Growing and sustaining a movement

Events, projects, networks and communities

Event — a short time stamped activity that brings together a group of people around a subject.

Project — a long time stamped activity that brings together a group of people around a subject.

Network — a loose connection of people (Weak ties in social capital speak) usually big with infrequent communication.

Community — a strong connection of people (strong ties in social capital speak) usually smaller with more regular communication.

For me, movement building is all about weaving these things together into an ongoing dance. I always feel confused when we treat each in isolation. So when designing an event, asking how will this move forward projects, networks and communities. Or when building communities thinking what are the networks, projects and events that can grow this community. When building a network, what are the key communities that will sustain this network, what are the events that will bring energy and grow the network, give it identity, what are the projects that give it meaning and purpose.

Events are where people meet and exchange ideas. They build/reinforce identity and foster common language and frames of thinking. They can serve to help grow networks, establish and deepen communities and inspire projects. They serve as an easy entry point of people into networks (growth) and bust siloes between communities. So there is the “ideas” layer to events and the relationship layer to events, both are important. Communities without events will fizzle and die. They bring a burst of energy into a community/network. But we can’t always be in events, we would never get anything done. Events more about networks (though also important for communities)

Hence projects. This is what gives a community a sense of meaning and purpose. Doing things. Whereas events have scale but is short lived (a flash). Projects are smaller in scope but last longer. They involve ongoing communication (slow burn). Projects are more about communities. They deepen relationships. Still they need to have an end date (why? Do they really. Isn’t it more important that they have outputs? Thats really what matters). These outputs are what give a community substance and value.

Networks are so important because they allow scale. A community without scale is limited in impact. It also allows for diversity, different communities having different experiences, shared across a network reduces same mistakes and speeds up learning. But networks are too big and diverse to allow for ongoing collaboration at scale. Instead they work best as flashpoints (events) to get scale of impact, and through ongoing knowledge sharing through periodic check ins or ongoing message boards (e.g. slack channels). Networks are what allow movements to have impact of scale and size. They take the work of communities, enhance it and scale it.Its great to be part of a network but it lacks depth of relationship and the weak ties hurt ongoing sustained work.

Hence we need communities. It is communities where the action is and the life is. This is what sustains us. Communities are the workhorses. Without them movements fizzle. Systems change takes a generation or more. Communities are what sustain us through the long hard work. Nothing is permanent. People can leave a community, but it is important for them to find a new community to join otherwise they will fall out of the movement (either through burnout, or lack of connection and identity). The work of communities is what feeds the content of conferences, it drives and completes projects and it sustains networks.

A healthy strong movement therefore needs all four components. And for those of us doing movement building work, it is important to see each as feeding into the other and to design around that to improve the effectiveness of all of them.