Organizing Tips: Strategizing for Right Care

At the Right Care Alliance Congress on May 7, attendees had the chance to collaborate with each other and brainstorm potential campaigns for their chapter. In case you couldn’t make the strategy session, or if you just want a refresher in organizing strategy, here are some tips that can help. And if you’d like to chat more, email organize@lowninstitute.org.

There are three questions we want to think about when strategizing:

  1. Who are my people? Don’t just say, “everyone.” That’s too vague and will be too overwhelming to start organizing around. Who are the specific groups of people who care about healthcare/right care in your city/region? The door can be open for everyone to get involved, but we need to start strategically with a specific group of people.  Identifying all clinicians and patients in your area is also too general – choosing physicians, nurses and patients of one specific hospital in your town is more practical.
  2. What is their problem or goal? It’s crucial to have in mind a specific outcome you and your people are working toward, or a problem that you are trying to solve. Think about the problems specifically faced by your group that you identified in Step 1.
  3. How can they turn their resources into the power they need to achieve the change they want? This is your “theory of change.” What needs to happen for you to achieve your goal? Who has the power to change it? What do those with power need? And is there anything they need that your people have?
    • Be creative when thinking about your resources! Not just money and time, but bodies, connections, knowledge, language skills, musical ability, etc.

Answering these three questions should give you the information to create an Organizing Statement. This statement is a declaration of who you are organizing and for what purpose, and how you are going to create the change you want.

We are organizing __________ (Who: your people) to do _________ (What: their problem or goal) by __________ (How: theory of change) to achieve ________ (What: specific objectives) by _______ (When: what date).

For examples, see some of the organizing statements attendees created at the RCA Congress below!

 

*These strategizing tips were adapted and inspired by the work of Marshall Ganz and many dedicated partners at the Harvard Kennedy School and Leading Change Network.