When We All Win

The schools in our area consistently scheduled a day off for students in mid-autumn. On that day, we loaded the church buses and headed north to a coastal military base that is now an immense public park. As the buses unloaded, the students divided into two teams. In the brisk air, we could see and hear the leader's drill sergeant deliver the rules and team boundaries. A loud horn sounded, launching an immense day-long game of Capture The Flag.

Students scattered across the base in small groups to defend their flag while working to secure the other team's flag. Each team had one goal—win! The teams, scattered across the base, divided into smaller teams, intentionally worked together to achieve the same goal. From a 40,000-foot view, each team looks like a movement with many parts focused on a collective goal. Yet, leading a team as a movement redefines victory to benefit those inside the team and others outside the team.

How do we traverse from teams bonded by a collective goal to a social movement? Generally, social movements are groups of people working toward a common goal. Social movements occur anytime a group of people untie around a commonly identified need, seeking to address that need for the benefit of others constructively. Gathering people around shared goals creates synergy and can produce exponential outcomes. While teams work inwards on collective goals, social movements explode outward, benefitting insiders and outsiders.

A general definition of social movement has three parts. First, people are gathered around a cause in a way that informs the group's identity. Second, people are gathered in groups that reinforce the larger group identity and inform individual purpose. Third, individuals and groups take action toward the fulfillment of the movement’s goals. A social movement organizes people with identity, purpose, and action synergistically, creating a greater impact than merely achieving a goal.

Leading your team to victory is admirable. As a leader, your calling and paycheck may depend on ensuring insiders win. But what about the outsiders? In our globalized world, is achieving victory for only the insiders enough? Now is the time to envision a new way of leading. Don't lead teams to win games. Lead movements that benefit your team (the insiders) and those on the outside as well.

How might leading your teams as a movement impact those outside of your organization?

How have you benefitted directly or indirectly from the success of others?

From Chapter 3 of Revive: Leading Change—Igniting Movement by Jim Strecker