationships. This week we ask you to reflect on whom you want to
recruit to your leadership team and to practice conducting one-to-ones.
DAY
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Wednesday
Friday
INDIVIDUAL WORK
Complete readings
Work on reflection
paper
SKILL WORK
Work on skill practice assignment
Work on skill practice assignment
Monday
Thursday
ONLINE
Live lecture
11:00am12:30pm EDT
Submit reflection paper
by 6:00pm EDT
Receive feedback from TFs on reflection papers by Tuesday 6:00pm EDT
Submit skill practice assignment by
6:00pm EDT
Prepare for section
Receive feedback from TFs on Skill
Practice Assignment by Wednesday
9:00pm EDT
Section
Complete next week’s
readings
Complete next week’s
readings
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES



Learn why relationships are the foundation of organizing
Learn to build public relationships thru one-to-one meetings and house meetings
Learn skills necessary to conduct a successful one-to-one
 REQUIRED ACTION FOR THE MODULE



Create your relational strategy: Make a list of 20 people who could be candidates for
your leadership team and plan how you will approach them
Hold one on one with potential team members and ask them to join your team if
applicable
Reflect on your experience of holding one-on-ones and your relational strategy
 READING
REQUIRED READING:
 ►Marshall Ganz, “Relationships: Notes, Charts, and Questions,” 2013.
 ►Malcolm Gladwell, “Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg,” The New Yorker, January 11,
1999, (pp.52-63). (T)
 ►Ian Simmons, “On One-to-Ones,” The Next Steps of Organizing: Putting Theory
into Action, Sociology 91r Seminar, 1998, (pp.12-15). (P)
 Hanna Rosin, “People-Powered: In New Hampshire, Howard Dean's Campaign Has
Energized Voters,” Washington Post, Tuesday, December 9, 2003, p. C01 (H)
 Reflections on how “one on one” meeting can turn into “house meetings” and what
they are from the 2007 Obama primary campaign in South Carolina, organizer
Jeremy Bird and local leader Grace Cusack. (H)
a. Obama Campaign, South Carolina House Meeting Video, July 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF5jqtM-EkI
14
b. Obama Campaign, Reflections on a House Meeting Video, July 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zuj3kMYA8ys
ORGANIZING TOOLS:
 New Organizing Institute Training Resources:
http://neworganizing.com/toolbox/training/building-relationships/
FOR FURTHER READING
 Malcolm Gladwell, “Small Change: Why the Revolution will not be Tweeted”, The
New Yorker, October 4, 2010. (T)
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell (T)
 Ben Brandzell, “What Malcolm Gladwell Missed About Online Organizing and
Creating Big Change,” The Nation, November 15, 2010. (T)
http://www.thenation.com/article/156447/what-malcolm-gladwell-missed-aboutonline-organizing-and-creating-big-change
 Jim Rooney, Organizing the South Bronx, Chapter 6, “Relational Organizing:
Launching South Bronx Churches,” (pp. 105-118). (H)
 Robert Putnam, Making Democracy Work, “Social Capital and Institutional Success,”
Chapter 6, (pp.163-185). (T)
 ASSIGNMENTS


Reflection Paper #4 – due by 6:00pm EDT on Friday March 28th
Skill Practice Assignment #3 – due by 6:00pm EDT on Monday March 31st
 SECTION DISCUSSION

Thursday, April 3rd
MODULE 5* | STRUCTURING LEADERSHIP: BUILDING TEAMS
[ONE WEEK MODULE]
What is leadership? A position? A person? Or a practice? We argue it is a
Wed
practice that we can structure in different ways. How can we structure
April
leadership so that it enables a constituency to achieve its goals, not only
9th
the personal goals of whoever is in charge? The selection from Exodus
shows the question of leadership structure – and how to avoid “being a
dot”. Dr. ML King cautions us not to fear the desire to lead, the critical question being how
we earn it. Freeman points out the danger of over-reacting to the “dot” structure so much
that we are left with no structure at all. Hackman and Wageman propose the alternative
collaborative leadership structure, the leadership team and show how to coach it. Exley
shows how structure worked in practice in the 2008 Obama campaign. In the optional
readings, Burns’ view of leadership as relational is foundational to our own as is Heifetz’s
emphasis on leadership as adaptive. Ancona points out that leadership teams need to be
“outward” looking as well as “inward” looking. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra case shows
how to organize orchestral leadership without a conductor. And Wageman reflects on the
particular challenges of making leadership teams work at the very “top” of an organization.
Consider what makes an effective leadership team and reflect on the effectiveness of your
team structure.
DAY
ONLINE
INDIVIDUAL WORK
SKILL WORK
15
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Live lecture
11:00am-12:30pm
EDT
Section
Complete readings
Work on reflection paper
Submit reflection paper by Friday
Launch your leadership
6:00pm EDT
team
Receive feedback from TFs on reflection papers by Sunday 9:00pm EDT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES


