Community Building Tips: Go Time
At this Checkpoint
This is the seventh part of a toolkit series on community building and social change.
Read this if your community engagement is coming up and you’re feeling nervous.
Skip this if you’re feeling confident and prepared for your upcoming community engagement.
“As we move between chaos and order, individually and collectively, we move through confusion and conflict toward clarity.”
The NGM Circle Community Building Journey Map: You are at the “Go Time” checkpoint.
Things are starting to come together and take shape. If you have some momentum and experience working in community, you might be surprised to find that this is a point where people get stuck since you’re used to the tension of convening groups. If you are feeling stuck or nervous, this one’s for you.
Tension is Good
It’s normal to feel nervous about a community gathering, there’s a lot of uncertainty. In fact, if you aren’t an experienced community organizer, you probably should feel a bit scared or anxious, this is new to you and there is some tension in doing something you care about and being accountable to the people around you. Tension and discomfort are where change happens.
Getting used to this feeling will take some practice and reframing, remind yourself that tension and conflict are not bad, they are part of finding solutions to complex issues. Remember all the work you’ve done so far and the reasons for the choices made. In the last stage, you thought the process through and have given it structure, your group is now moving forward to make things happen. Take a breath and remember your purpose and the people you are co-creating change with. If you’ve taken time to decatastophize with yourself and still feel you have a legitimate concern, bring it up to your fellow organizers and return to the previous stage if necessary, community engagement isn’t a race.
What’s holding you back?
I’m not sure I can do this
Are you Thrashing? Thrashing is:
“working out our own head trash — the fears, impostor syndrome, and (sometimes) unconscious perceptions of our own inadequacies. When we’re thrashing, we’re like the rocking chair that moves a lot but doesn’t actually get anywhere.”
-Charlie Gilkey, Start Finishing
It’s hard to move from starting to finishing. It’s even harder when you’re working on something you really care about and are invested in. We talked about this a bit at The Dip checkpoint, but it probably feels more real now. People sometimes stop moving forward at this point if they aren’t ready to really commit to making their ideas a reality. If you’ve got a committed group of people around you on your team, you might be able to avoid some of the nervousness and attrition by supporting and holding each other accountable. Reach out to your fellow organizers and talk through the tension together and remind yourself that you have the ability and competence to do this.
People just don’t get it
If you’re working to make some kind of social or cultural change, it’s normal to feel misunderstood. By definition, you’re doing something outside of the mainstream and that can feel very uncomfortable. You’re going to feel this way many times, you will squirm and flail, but at the end of the day remember why this matters, what you believe in, what you value, and the people you’re building it with. You’re not alone, you’re doing this together to make a better future.
I don’t have a reliable team
If you haven’t been able to connect with a solid group of supportive people at this point, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should give up, but it might mean you need to go back and rethink how you communicate your vision. You can have the best idea in the world, but if others can’t understand it, you’re going to really struggle rallying community around it. Building community happens from inviting others in to authentically co-create the future, it can’t be done alone.
Summary
Actions to take before moving on to the next stage
Embrace tension and evaluate your concerns
Check in with and support your team
Decide to move to the next stage or revisit the previous stage if needed
Thanks for reading! This is part of a toolkit series on community building. Stay tuned for the next installment!
-Ryan