You now have an issue, a multi-level analysis, a power map, and a resource inventory. The question becomes: what do we DO? And a plan without a backlash strategy is only half a plan.
Strategy Selection Framework
This is the moment where all of Section I converges — where your understanding of power, your organizational identity, your strategic intelligence, and your resource assessment crystallize into a plan of action.
Operationalizing Inside/Outside
The Inside/Outside spectrum from Foundations of Power is no longer abstract. It is a strategic decision:
| Approach | When to Use | Your Resources Should Include |
|---|---|---|
| Inside | You have allies with access to the decision-maker. The decision-maker is persuadable. The political window is open for negotiation. | Relationships, policy expertise, institutional credibility |
| Outside | The decision-maker is not persuadable through normal channels. Hidden or invisible power is keeping your issue off the agenda. | People, energy, moral authority, media capability |
| Both (most common) | Inside pressure + outside pressure creates a pincer: a reason to move AND a political cost for not moving. | Diverse coalition with both institutional and grassroots capacity |
Leverage Points
A leverage point is a place in the system where your intervention produces disproportionate change. Your power map reveals these:
- The node of power — the actor connected to many others whose movement would cascade
- The institutional vulnerability — a funding source, dependence, or relationship the target cannot afford to lose
- The narrative vulnerability — a gap between what the target says and what they do
- The timing vulnerability — an election, budget cycle, or media moment when the target is most exposed
Pillars of Support
Every power-holder relies on institutional pillars: funding sources, political allies, media relationships, legal frameworks, public legitimacy. You don't need to topple all the pillars — you need to shake enough that the power-holder's position becomes unstable.
Interactive Exercise: Your Strategic Action Plan
This is the capstone deliverable of Section I. It integrates everything from all four Forming schools into one usable plan.
Strategic Action Plan
Bring together everything you've built across the course. This is your complete Strategic Action Plan.
Organizational Identity
From Organizing & Base-BuildingIssue
From Module 1Strategy Level
From Module 2Power Map Key Findings
From Module 3Resources
From Module 4Course Synthesis: From Analysis to Action
The Strategic Action Plan is the culmination of Section 1: Foundations.
- Foundations of Power gave you the analytical lens
- Organizing & Base-Building gave you a group with relationships, identity, and structure
- Power & Resource Mapping gave you targets, allies, resources, and a plan
- Resource & Capacity Development (the final Forming school) gives you the financial and operational foundation to sustain the work
Course Synthesis
You arrived at Section I with passion. You leave with a plan. The final Forming school — Resource & Capacity Development — teaches the fundraising, grant writing, and operational skills to give your plan the financial foundation it needs.
Resource & Capacity DevelopmentIf your Strategic Action Plan calls for legislative or policy change, the Legislative & Policy Strategy school in Section II teaches the mechanics: how bills become laws, how to lobby effectively, and how to navigate regulatory processes.
Legislative & Policy StrategyIf your plan identifies narrative vulnerabilities or requires media campaigns, Communications & Narrative Strategy teaches framing, media relations, crisis communications, and storytelling at scale.
Communications & Narrative Strategy