Lenses for Action Learning Circles
The Lenses handbook is a tool to help you design and deliver your group’s action learning circles, which are a powerful tactic for introducing organizing principles to your constituency.
Introduction
At LCN, our mission is to build people power for justice, sustainability, and democracy.
We believe that by equipping each other with essential leadership practices and fostering a supportive environment that inspires our diverse visions for a just society and holds us accountable, we can achieve this mission. This is why we created the LCN Hubs!
From our global experience with hubs, we’ve found that success starts with a foundation of meaningful relationships and two key areas of effort: 1) taking collective action, and 2) experiencing learning and growth as a community. Our Hubs’ Action Learning Circles program collaborates with leaders to enhance our collective impact by centering action and learning.
What are LCN Hubs?
LCN Hubs are member-led spaces dedicated to enabling organized action and learning. Hubs contribute to the popular movement of liberating practices we urgently need as justice practitioners to confront today’s intersecting crises.
Some hubs are geographic like the Australia and UK Hubs and others are thematic like Organizers for Health Justice and Climate Justice Hub.
A hub begins when an LCN member takes the initiative to gather people from their community to learn and practice public narrative and community organizing in action. This can be part of their ongoing voluntary or professional work. Hubs grow stronger with stable leadership teams that plan and take action to build capacity for change.
LCN Affiliate organizations can partner with hubs to strengthen and expand organizing practices within their constituencies and be connected to a global movement of practitioners.
While some hubs may choose to raise funds to cover activity costs, they are never profit-driven. We believe money should not be a barrier to learning and taking action toward social change; we’re happy to explore ways to help you find resources necessary to run your hub. If you’re interested in growing your hub into a training and capacity-building organization and need support in getting there let us know.
How to use lenses in your Action Learning Circle
Action Learning Circles are a powerful tactic for introducing organizing principles to your constituency. These circles provide a dynamic space for both learning and action, followed by intentional reflection on the results. Using models and case studies offers clear learning moments, while reflecting on your own collective actions deepens your understanding of organizing. This approach combines theory and practice, leading to a more comprehensive grasp of effective organizing strategies.
Lenses: Powerful tools for organizing work
Think of a lens as a mental model – a way of looking at information that shapes how we understand and organize it. These models give us structure and focus as we work on our organizing and help us create more intentionality and purpose. Each of the leadership practices below can have multiple lenses to offer diverse perspectives, which together bring a deeper understanding of the essence of each practice.
- Storytelling (public narrative) to inspire action
- Relationship building to grow our team and constituency
- Designing team structures that shape movements and enable us to reach our goals
- Strategizing to clarify our goals, targets, and how we’ll build power to win
- Launching actions that get commitments and build people power in our movement
This handbook
The handbook is a tool to help you design and deliver your group’s learning circles. The lenses described here are suggested building blocks. Our models, cases, practice exercises, and experiences form the basis for our reflection. The “What? So what? Now what?” framework allows us to coach and reflect more deeply. All of this learning is tested and strengthened by our commitments to action in the field, with our people. We know that learning and action are iterative and dynamic processes. As such, your experience using this handbook is valuable so we encourage you to share feedback and updates as you do your own learning circles.
How lenses help
A well-chosen lens highlights what’s important and offers guidance when examining stories, experiences, or cases. For example, the lens of “self, us, and now” helps us think about the elements needed to craft a compelling public narrative. When we focus on these key aspects, we craft stories that resonate with an audience and inspire action.
Tools for understanding lenses
The tools in this handbook are a collection of lenses you can use in Action Learning Circles. It’s more an encyclopedia than a handbook that is to be read cover to cover. Apply these lenses to gain deeper insights into:
- Story models: Analyze how others have effectively crafted their stories to move others into action.
- Cases: See how similar situations have been handled to learn from successes and missteps.
- Your own experiences: Reflect upon your actions and decisions to uncover what works best.
The “What, So What, Now What” model
The “What, So What, Now What” approach is a powerful way to unpack models, cases, and experiences when combined with a reflective lens. Here’s how to use it:
- What?
- Examine: Carefully study the model, case, or experience you’re reflecting on.
- Highlight: Pinpoint moments or aspects that grab your attention.
- So What?
- Apply the lens: Use your chosen lens to frame and understand what you’ve identified in the “What” stage.
- Meaning-making: Place your discoveries within the framework of the lens. This helps you see how everything fits together.
- Question: Ask insightful questions driven by the lens to uncover deeper meaning and learn from the situation.
- Now What? (Action)
- Reflect: Consider the learning you’ve gained during your analysis.
- Apply: Determine the next steps you’ll take based on what you’ve learned and how you’ll use this new knowledge to improve future outcomes or refine your approach.
The “What, So What, Now What” model offers a structured way to break down complex concepts. It encourages you to move from simple observation to thoughtful analysis and, ultimately, informed action. This is not a one time reflection, but rather a cycle of reflection and action that creates space for both deeper learning as well as more thoughtful and nuanced action towards achieving justice and social change.
We look forward to collaborating with you to build the power we need to win.