How to Scale
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In three years time, WV Can’t Wait built out the largest electoral organizing infrastructure our state has seen in decades. With county teams in all but one of our 55 counties, 39 constituency groups representing seniors, veterans and so on, and 101 candidates running under the WV Can’t Wait banner, our movement, three years in, was massive.
This is an article about what we learned in scaling up. It’s about how we brought new people in and how we created meaningful roles for each person that served the whole.
Like any organizing project, our ability to grow in scale was due in part to investing in a brilliant, balanced team, to experimentation, to luck, and to sweat. And yet, there were several key organizing principles that we honed and utilized. This article is about those.
But, before we get to those principles, I want to first say a few things about the landscape here. In West Virginia, like in many places around the country, there is little political infrastructure to speak of. Parties consolidate their power in their highest ranks of leadership and invest sparsely in local committees. Parties also focus their interest on top of ticket races. For those statewide candidates to be viable, they have to get party establishment backing. Down ballot, parties do little by way of deep coaching, training or offering other help to new candidates. All of this makes for narrow, top-down political machines that lack real grassroots organizing strategies, let alone expertise. Said another way, our parties in West Virginia are better designed to defend the power they have, than to build new power of their own.
And so, with this backdrop, in 2017 we saw a need and an opening. Our goal went beyond the ballot box. We aimed to build political infrastructure that could last beyond any one race. Our interest in scale was and is an interest in building the structural capacity to win a new majority across election cycles.
The vehicle we utilized to begin this work was a gubernatorial campaign. This statewide race — with its scope, its staffing, its digital tools, its convening power and more — is where our architecture originated and was given shape. In it, the key question that guided our organizing for three years was this one: will this action — this one-on-one meeting, this hire, this Town Hall — will it help us organize new people to join us and take on leadership roles? In other words, will it help us scale?
Here are six lessons we learned from our first three years of practice:
- Do one-on-ones, a lot of them.
Over three years, we had more than 10,000 one-on-one meetings as a movement, thousands of which our gubernatorial candidate did himself, and thousands of which were done by other candidates, staff and volunteers.
To facilitate our gubernatorial candidate to do his meetings efficiently, we filled his calendar with one-on-one slots, every day of the week. (If you really want to nerd out about the process of scheduling these slots, here are some more details about how we did it.) What’s more, each season, our County and Constituency Teams held one-on-ones locally, to build out their own teams. Sometimes, these one-on-ones happened as a part of drives that we designed, like our Summer of 10,000 Conversations. During a drive, we offered skills trainings like this one for volunteer organizers, every week of the drive, to teach one-one-ones.
Importantly, the goal of these one-on-one meetings was never to pitch how our gubernatorial candidate, or any other WV Can’t Wait candidate, would solve all our problems, as establishment candidates profess to do. The goal was to find out what moved the people we were meeting with, where we were aligned, and what role they could play. In short, one-on-ones were how we began a relationship to invite someone into the work.
Operating in a traditional political culture that prioritizes speed and quick results, it can be hard to wrap our heads around this: why spend so many precious hours meeting with one person, then another? The answer is, because it works. If what we’re building is a house, one-on-ones are the foundation — and the sturdiest we know of. From these meetings, we found key leaders, grew teams, identified candidates, and recruited staff. Nearly every single person who played an important movement role came in through one of these meetings. (Want to dig a little deeper on the art and impact of one-on-ones? Here’s a brief how-to.)
2. Have a structure with chutes
Once someone stepped forward to join our work, we had to have a place to send them. From day one, we designated three central roles that anyone could assume: County Captain, Constituency Captain, Candidate. (Occasionally we’d recruit for specialized roles too, like “videographer” or “web editor,” but these first three roles were primary.) We developed efficient systems or “chutes” for onboarding and supporting volunteers to assume these roles.
Our system for onboarding looked like this: A volunteer, staff member or candidate would identify someone interested in getting involved in WV Can’t Wait — sometimes through word of mouth, sometimes through an email to our main volunteer account, etc. Then, the person who identified the potential new volunteer would set that person up for a one-on-one call with our candidate for Governor. During that call, our candidate would feel out that person’s interest in filling one of those key roles. If there was a good fit, he would then send an email connecting that new person to a staff member who was in charge of the team that the new person would be joining. That staff member would get the new volunteer oriented — often with a call and the help of a written guide for how to do their role. (Here’s an example of the guide or “Toolkit” we gave to new County Captains who came on during our Summer of 10,000 Conversations.)
Because the structure was clear and simple (three roles!), it meant everyone could be a recruiter. Many volunteers knew how onboarding worked, and could themselves recruit other volunteers into the system. Not only did this decentralize recruitment, it freed up staff to respond to new volunteers quickly with the materials they needed to get started. This, in turn, grew our reputation for being an organized and effective group. We heard regularly from volunteers how worthwhile it felt to give their time, knowing that they’d be given clear work to do.
