We are coming off of an exciting two days of Debriefs: Successful Strategies and Tactics for Winning Campaigns! This Organizing Institute (OI) Exchange Clinic took place Oct. 22-23 and was held at the historic AFSCME Local 1733 union hall in Memphis, Tennessee. Sixteen advanced and lead level organizers from Ironworkers International Union and Communications Workers of America (CWA) leading campaigns across the country participated. The clinic focused on how lead organizers understand and apply the components of effective debriefs into their campaigns.
It was amazing to have so many engaged, energetic and thoughtful lead organizers share their experiences with each other and reinforce best practices of incorporating effective debriefs into their campaigns. Bringing organizers together to reinforce best practices is always the highlight of the OI Exchange Clinics, and best practices are also key to winning organizing campaigns!
Some of the organizer's takeaways from the clinic were:
- How to be more deliberate about having planned debriefs after meetings, one-on-one conversations and actions;
- Timely follow-up/debriefs with organizers, activists, and leaders;
- Creating an open, honest and learning environment for feedback/critique during debriefs;
- Incorporating role-playing into the debriefing process;
- Being intentional about including the organizing committee and workplace leaders in debriefs;
- Challenging our current practices by digging deeper during debriefs;
- Why we need to ask the right questions during debriefs;
- Being intentional about using debriefs as a campaign planning tool.
We want to send a very special thank you to AFSCME 1733 Executive Director Gail Tyree for opening AFSCME's historic local union hall for this clinic; CWA Organizing Director Sandy Rusher for committing to be the primary anchor for this clinic; CWA District 3 Organizing Coordinator Tom Smith and CWA District 9 Organizing Coordinator Vic Serrano for helping to facilitate this clinic. Lastly, big shout-outs to OI Senior Trainer TJ Marsallo (lead), Tiffany Bender (co-lead) and OI Administrator Camille West-Eversley for leading this clinic, and the CWA and Ironworkers organizers for making this a success!
Lastly, space is very limited for the Dec. 5-7 Advanced Organizing Workshop taking place at the Tommy Douglas Conference Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. Should you be interested in registering your organizing staff, please email OI Senior Trainer Tiffany Bender at [email protected] at your earliest convenience for information regarding the training and the registration link.