Current e-Journal

Catalytic Thinking Exercise:
To build an army of support, turn work into a party

Last month, a bookstore owner in Chelsea, Michigan put the word out to her customers: We’re moving and need help moving the books. 300 people showed up, and within 2 hours, the group had bucket-brigaded 9,100 books to their new location. They even added them to the correct shelves at that new store, in alphabetical order.

Hildy and Dimitri tell a similar story from the days when they were collecting diapers in their consulting office – before they built Tucson’s diaper bank.

After collecting 300,000 diapers and housing all those diapers in their 800 square foot consulting office, they needed to get all those packages to the agencies who would distribute them to folks in need.

They didn’t ask for volunteers. Instead they had a party, inviting their friends and supporters to help move those diapers. Within 90 minutes, 300,000 diapers were on their way.

In both cases, the participants said the same thing:
         This was so much fun!

And in the case of the diapers,
         Will you do this again next year? Please put us on the list for that!

Catalytic Thinking encourages us to connect connect connect. Radical inclusion. Building armies of support for the work of social change. Asking, “Who else cares about this?” and “What can we accomplish together that we couldn’t accomplish on our own?”

At a time when so many of us are feeling, “I’m just one person,” our power is each other.

And one of the most effective ways to build that collective power is to turn work into a party.

Try this: 
In the days when Hildy and Dimitri ran the diaper bank, every time they thought, “We need volunteers,” they turned that effort into a party.

Need to sort thousands of packages of diapers by size?
        Time for a sorting party!

Need to get a year-end mailing out?
        Time for a mailing party!

They would get pizzas and sodas donated, send invitations, and act as host (rather than “volunteer coordinator” or “project manager.”) They would introduce people to each other, play music – make it fun!

We see the same thing with the AIDS coalition in Hildy’s TEDx talk. To get out their message about the increase of AIDS in seniors, folks from the AIDS coalition would offer to volunteer alongside folks at senior-related events (senior center, opera, church groups). Working side-by-side, they would share stories, getting to know each other. Folks loved these events!

Watch kids in a playground. It doesn’t take long for them to start playing with other kids they’ve never met. We humans are social creatures. It’s fun to play alongside other people who are having fun!

Then we grow up. And when do we have the opportunity for that playing-with-strangers sort of playground play? That feeling that happens at a wedding when everyone forms a conga line, hands on the hips of a total stranger, having the time of our lives. How rare that sort of playing-with-strangers is in our adult lives!

When we ask for volunteers, people expect to be serious. But when we invite folks to come play, it’s just that – play. Same task, different feeling. Everyone comes expecting fun. They eat pizza, they laugh. And they leave asking, “Can we do this again?"

So create those conditions for success. Create opportunities for joy and connection. In these troubling times, we need all the fun and connection we can get!

As so many of us are feeling like we’re “just one person,” you will be offering folks a way to be part of something bigger than themselves, finding a way to step into their power. That is why Radical Inclusion is such a big part of the Catalytic Thinking framework.