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Joy, Culture, & Community Building In Your Chapter

Presentation Slides:�http://cclusa.org/fun-culture-building

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Format: Presentation and then time for Q&A

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About Our Speaker

Tamara Staton

CCL Greater Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator

Portland CCL Co-facilitator

Regional Coordinator for the Greater Pacific Northwest

Tamara Staton co-founded her local Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Chapter in Portland, Oregon in 2012, and continues as co-facilitator of the chapter today. In 2014, she stepped in as Regional Coordinator for the Greater Pacific Northwest, supporting leaders and expansion efforts in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii and 3 Pacific Island territories. She thrives on the relationships that these roles allow her within CCL and revels at the multiple opportunities to help the region expand.

In addition to her CCL endeavors, Tamara is a consultant, facilitator, coach and educator with over 20 years experience in the fields of development and communication. She has worked both one-on-one and with groups in the areas of leadership development, team building, and improving overall effectiveness, including work with solar companies to improve organizational culture and communication through her company, Thriving Solar. As a development coach with her other company, Changing Your Climate, Tamara supports eco-conscious leaders in effecting positive change in our global community.

In her downtime, you’ll likely find her on whitewater in Oregon, kayaking, camping, or playing banjo with her family.

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Our Agenda

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The Importance of Group Culture

CCL’s Culture

Building Culture & Joy In Your Meetings

Additional Chapter Activities

Q&A Discussion

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Three Learning Goals

Review what CCL groups are doing to create a group culture that inspires, nurtures and motivates people.

Brainstorm actions that your group can take to build on CCL’s culture and emphasis on play.

Highlight the transformative power that building group culture and elements of joy can provide our groups.

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Creating a group culture that inspires, nurtures and motivates people

2nd Pillar of Transformational Organizing

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The Meaning and Value of Culture

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“Culture consists of the values, beliefs, systems of language, communication, and practices that people share in common and that can be used to define them as a collective...it is important for shaping social relationships, maintaining and challenging social order, determining how we make sense of the world and our place in it, and in shaping our everyday actions and experiences in society.”

Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D

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According to sociologists, and as highlighted by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D, “culture consists of the values, beliefs, systems of language, communication, and practices that people share in common and that can be used to define them as a collective”

“It is important for shaping social relationships, maintaining and challenging social order, determining how we make sense of the world and our place in it, and in shaping our everyday actions and experiences in society.”

This means, in essence, that the culture that we create within CCL can help people make sense of their place and role in the ‘climatosphere’,as I like to call it, and ultimately potentially shape who they are as a member of society. This is a big role, and we attempt to create this overarching culture within our CCL chapters to support people in making sense of it all.

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“Sociologists define the non-material aspects of culture as the values and beliefs, language, communication, and practices that are shared in common by a group of people.

Expanding on these categories, culture is made up of our knowledge, common sense, assumptions, and expectations. It is also the rules, norms, laws, and morals that govern society; the words we use as well as how we speak and write them…[...] Culture is also what we do and how we behave and perform.”

Nicki Lisa Cole, P.h.D

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Dr. Cole continues by pointing out that, “sociologists define the non-material aspects of culture as the values and beliefs, language, communication, and practices that are shared in common by a group of people. Expanding on these categories, culture is made up of our knowledge, common sense, assumptions, and expectations. It is also the rules, norms, laws, and morals that govern society; the words we use as well as how we speak and write them…[...]. Culture is also what we do and how we behave and perform…”

How we welcome people into our chapter...that is our culture. How we listen to those with different opinions, how much we speak in a conversation, how we respond in the media to bills that aren’t ours...all of that is founded in the culture we strive to create as an organization.

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An organization’s culture is its identity. Research has shown that organizations with a strong identity and culture have more motivated people in it, and that’s important to our success.

If we dip back into CCL in regards to the definition and meaning of culture, the second pillar of transformational organizing says that...

An organization’s culture is its identity.

Research has shown that organizations with a strong identity and culture have more motivated people in it, and that’s important to our success.

