Editing Strategizing (section)

== What is strategy and how does it work? ==
Simply put, strategy is '''turning what you have into what you need to get what you want.'''

'''What you have''' is your '''community’s resources''': people, time, skills, money, experiences, relationships, credibility, your allies, supporters, your leadership.

'''What you need''' to achieve the change you want is power. '''Power''' is gained through tactics that can creatively turn your resources into the capacity you need to achieve your goal.

'''What you want''' is your '''goal'''. Your goal is a clear and measurable outcome that allows you to measure progress along the way.

To illustrate strategy, we will use a classic organizing example: the 1956 boycott of the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1956, as part of regional racial segregation policies, black passengers had to sit at the back of the bus and white passengers at the front. If the bus was full, black passengers were forced to give up their seats for white passengers. Demanding a change to these rules, black passengers boycotted the bus system, depriving the system of substantial revenue. 381 days after the boycott started, the bus system was desegregated.<ref>For more information on the 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott, see Branch, T. (1989). Chapter 4: First Trombone. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Inc.</ref>

Strategizing is '''motivated''' by an urgent challenge

We strategize in response to an urgent challenge or a unique opportunity to turn our vision into specific goals. We commit to the goal first, then develop how we will get there. Think of the Montgomery Bus Boycott – ''what challenge did the leadership of the boycott respond to? What was their motivating vision?''

Strategizing is '''situated'''

Strategy unfolds within a specific context, the particularities of which really matter. The imaginative power of strategizing can be realized only when rooted within an understanding of the details of your campaign context as well as an understanding of the larger context your campaign is situated in. You need to understand the trees and the forest. During the bus boycott, the leadership team had to consider the finances of the local bus company and how withholding their bus fares would impact them, as well as the feasibility of all black residents in Montgomery using alternative transit for an indefinite period of time. They also had to understand how their local action would affect the national conversation on civil rights.

Strategizing is '''creative'''

Challenging the status quo requires making up for our lack of resources by using the resources we do have intentionally and creatively. During the bus boycott, the leadership turned the resources of their community (a bus fare) into power by mobilizing that resource collectively.

Strategizing is '''collaborative'''

Strategizing is most dynamic and effective when the group responsible for it brings diverse experience, background, and resources to the table. During the bus boycott, strategizing was undertaken collaboratively by national and local organizations representing black people, the the Women’s Political Council, representing black women, and white allies.

Strategizing is '''intentional'''

A strategy is a theory of how we can turn what we have (resources) into what we need (power) to get what we want (achieving goals). We call this a '''theory of change''', and will discuss it later in this section.

Strategizing is a verb, and is an '''ongoing process'''

Strategizing is something we do, not something we have. Strategizing is not about creating a static strategic plan at the beginning of a campaign and implementing it. Rather, we continually strategize as we implement our strategic choices and change our strategy in response to what happens. In this way, we ‘act our way into new thinking’ rather than ‘think our way into new acting.’ At first, organizers in Montgomery pursued only a legal strategy, fighting segregation in the courts. It was only after the Women’s Political Council circulated a flyer calling for a boycott in solidarity with Rosa Parks being arrested for refusing to give up her seat, that a one-day boycott was agreed upon by the black community in Montgomery on December 5, 1955. It was not until organizers saw a successful one day boycott that they called on the community to boycott the buses until they had been desegregated.