I'm thinking of taking a course in community organising as the next step in becoming a civil servant: a life/career project I began in January this year. (See blog). I'm attracted to the course because:
'Community organising is about bringing people together and empowering them to achieve change' ... Much of my organisation design and development role aims for this approach, although one of the tensions inherent in the role is the fact that often I am working more as an agent of the leaders or executive team who are intent on 'getting people to buy-in' to a proposed change. In spite of statements about empowering people it's often less of an action and more of a statement. I'd like to swing the balance in my work more towards truly empowering people, more on the lines that Debra Meyerson describes in her books and articles on tempered radicals or Margaret Hagan illustrates in her work on designing open law.