So, clearly, it’s in our best interest to be intentional about the culture we are building in our chapters, to take steps to integrate the CCL Way into what we do locally.
It can make the difference between a thriving and a struggling chapter, an active chapter or one that’s still in progress, which ultimately translates to fewer opportunities for turning our MOCs into co-sponsors of our bill and reaching our overarching goal of a livable world.
In addition, building a tightly knit culture, including joy and elements of play is not only fun, but it helps us be more effective at building resilience amidst so much challenging news and addressing climate change.
People are wanting and needing more lightness in this work - which seems counterintuitive to what’s possible, but is quite the opposite.

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CCL’s Culture

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Our Mission

To create the political will for climate solutions by enabling individual breakthroughs in personal and political power.

First of all, if we consider our two part mission statement: We exist for two reasons:

To create the political will for climate solutions (and on a bigger stage, a livable world)
To empower individuals to have breakthroughs in their personal and political power

As is made clear in these two statements, at our foundation, we are FOR things. 2 things in this case, one could say - climate solutions and individual breakthroughs. This is something we try to make very clear in our Climate Advocacy Training - we are FOR, not against.
In this way, we speak out when we like something - we publicize which aspects of the new climate bills we appreciate, and we pivot to our bill that similarly achieves that goal. We find the benefits in the actions that someone takes...or we choose to say nothing at all.
And what this does, among other things, is to support us in having positive relationships with people and other organizations, and this, in turn, moves us closer to our 2 goals.

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Our Values

Focus

Integrity

Diversity

Personal Power

Relationships

Being Nonpartisan

Optimism

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Integrating The CCL Way

New members have lots of questions about us

What
When
where

They learn how we work together

watching
participating

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Culture - National Organization

Monthly Call
Info Session & Online Climate Advocate Training
The CCL Blog
New Volunteer Handout

That national organization provides several ways to build culture:

The monthly call (and the concept of the monthly meeting) not only provides information to volunteers but building a sense of community.

listening to the live call can make it much easier to building a culture of inclusion, collaboration and hope.
Being live with so many other people around the country adds a sense of spark that isn’t possible when you skip the call or listen to a recording.

The introductory call and the Climate Advocate Training use quotes and stories to convey our culture to new volunteers.

One of my favorites is this one by EB White: Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way, the savoring must come first.

What does this say about our culture? (wait for responses)

It’s not all about the work. We need to appreciate what’s around us. It’s about balance. And we can use this to connect to others.

The CCL blog uses stories to convey what’s important to us.

Sam-Daley Harris speaks to the power of grassroots advocacy
Flood survivors join forces to change policy

Remind volunteers of these resources at your meetings, especially newcomers, by sharing your experience with them, or pointing them out on the New Volunteer Handout.
There are also some unspoken cultural aspects of CCL, like the importance of integrating joy and a sense of play into what we do, and the value of purpose, and how that drives us as humans.
Sometimes it can be hard to figure out the specifics of one’s culture. But I find that it can often help to think of what we aren’t - to consider other organizations similar in nature but different in culture. Do we hang from bridges, lie on railroad tracks or march and yell obscenities? That can help us highlight what we do, how we do it, and why that’s important to us as an organization.

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CCL’s Monthly Meetings

We come together each month to:

Learn
Celebrate
Practice
Act

This deeply reflects the culture of our organization by spending time on what is important to us.

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How To Build Culture: Case Studies

Thriving Solar
Portland Input
Listening to the national call

How to build culture / case studies -

Thriving Solar:

One of the hats I’ve worn is as consultant, working with owner-operated solar companies on improving team culture and communication. When I first started with this work, I was pretty intimidated and wasn’t exactly sure I knew what I was doing. But as I spent more time with the companies, it became very clear to me that there were some key things they could be doing to shift the tone, mood, and culture. Things like having regular meetings, communicating clearly, making sure people know (and like) their roles...while those things seemed simple, I was shocked at how the integration of simple changes so drastically changed the culture of the organization.