Learn how to structure a leadership team
Practice how to launch a team
REQUIRED ACTION FOR THE MODULE

Strengthen the structure of your leadership team
o Set regular leadership team meetings
o Establish a team’s shared purpose, norms, and roles
 READINGS
REQUIRED READING:






►Marshall Ganz. “Structuring Leadership Teams: Notes, Charts, and Questions,”
2013.
►The Bible, Exodus, Chapter 18 (H)
►Dr. M.L. King, Jr. A Testament of Hope, “The Drum Major Instinct,” (p.259-67).
http://vimeo.com/77261262 (5:44) (P)
►Jo Freeman, “The Tyranny of Structurelessness,” Berkeley Journal of Sociology,
1970, (pp. 1-8). (P) http://www.anarres.org.au/essays/amtos.htm.*
►J. Richard Hackman and Ruth Wageman, “A Theory of Team Coaching”, Academy
of Management Review, Vol. 30, No 2 (Apr. 2005), pp. 269 – 287. (T)
Zack Exley, “The New Organizers, What’s Really Behind the Obama Ground Game,”
Huffington Post, October 8, 2008.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zack-exley/thenew-organizers-part-1_b_132782.html (H)
ORGANIZING TOOLS:
 New Organizing Institute Training Resources:
o Coaching 101: http://neworganizing.com/toolbox/training/coaching-101/
o Team Building: http://neworganizing.com/toolbox/training/building-teams/
 Designing Effective Teams, Campaign Workshop Materials, 2009.
FOR FURTHER READING:




James McGregor Burns, Leadership, Chapter 1, "The Power of Leadership," (p.9-28),
Chapter 2, “The Structure of Moral Leadership” (pp.29-46). (T)
Ronald Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers, "Values in Leadership," Chapter 1,
(pp. 13-27). (T/P)
Deborah Ancona, Henrik Bresman & Katrin Kaeufer, “The Comparative Advantage of
X-Teams,”MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 43 No.3, Spring 2002 (pp. 33- 39). (T)
No one on the Podium, Lessons on Leadership from the Orpheus Chamber
Orchestra, (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9372663/orpheum.mov) (P)
16

Ruth Wageman, et al, Senior Leadership Teams. Chapter 9, “What It Takes to Make
Them Great”, (207-218). (T)
 ASSIGNMENTS

Reflection Paper #5 – due by 6:00pm EDT on April 11th
SECTION DISCUSSION

Thursday April 10th
MODULE 6** | STRATEGIZING
[TWO WEEK MODULE]
Strategy is how we turn what we have into what we need to get what we
Wed
want. It is both analytic and imaginative, figuring out how we can use our
April
resources to achieve our goals. We reflect on a “classic” tale of strategy
16th
recounted in the Book of Samuel: The Story of David and Goliath, a tale
that argues resourcefulness can compensate for lack of resources by
developing “strategic capacity”. Kahn describes one way to look at the role of strategy in
organizing. We will look at how strategy developed, changed, and refocused in the “Orange
Hats of Fairlawn” case.
When you designed your project at the beginning of our class you began to strategize. Since
then, you have learned a great deal about your people, the change you seek, and your
sources of power. Strategy is a verb - so now it’s time to re-strategize! What has worked,
what hasn’t, what has changed, what has not? And where do you go from here? Alinsky and
Sharp offer some “how to’s” for organizing, strategy and tactics. In the optional readings,
Nikolayenko uses similar tools to analyze the strategy of the Serbian youth movement,
Otpor, in bringing down their dictator.
DAY
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Monday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
ONLINE
Live lecture
11:00am-12:30pm
EDT
INDIVIDUAL WORK
SKILL WORK
Complete readings
Work on reflection paper
Work on skill practice assignment
Submit reflection paper by
Work on skill practice assignment
6:00pm EDT
Receive feedback from TFs on reflection papers by Sunday 9:00 pm EDT
Submit skill practice assignment by
6:00pm EDT
Prepare for section
Receive feedback from TFs on Skill
Practice Assignment by Wednesday
9:00pm EDT
Section
Complete next week’s readings
Complete next week’s readings
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Learn how to re-strategize
17


