From mobilising to organising - lessons from the Royal College of Nursing
As part of our mission at TSIP, we work together with local communities and organisations to redress power and shift mindsets by giving people the right tools to take full advantage of the assets they already own - and to fight for the assets they deserve. Over the last year, within the course of unprecedented industrial action, we have been acting as a learning partner to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) as they transition from an organisational culture of “advocacy and servicing” to an “organising” approach. But what does that mean in practice? What is the difference - and why does it matter?
An organising model is a model for building power in which an ever expanding group of people, in this case members of a trade union, are able to collectively convene around a chosen issue or objective and win meaningful improvements and positive change to their lives and workplaces. An advocacy model is a result of a top-down approach. Members are told which issues they can fight for using a specific set of conditions and then are engaged through mobilising which only reaches the traditional activists - those who already agree with you. This can result in greater disparity between different parties, making it harder to come to solutions and doesn’t harness the power from the majority of a community coming together for collective action. An organising model on the other hand, focuses on engaging those who are not currently active and gives people the tools and training to identify issues themselves, to then collectively join forces and bring about solutions on their own terms.
“Organising is a strategic approach to making positive change happen that pushes beyond mobilising a core group of activists. Organisers are less focused on those who are already engaged and instead focused on talking to the member who is not active about the changes they want to see and their role to make those changes happen. ” said Stephanie Goodwin, RCN Head of Organising. “We want to increase member participation significantly by empowering members by supporting them to build strong networks in their workplaces, investing in their leadership capabilities and encouraging them to take action by building their confidence.”
As we have moved along this journey with the RCN, it was easy to extrapolate out both the journey and the learning into other areas of TSIP’s work. After all, TSIP’s mission is to ensure that people and organisations have the knowledge, access and power they need to drive positive change in the places they choose and on the issues that affect them. This surely aligns with principles of organising.
Organising is a strategic approach that uses an array of tools and tactics that can be used widely to unite communities to move towards meaningful change. Not only within set communities like trade unions, but across a variety of communities and groups of people with common lived experience and common goals. Community organising is the work of bringing people together, especially those who are currently active, to take action around their common concerns and overcome social injustice. (Community Organisers website) Organising over mobilising allows us to go further in addressing these concerns and taking action: Instead of mobilising on a certain issue, with a group of activists, in a reactive action, we can proactively choose to organise ourselves around the needs of all of those who comprise our communities.
So what is the learning we can carry across into our own work at TSIP?
You can’t just talk to those who already agree with you. To build power and create change you have to expand into the wider community and bring them on board.
Communication is key! Transparency around decision making and ensuring people have the right information in front of them ensures that there is no misunderstanding around objectives and aims.
Change doesn’t happen overnight and there are going to be setbacks - but these moments of failure often offer important lessons and insight.
People are most motivated to convene and fight for issues that are close to their heart rather than issues which feel less immediately tangible.
Everybody has something meaningful to bring to the table - not everyone will have the same skills, and that’s the richness and powerfulness of communities. Through valuing and nurturing both lived and learned experiences then results are often more embedded and sustainable.
We look forward to following the RCN’s journey as they continue to move forward towards an organising approach. We’re thankful for the lessons we have learnt from them and motivated to see how we can endorse these principles within our own work!
Stephanie Goodwin on what it’s been like working with TSIP
“Over the last year, our learning journey with TSIP has been transformative. Considering in 2022 and 2023 we were in the heart of the largest industrial action of nursing professionals in history, TSIP has been agile in their approach to help us capture the learning needs we outlined at the beginning of the learning evaluation. They have worked around our timelines and have flexed to ensure the work complemented our organisational needs at a time of rapid changes. TSIP was always responsive to my needs and changes for the final report and the end result has exceeded expectations in every way.”
Written by Georgina Hammerton and Nairat Ali
