Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
LEADERSHIP VS. ORGANIZING
It is important to understand the difference between leadership and organizing. Oftentimes they are
seen as the same thing, and the characteristics found in good leaders are often found in good organ-
izers. But there is a crucial difference. Leaders create visions that people want to follow; and while that
vision may require management and nurturing over time, it is a top-down scenario. Leaders are re-
quired to articulate their vision to move people in a specific direction.
Organizing, however, harnesses the power of consensus to create a shared vision and shared direc-
tion. The organizer's job isn't to push people toward his or her personal dream, but to foster a collect-
ive goal, to help build the community around that goal, and to inspire people to take on responsibility
through action. This bottom-up approach is quite different than what I often see in our hierarchical
world, and accordingly, it requires a different set of skills than many of us exercise on a daily basis.
Truth be told, your organization may need a little bit of both approaches. Some passionate soul may
come up with a great idea for that empty piece of land in your neighborhood and his or her enthusiasm
may attract others who buy into the dream. And while the vision is great, that visionary may or may not
be a good organizer, so others—those who joined and believed in the dream—may need to step into the
gap between the leader's vision and reality. Or you may be part of an organization in which there is no
vision yet, but there's plenty of energy, and someone needs to step up to help shine a light down the
collective path with his or her organizing ability. Organizing and leadership use different tactics, but as
long as those tactics are being used toward a common goal, it's all good.
The fact is, we all have some experience and perspective on aspects of leadership and community
organizing, whether we call it that or not—be it planning an event, gathering signatures for a petition,
managing a team, or any other scenario where a group of people need to move toward a common out-
come. Everyone has either led or been part of a
successful
group—and everyone has either led or been
part of an
unsuccessful
group. We all know how both scenarios feel—and, I would hazard to guess,
we'd all rather spend our time in a successful group.
Ultimately, the long-term sustainability of any new garden organization is dependent on the garden
being relevant and valuable to a variety of stakeholders. Effective organizing creates a culture of shared
leadership, open communication, and agreed-upon processes.
CELEBRATE ASSET AWESOMENESS
There are college degrees and entire careers dedicated to community organizing. To keep it simple, I'll
focus on one method that I believe is a concise, logical approach: Asset Based Community Develop-
ment (ABCD)—or, as many call it, glass-half-full organizing. It's an approach that helps communities
and groups focus on what they
do
have (assets based), instead of what they don't (needs based). The
ABCD approach is very powerful because instead of creating anxiety about what a group may be lack-
ing and need to find, finance, or work around, it celebrates what a group already has, helping members
coalesce around those existing assets. ABCD encourages communities to rely on and celebrate their ex-
isting strengths.
Asset Based Community Development is an approach that encourages your community of gardeners
to be active players and to pool assets. The principle has been used in community organizing scenarios
for many purposes, from getting laws changed to addressing neighborhood challenges. In your case, the