Learn to set tactics that build the campaign’s strategic capacity
Develop your campaign chart and peaks
 REQUIRED ACTION FOR THE MODULE


Conduct a strategic “check-in” with your leadership team. Are you on track? What
has worked? What hasn’t? What changes do you need to make? How will you use
your remaining time together?
Conduct a one-to-one with your teaching fellow.
 READING
REQUIRED READING:
 ►Marshall Ganz. “Strategy: Notes, Charts, and Questions” 2013.
 ►The Bible, Book of Samuel, Chapter 17, Verses 4-49. (H)
http://www.bibleontheweb.com/Bible.asp
 ►Si Kahn, Organizing, Chapter 8 “Strategy,” (pp.155-174). (P)
 ►Kennedy School Case C16-91-1034, “Orange Hats of Fairlawn: A Washington DC
Neighborhood Battles Drugs,” (pp.1-18). (H)*
 Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, Tactics, (pp. 126-136, 148-155, 158-161). (P)
 Gene Sharp. “198 Methods of nonviolent Protest and Persuasion”, The Politics of
Nonviolent Action, (Boston: Porter Sargent Publishers, 1973). (P)
o http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/198_methods.pdf
ORGANIZING TOOLS:


New Organizing Institute Training Resources: Tactics and Timing:
http://neworganizing.com/toolbox/training/tactics-and-timing/
Devising Strategy, Campaign Materials, Leading Change Project 2014. (available on
MLD 377 course page)
FOR FURTHER READING



Kim Bobo, Organizing for Social Change, Chapter 4 “Developing a Strategy” (pp.2032), Chapter 5, “A Guide to Tactics,” (pp.34-41). (P)
Marshall Ganz. “Resources and Resourcefulness: Strategic Capacity in the
Unionization of California Agriculture, 1959-1966”, American Journal of Sociology,
January 2000, (pp.1003-1005; 1019-1044). (T/H)
Olena Nikolayenko, “Origins of the Movement’s Strategy: The Case of Serbia’s Otpor
(pp. 1 -19), International Political Science Review, October 31, 2012. (T/H)
 ASSIGNMENT


Reflection Paper #6 – due by 6:00pm EDT on Friday April 18th
Skill Practice Assignment #4 – due by 6:00pm EDT on Monday April 21st
 SECTION DISCUSSION

Thursday April 24th
18
MODULE 7** | ACTION: MOBILIZING & DEPLOYING
RESOURCES
[TWO WEEK MODULE]
Organizers mobilize and deploy resources to take action based on
Wed
commitments they secure from others. Researchers have learned that the
April
way we organize the action can itself enhance our capacity for action — or
30th
the opposite. In the optional readings, Oliver and Marwell argue, the way
we mobilize resources influences how we can deploy them and vice-versa.
But whatever the constraints, acting to make change involves risk, and risk requires courage.
Hackman also argues that we can organize action to motivate further participation – or the
opposite. Levy shows how to knit tactics together strategically.
DAY
ONLINE
Live lecture
11:00am12:30pm EDT
Tuesday
Thursday
Friday
Monday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
INDIVIDUAL WORK
Complete readings
Work on reflection
paper
SKILL WORK
Work on skill practice assignment
Submit reflection paper
Work on skill practice assignment
by 6:00pm EDT
Receive feedback from TFs on reflection papers by Tuesday 9:00pm EDT
Submit skill practice assignment by
6:00pm EDT
Prepare for section
Receive feedback from TFs on Skill
Practice Assignment by Wednesday
9:00pm EDT
Complete next week’s
Section
readings
Complete next week’s
readings
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES



Learn how to design action that generates the motivation for more action
Understand the linkage between mobilizing and deploying resources and the
centrality of commitment to both
Learn and practice how to ask for a commitment
 REQUIRED ACTION FOR THE MODULE



Analyze a volunteer action task and mold it to be more motivational.
Ask 5 people to commit to your upcoming peak.
Reflect on how you have been getting people’s commitment. What has worked?
What could have been done differently?
 READING
REQUIRED READING:


►Marshall Ganz. Organizing Notes: “Notes on Action”, Charts and Questions, 2013.
►Richard Hackman, “Designing Work for Individuals and for Groups”, adapted from
J.R. Hackman, Work Design in J.R. Hackman & J.L. Suttle (Eds.) Improving Life at
Work: Behavioral science approaches to organizational change. Santa Monica:
19


Goodyear Publishing Company, 1977. (pp.242-255). Please take special note of
pages 242-244, and 248-250 and the Job Characteristics Model and how to use it. (T)
*
Columbia, SC Rally, “Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey Rally” Video, 2007.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnVE0rGofq0 (H)
Canvassing Video, “The Marriage Plot: Inside This Year’s Epic Campaign for Gay
Equality”, the Atlantic, December 11, 2012. (H)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn4_uQPdEP4&feature=player_embedded
ORGANIZING TOOLS


Task Design, Leadership Development Project, Sierra Club, 2007.
NOI Action Resources
o Getting Commitment - http://neworganizing.com/toolbox/training/gettingcommitments/
FOR FURTHER READING



Jacques Levy, Cesar Chavez, Prologue, (pp. xxi-xxv). (H)
Pamela Oliver and Gerald Marwell, Frontiers in Social Movement Theory, Chapter 11,
“Mobilizing Technologies for Collective Action,” (pp 251-271). (T)
Kim Bobo, Organizing for Social Change, Chapter 7, “Designing Actions,” (pp.70-79),
Chapter 21,“Grassroots Fundraising.” (P)
 ASSIGNMENTS


Reflection Paper #7 – due by 6:00pm EDT on May 2nd
Skill Practice Assignment #5 – due by 6:00pm EDT on May 5th
SECTION DISCUSSION

Thursday May 8th
MODULE 8* | PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER
[ONE WEEK MODULE]
In class, we will discuss ways to link one’s story of self, story of us, and
Wed
story of now. Sometimes a public narrative begins with a “story of now”,
May
not a “story of self”, as in the Croft example. But the “story of now” will
14th
work only if it links to a “story of us” based on genuinely shared values,
something Susan Christopher models. And, in the end, as a leadership
practice, it must link back to a “story of self.” Public narrative can also be used strategically
to deal with major challenges, such as resistance to domination, explained by Scott, or as a
source of resilience in response to loss, as explained by McAdams and modeled by Sen.
Robert Kennedy, delivering the news of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination to a largely
African American audience in 1968...his week we ask you to reflect on how your story of self,
us and now are tied together to reflect your constituency’s hopeful outcome, urgency,
shared purpose and a call to leadership.
DAY
Wednesday
ONLINE
Live lecture
11:00am-
TEAM WORK
INDIVIDUAL WORK
Complete readings
Work on reflection paper
20
12:30pm EDT
Section
Thursday
Friday
Submit reflection paper by 6:00pm EDT
Receive feedback from TFs on reflection papers by Tuesday 9:00pm EDT
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES



Develop a complete pubic narrative (Self, Us, Now)
Develop a concrete call to action
Learn to coach others on creating a strong public narrative
 REQUIRED ACTION FOR THE MODULE



Develop your complete public narrative and call to action
Use your public narrative at one of your action programs
Reflect on how you used your public narrative in your campaign
 READING
REQUIRED READING:







