AFSCME Council 31 - Summer School 2010
participant handout
Values Triangle
THE VALUES TRIANGLE OPENING POINTS  Organizing is the art of living a powerful, principled and ethical public life.  Organizing techniques can be used by any group attempting to create relationships, motivate people and shape the world‐‐they can be used to foster oppression and fear or to confront them and seek justice and human development.  Organizing Principles are what makes you and your organization different.  Below is an organizing tool that will help you build that public life. This is the Values Triangle: a way to look at building a powerful public life. Every person, Power
Self‐interest organization and issue has one of these. Understanding this triangle is key to your work and to making change. Point of Agitation Relationships
Define agitation: Define self‐interest: Define power: Define relationships: HOW THE VALUES TRIANGLE WORKS It works from the inside , and each piece feeds the other one. We start with a point of agitation to bring someone clarity. To shake them free of the “dirt” of corruption, cynicism, helplessness, fear, ignorance, hatred, oppression or confusion that keeps them from forming right relationships, clearly seeing their self‐interest and those of others and from having the power to act on their values. Agitation is done in relationship and is about challenging without belittling, growing people into powerful advocates, activists, leaders and organizers in their own right. We agitate people around their values and we remind them that those values should be shaping their self‐interest, their power and relationships. We make certain that they understand that they are building public relationships not private ones, so they know how to say no to friends and yes to enemies and not violate our coalitional values. We make sure those relationships are transparent, accountable, build solidarity for the long‐term and have reciprocity. We make certain that they are building power by taking action, raising money, acting on the Be There Pledge, working for social and economic justice across sectors and barriers of race, class and religion. We make sure that they are developing leaders. We seek to grow our triangle at all times on all issues and we know that each issue has a triangle as well that is a collection of the triangles at work on that issue. page 1 of 1
rev. 09/12/07