We were committed to finding a role for anyone who wanted one. And it was incredible what people offered: we had an all-volunteer videography team and all-volunteer video editing team, a volunteer web developer, a huge volunteer research team, dozens of volunteer drivers, homestay hosts for every single day on the road (which was nearly every day for 18 months), you name it — not to mention hundreds of County Captains, Constituency Captains and Candidates!
3. Build teams with the “Goldilocks Window” in mind
Once a person committed to one of the core three roles, say County Captain, we gave them a specific task for each season (every 3 to 6 months). In one season we charged County Captains with hosting a Tour Stop for a Town Hall Tour. In another season they and their team were to conduct and log 55 Conversations (for the Summer of 10,000 Conversations). In yet another season, their task was hosting a Platform Party to get their county’s input on our draft People’s Platform. Each of these charges came with a Toolkit, which explained the work of the season and included links to all of the resources they’d need. (Here’s another example Toolkit from our Platform Parties). We also offered weekly trainings where Captains could tune in, practice the skills they’d need to complete their work and see the Toolkits once again. And we offered coaching: a Captain could set up a call with our Field Director any time to get support.
Importantly, Captains had room to get creative: Where would they host their Town Hall? What would folks bring to their potluck? Who was on their list of people to invite? Did they want decorations? What about music?
This set-up worked time and time again: volunteers were most successful and took on the most amount of leadership when the tasks were clear, specific and supported… and where they could still make decisions and get creative inside of those bounds. Too little guidance, folks fell away. Too much guidance, folks bristled. In short, what we found was a “Goldilocks Window” for team success. There’s not a perfect formula for this — all volunteers have different needs, which is why doing this work relationally is so important — but we found that setting a minimum number of expectations that were written down, with a timeframe (again, check out those Toolkits) was a great place to start.
The Goldilocks Window also supported skill-building. A good number of our County Captains had never hosted a public event before. Learning how to book a space, set up the room, have conversations with people to invite them — all of these were new skills that were built through doing the concrete tasks that were a part of that season’s work. And there was something for everyone to learn, even organizing veterans, who could grow their events beyond the basics we outlined for them.
It also helped to build confidence. Giving volunteers a concrete thing to do means there is something to accomplish. And with accomplishment comes a sense of know-how! When County Captains successfully met their goal for the quarter (which many did) they could feel their work and creativity paying off.
All of this, importantly, got us closer to winning. More leaders with more skills and more confidence, means that collectively, we were able to create more and more advantages that our establishment opponents couldn’t match.
4. Repeat, repeat, repeat (then, repeat again)
You may have sensed another principle as you read about these first three practices: repetition. Repetition was everywhere. We didn’t do a handful of County Tour Stops, we did the same event dozens of times, at least once in each county. We didn’t offer a handful of trainings, we offered the same training every week for an entire season. This was intentional.
For one thing, scaling up is not linear. We were constantly organizing (and so were our teams) and so were constantly bringing new people in. Those people needed the basics in order to be successful and find their place: What are the roles? Where do I fit? What help can I get?
Repetition also helps with culture-setting. (Here’s an early draft of some of our central cultural principles that we would repeat in various ways inside trainings, e-blasts, one-on-ones). Strong institutions have a strong culture where the purpose of the organization and the modes of participation are clear. When you repeat, teaching the same tactics or the same values over and over, that culture becomes held and practiced by a wider and wider group of people.
Plus, people have real lives. The folks we organized had other important things to attend to besides WV Can’t Wait. They had family members to care for, a job that they just got laid off from, a sitter that just bailed, a birthday party to attend. Repetition gave folks permission to not be at every single event in order to be a movement leader.
And finally, there was an efficiency in this approach for our staff. Once we made a Town Hall Tour facebook event for Marion County (like this one), we could use the same graphic for the other 54. Once a season of work was up and running, we could lean into the materials we built to execute months of work.
5. Make base-building a part of your story and strategic thinking
“We need 1,000 leaders, not 1,” was one of the mantras of the WV Can’t Wait movement. We wanted to signal to our base a truth about strong and healthy movements: that they require many leaders. We knew our moments of biggest change here — the West Virginia Mine Wars, the teachers strikes — were led by many diverse people and that this work we were up to was a part of that legacy. “It’s in our blood,” we would say.
Press would pick this up, asking if it was really possible to recruit 1,000 people into leadership roles. “1,000 leaders, not 1,” made its way onto t-shirts, posts, poems. When we lost races in the Primary, County and Constituency teams used this orientation to train their teams’ eyes toward the long game: “It’s never been about one person.” It guided us.