Portland As culture-building example:

In Portland, we’ve only ever had 2 meetings, maybe, in 7 years where we haven’t listened to the national call live. Our meetings are long, 2.5 hours, and while there has been some group discussion about listening to the call on our own and shortening our meetings, the community has been clear that they don’t want to lose all that the live call offers.

There are also a number of other things we do in portland to integrate the CCL Way and build a strong community.

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Ideas for Culture Building in Mtgs

Integrating values
Open social time
Announcements
Listen to Live Call
Socializing/Food Break
Partner Communication Practice
Celebrate Success
Take Action
Report Out

We try to integrate all of the values into what we do in Portland, esp. Relationship, focus, being nonpartisan, optimism, and personal power and integrity (we start and end on time!)

Diversity Value- Consider that people have different personalities, learning styles, needs that support them in staying engaged, focused and hopeful.

it is very full - people like that. It appeals to many personality types
We mix our meetings up a good bit, and people seem to respond well to that (30-40 ppl on average, many long timers). Here's the diversity of activity that we do, which also speaks to the goals a bit:

- open social time (meet and greet, pre meeting, with food/ coffee)

- community building (initial intros, in a circle or horseshoe)

- announcements, CCL and community when we have time

- live conference call / learn / educate (we tried to ditch this, and people are willing to sacrifice one sat a month so we can keep it live)

- 10 min break to socialize, eat, fill out constituent comment letter

- partner communication practice / or laser talk practice as a group or in pairs

- celebrate successes as a group (rejoice, positive vibes, this feeds the 'hope shot' concept that people have mentioned in our mtgs)

- take action (in small groups, people can choose between 2-4 options each month)

- report out on small group plans (again, more hope invigorated)

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More Joy Practices & Activities

Buddy System
Listening for values
Peer Support Action Team

Buddy System - Francine/Daniela?

We have also recently developed a buddy system in order to help integrate newer members into our chapter and help them feel more integrated, included, and grounded in how things work, where to find resources
Describe the process

Community Building - listening for values, freeze frame for observing body language? -

This is an activity that I most recently used at our Regional Conference breakout session in June. I had people partner up, and while one partner was sharing something important to them, the other one was listening for values, or what seemed important to that other person. In the middle of the activity, I interrupted them group and asked them to freeze. I then walked around the room and pointed out what I noticed, the distinct body language that I was seeing that make it clear that people were listening to each other. What do you think I saw?

CCL’s Peer Support Action Team

An action team to support people in building resilience around the work we do as climate advocates
Another peer support team is forming on Sept 8 - Sara, add to chat: https://community.citizensclimate.org/groups/events/item/972/2129/1013
Share personal experience from ONGO team that I lead over 12 weeks -

My whole way of being shifted online, I became someone different, was supported in a whole new way in the CCL circles

Gratitude Research

Researchers analyzed findings to figure out how practicing gratitude does four things:

Gratitude disconnects us from toxic, negative emotions and the ruminating that often accompanies them. Writing a letter “shifts our attention” so that our focus is on positive emotions.
Expressing gratitude helps us even if we don’t explicitly share it with someone. We’re happier and more satisfied with life because we completed the exercise.
The positive effects of gratitude writing compound like interest. You might not notice the benefit of a daily or weekly practice, but after several weeks and months, you will.
A gratitude practice trains the brain to be more in tune with experiencing gratitude — a positive plus a positive, equal more positives.

Sara puts in chat: Gratitude Practices: https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-of-gratitude/

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Gratitude Practices

Research highlights:

Disconnects us from toxic negative emotions and ruminating
Expressing gratitude helps us even without sharing
Complex effects compound over time
Trains the brain to be in tune with where to see moments for thankfulness

Gratitude Research

Researchers analyzed findings to figure out how practicing gratitude does four things:

Gratitude disconnects us from toxic, negative emotions and the ruminating that often accompanies them. Writing a letter “shifts our attention” so that our focus is on positive emotions.
Expressing gratitude helps us even if we don’t explicitly share it with someone. We’re happier and more satisfied with life because we completed the exercise.
The positive effects of gratitude writing compound like interest. You might not notice the benefit of a daily or weekly practice, but after several weeks and months, you will.
A gratitude practice trains the brain to be more in tune with experiencing gratitude — a positive plus a positive, equal more positives.