►Susan Christopher. Story of Us, Camp Obama, Burbank, CA, July 2007. http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-WEM-taoG8. (H) *
►Video from Gandhi. Screenplay, John Briley. Dir. Richard Attenborough. Kingsley.
(H)*(http://video.ksg.harvard.edu:8080/ramgen/courseMaterials/ganz/Gandhi.rm
Asma Mahfouz. Meet Asmaa Mahfouz and the vlog that Helped Spark the
Revolution, Cairo, Egypt, January 2011. (H)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgjIgMdsEuk.
►Robert F. Kennedy, “Remarks on the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King”,
April 4, 1968. (H) *
►Dan P. McAdams and Philip J. Bowman, “Chapter 1: Narrating Life’s Turning
Points: Redemption and Contamination,” Turns in the Road: Narrative Studies of
Lives in Transition, (Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2001),
(pp. 3-34). [32 pages] (T)
►James C. Scott, Chapter 1, “Behind the Official Story” (pp. 1-16), in Domination
and the Arts of Resistance (New Haven: Yale, 1990). [16 pages] (T)
Jerome Bruner, “The Uses of Story” in Making Stories: Law, Literature, Life (New
York: Ferrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002), p. 3-36. [34 pages] (T)
 ASSIGNMENTS

Reflection Paper #8 – due by 6:00pm EDT on May 16th
 SECTION DISCUSSION

Thursday, May 15th
MODULE 9 | WRAP UP: ORGANIZERS, ORGANIZATIONS & THE
FUTURE
Wed
May
21st
[ONE WEEK MODULE]
This week we reflect on organizing as a craft, art, and vocation: why do it,
what can make a person good at it, what about the rest of our lives, how
21
can we continue to grow? Organizing requires learning to manage real organizational
tensions, as described in my “Organizing Notes”. It also requires learning to manage the
personal tensions, addressed by Heifetz when he urges us to learn to “get on the balcony”.
And it requires meeting the challenge of actually making the difference we claim we want to
make, getting to scale, a challenge Weir and I address in our piece and that Peter Murray
addresses in his. We will also hear from everyone about what they have learned from their
participation in the course. What have we learned about ourselves as organizers? What have
we learned about organizing, how well did we meet goals we set at the beginning of the
semester? What's next? In this week’s readings, Heifetz poses challenges of accepting
responsibility for leadership. Weir and Ganz argue that there is a need for greater
participation.
DAY
ONLINE
Live lecture
11:00am-12:30pm
EDT
Wednesday
Thursday
TEAM WORK
INDIVIDUAL WORK
Complete readings
Work on final reflection paper
Submit final reflection paper
(4 pages double spaced) by 6:00pm EDT
Wednesday
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES



Reflect on organizing as a craft, art and vocation
Reflect on the role of organizing in your work: the big picture
How to deal with organizing tensions
 REQUIRED ACTION FOR THE MODULE




Reflect on your leadership experience as an organizer, learner and leader
Evaluate the course
Articulate what’s next
Celebrate!
READINGS
REQUIRED READING:

►Marshall Ganz. Organizing Notes: “Organizations” Notes, Charts, and Questions”
2011. (P)*
 ►Ronald Heifetz, Leadership without Easy Answers, Chapter 11, “The Personal
Challenge,” (pp.250-276). (P)*
 Margaret Weir and Marshall Ganz, The New Majority: Toward a Popular Progressive
Politics, “Reconnecting People and Politics,” (pp. 149-171). (T)
 Peter Murray, “The Secret of Scale”, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall, 2013,
(p.32-39)
FOR FURTHER READING
 Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela,
Chapter 14, (pp. 121-140). (H)
 Ellen Langer, Mindfulness, Chapter 8, “Mindfulness on the Job,” (pp.133-148). (P)
 Cesar Chavez, “The Organizer's Tale,” Ramparts Magazine, July 1966, (pp.43-50). (P)
 Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, “The Education of the Organizer,” (pp.63-80). (P)
22



Charles M. Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, “Chapter 8: Slow and Respectful
Work” (pp.236-264). (H)
Kenwyn Smith and David Berg, "A Paradoxical Conception of Group Dynamics",
Human Relations, Vol. 40:10, 1987, (pp. 633-654). (T)
Irving Janis, "Groupthink", in Psychology Today, November 1971, (pp. 43-44, 46, 7476). (T)
 ASSIGNMENTS

Reflection Paper #9– due by 6:00pm EDT on Friday May 30th
This final reflection paper should be 4 pages double-spaced in length.
23