Dilemmas of Online Organizing: The Diversity & Structure Edition!

Cleverly-titled presentation

Deanna ZandtPersonal Democracy Forum, 6/29/09

http://deannazandt.com/

© Sam Dorman.

OMG this is TEH AWESUM

• Here Comes Everybody!

• What used to take a large organization doesn’t take hardly anything

• Example of this:#AmazonFAIL

Remove all that silly structure stuff…

• It’s suddenly all like high school

• Unintentional – but highly impactful – marginalization of voices

• Why does diversity even matter?

History repeating itself?

• “Tyranny of Structurelessness” by Jo Freeman

• Consciousness-raising• Social media = CR for

the digital ages• Narratives are key for

organizing

Three facets

TRUST

LEADERSHIP

ACCOUNTABILITY

Trust

• How do we build it?• How do timeframes

change our perceptions?

Leadership

• Managing on the Fly– A core group of key

people– Balancing powering the

edges with intentionality– Transparency in decision

making

Allison Fine, http://www.allisonfine.com

Leadership

• Facilitative Leadership– A plan of action, often

updated daily– An understanding of

core assumptions and beliefs by key people

– Great listening skills and flexibility

Allison Fine, http://www.allisonfine.com

Accountability

• How can we ensure that what needs to get called out, does?

questions?

http://deannazandt.com@randomdeanna