Sara puts in chat: Gratitude Practices: https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-of-gratitude/

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“Play increases creativity and resilience and is all about the generation of diversity. Diversity of interactions and connections...Play is our adaptive wild card. In order to adapt successfully to our changing world we need to play. In times when it may seem least appropriate to play, it might be the times when it’s most urgent.”

Primatologist Isabel Benchke

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Joy, Fun, & Sense Of Play

Top things to address climate change
Ask for ideas
Opening Questions
Celebrate Successes
Consider small group break-outs
Set the a light mood

Not letting crisis lead

Other Ideas?

There are a number of things included in the myriad activities that we (and many other chapters) do above that also succeeds with integrating joy and a sense of play into our chapter:

I’m going to share some ideas that have worked for others, as well as some additional ones we have used in Portland, and at the end I’ll ask you to share any ideas that you have that you’ve either tried or might like to
Add the following

Food, social time - lightens the mood, to combine social time with climate work, and on a regular basis

Sean Dague - Mid Hudson South - This past weekend we did a potluck with our active volunteers, as well as the active volunteers from the neighboring group to our north. Lots of fun!
Mark Tabbert - Our CA OC Coast Chapter does socials, open to neighboring Chapters, on a fairly regular basis, informal potlucks, no one has to bring food but most bring food or wine. Usually like 4-6:00 Sundays. We just had a Whale Watching Event Saturday and had 35 join including kids and grandkids. 3 Chapters participated.

The opening question that we choose in our intros - creates laughter and lightness

What gives you hope?
What do you love about your mom?
What was the best Halloween costume you ever wore or saw?
Top 3 adjectives that describe your summer?

Celebrate successes as a group
Break into smaller groups, where people feel more comfortable contributing their own ideas

This sends the message that their ideas and actions matter and that we want to support them in contributing those

There’s a mood that gets set as facilitator - a tone of action, focus, but also lightness and fun. I make jokes when I can, I try to do things that make people laugh. I make fun of myself sometimes. I also make it ok for people to share, and be human and vulnerable.

And with this, is being diligent about being mindful of the tone of the conversation - when it shifts off of our values, I validate and pivot.

Ask for ideas from participants

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Building Culture: More Ideas

Sharing Stories Exercise
Appoint a group historian
Show vs. tell how you model culture
Create opportunities for members to get to know each other
Host A Potluck
Invent your own games and traditions!

You can build your groups culture in other ways, for example:

Give people a chance to talk about what they care about during an opening or closing exercise. Small groups can do that as a round robin, and larger groups can do it with a partner. Start with questions like: What do you love that you want to save? Who inspires you? What gives you hope for humanity? Or close with questions like: What kind of person do you want to be this month? What are you “for” this week? What actions will you do this month?
Ask someone to briefly share something they did that models the CCL values
Ask someone to share a story from the group’s history or CCL’s history.
Use quotes to say who we are, whether quotes you found or that you’ve heard through CCL.
Convey your culture by integrating it into what your group does rather than telling people what to do or how to be.
Create opportunities for people to get to know each other better. (buddy system, partner shares)
Invent a fun tradition for your group (for example, one group created commercials to demonstrate each value being lived out in their group). It’s okay to be silly!

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Time For Questions

Click the Microphone Icon Or *6 If On The Phone

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https://community.citizensclimate.org/topics

Share online, with social media, and with your family and friends!

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Thank You!

Tamara Staton email: tamara.staton@citizensclimatelobby.org

Questions? Ask on CCL Community’s Forums: https://community.citizensclimate.org/forums

www.citizensclimatelobby.org