Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2018-20/Reports/Movement Strategy Playbook/Connect strategy to the everyday/ja
“ | You need to build relevance and influence, and make strategy tangible to the day to day work. |
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Why bother with something as abstract and future-oriented as “strategy?” What does building a strategic plan even mean, and why should busy participants care? These were questions we often heard from participants -- even though strategic questions and decisions are fundamental to many of the movement’s current tensions and opportunities.
- “We often heard: "why should I bother with ‘strategy’? This is at such a high level!" Most of our online communities are there to drive the online work forward; they don't necessarily feel they need strategy to do that.”
- “When you think about it, all of the big current challenges for the Wiki movement tie back to strategy in some way — the Universal Code of Conduct, API, Brand, etc. All of those touch on fundamental questions of who we are, and where we’re going.”
- “One of the big takeaways for me from this process is: you can do ‘strategy’ without ever even using the word “strategy!’ You need to meet people where they are.”
Many participants connected the dots between participating in movement strategy and the world’s unique present moment — on issues like pandemic, the politicization of “truth,” and systemic racism.
- “Right now, there is such an over-politicization of everything; even a global virus or disease are political events now. The work that we're trying to do here with movement strategy is so important, because whenever people look up some piece of information, they're seeing someone else’s perspective.
- "If we don't include people in representing their own voices and perspectives, someone else will write that story for them. That is the history of history. So the work that we're doing in the strategy is really about supporting active engagement from all of those voices.”
- “Inclusion is a matter of survival. For me, the movement strategy work connects to everything else that is happening in the world right now around being good allies to marginalized and less privileged communities."
- "Diversity and inclusion is a matter of survival, and of our movement staying relevant in this work — as opposed to just being white male Wikipedia authors who know a lot about certain topics. This is a chance to become something that makes an impact in the world, and to become more relevant to the survival of the human race.”
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