And it wasn’t just rhetorical, it was infused into our strategic thinking. In difficult moments — when our opponents mounted whisper campaigns against us, when a local team was in conflict, when we had to make tough spending choices — one of the questions we asked was which outcome would help us be more leaderful. For example, when we had the chance to confront the Democratic Party about the threats their officials were making to candidates who signed onto our slate, we decided not to. We realized it would zap our time to fight the Party head on — that we’d be better positioned to grow our base by using our time and energy recruiting more candidates to join us instead.
6. Teach your credible Plan to Win
At our early Town Halls (which we treated as organizing meetings rather than pep rallies), someone would inevitably ask, “OK, but does this really have a shot?” We loved this question, rooted for it even. It was a chance to teach our Plan to Win.
We’d ask a volunteer to come to the front of the room, thank them and say, “This guy right here, Charlie, represents a candidate in a traditional campaign.” We’d ask the group what Charlie’s campaign team looked like. It was easy for folks to answer this question: “A couple of staffers who worked on the last guys campaign.” “A handful of wealthy volunteers that the candidate knows personally.” We’d ask, most importantly, “Who is Charlie accountable to?” Folks would say “no one” or “that rich guy in his ear.” Of course. We know this stuff; our folks know this stuff.
We’d then say, “The rest of us, we’re going to represent our movement.” We’d divide the room into thirds and ask the first third of the room to stand. We’d say to the first third: “You represent our County Teams. We’re building teams in every County. And these teams aren’t named after any candidate. They’re Morgan County Can’t Wait and Mercer County Can’t Wait. Why would we do that?” We’d teach that the goal of these teams was to continue to fight, before and after election day, for a government where the people who work the hardest and bear the most are also the ones who write the laws. We’d teach that never in American history has one politician brought about the change we need, only a movement can. Then we’d do this with the second group, Constituency Captains, reinforcing parallel points. And then the third, Candidates.
By the end the whole room would be standing and we’d invite folks to look around. “This,” we’d say, “is how we’ll win: with 1,000 leaders, not 1. That means we need you. We hope before you leave tonight, you’ll consider what role you want. Soon we’ll be passing out commitment cards where you can sign up or you can indicate that you’d like to have a phone call with me and we’ll talk through it.” We’d invite folks to sit back down.
It was never a surprise that folks asked, “Well, how will you win?” Some folks asked it because they knew the establishment stacks the deck against us, tapping their own candidates, lining up donors and figureheads behind them. Other folks asked because they wanted to know how we’d win over “Trump voters,” a specter in their minds. (Come back to this site soon for an article about this.)
Regardless, implicit in these questions was another question: “Is this worth my time and hope?” It’s up to us as organizers to be able to answer that question credibly. “Yes,” we were saying by teaching the strategy. “Yes,” we were saying by naming the lies we get told about how change works.
Some hard-earned bonus lessons:
Your class is showing!
One caution I’ll offer to my fellow middle class organizers is that scaling means letting go of some of our learned tendencies to manage tightly. Not every Captain and every team met the goals we outlined in a given Toolkit or met them in the way we had imagined. (I know, this grates against our middle class desire for perfection. I don’t even like typing it!).
But the trade-offs were important ones: allowing imperfection meant we were better able to see and grow what was working. We could learn about where we needed to shift in terms of training or support. It also gave us a sense of where our stronger leaders were and weren’t so we could account for it in other strategy decisions. And it meant we were using our staff time well. (Can you imagine trying to pick up every piece of planning a team dropped, across 90+ total field teams?!).
Follow the wisdom of the season
I have yet to meet an organization that moves toward scale in a pure upward arc. We didn’t; we don’t. All institutions have life cycles: moments of growth, moments of stasis, moments of transition, moments of shrinking, and moments of growth again. One thing that helped us tend toward scale over time was being keyed into what sort of moment we were in in the short run, and to follow the wisdom of it, instead of fighting it.
For example, after we gathered ourselves post-election, we named that we were embarking on a six month transition, welcoming and encouraged the things we knew would happen: some folks would drop off, some folks would find new roles, our core team would shift, new candidates would join us. We marked these changes as important in the evolution. (What we didn’t do was enter crisis.)
This applies to us organizers too
Sometimes as organizers, we can behave as though we’re immune from the principles that drive our work, imagining that we float above all this, impervious orchestrators of institution-building. We aren’t. Instead, we are, like our base, subject to these same principles. We are also moved by one-on-ones, by having work that offers us structure and creativity, by seeing a path to victory. Paying attention to and investing in these principles around our own roles helps us get to scale too.
Thanks to WV Can’t Wait and Training for Change for making this writing possible. Thanks especially to Zein Nakhoda, Stephen Smith, Erik Peterson, Nikki Marin Baena, Sarah Hutson, Kim Huynh, Kevin Pentz and Becca Rast.
