As communicators contributing to creating change, we are often focused on the messaging – the narratives, the case studies, the media moments. We invest time in refining language, testing frames and finding the most compelling way to make our argument.
At Changing hearts and minds, Citizens UK organiser Sébastien Chapleau invited us to step back and consider a more fundamental question: what if the power of our campaign shifts from our organisation shaping the perfect message, to listening and acting on people's shared experiences and their ideas for change?
For Citizens UK, helping people find their own power is not something to be feared or avoided. It is simply "the ability to act". And if we want to create lasting social change, we need to pay much more attention to how that ability is built.
Why civil society struggles to build power
Sébastien began by reflecting on the imbalance of power that shapes much of public life. He talked about how governments and markets are organised, and how businesses and institutions with significant resources tend to have clear structures, clear objectives and a strong understanding of how influence works.
Civil society, by contrast, often finds itself fragmented. Charities, community groups, faith organisations and campaigners may share values and ambitions, but they frequently work on separate issues, within separate systems and under separate pressures. The result is a sector rich in expertise and commitment, but not always willing or able to translate that into collective influence.
For Citizens UK, the answer lies in organising. That means bringing people and institutions together around shared concerns and ideas for change, building relationships across communities and creating the conditions for collective action.
Rather than seeing power as something held by a few individuals, organising starts from the belief that power can be built when people coalesce then act together.
Relationships before campaigns
Many organisations are focused on securing media coverage, responding to political developments or meeting funding requirements. The pace can leave little room for anything that does not appear immediately productive.
Organising asks us to slow down.
Before launching a campaign, it starts with listening. People take time to understand one another's experiences, concerns and motivations. Institutions build connections with one another. Shared priorities emerge through conversation rather than assumption. Ideas for solutions take shape.
That work is not always visible. It can feel slower than campaigning and less tangible than communications activity. But as Sébastien argued, it is often the most important work of all.
Relationships create trust, and trust creates solidarity. And solidarity creates the foundation for collective action when opportunities or challenges arise.
How one community turned grief into action
To bring these ideas to life, Sébastien shared the story of a headteacher in Brighton who had lost students to suicide. She repeatedly raised concerns about young people's mental health with local authorities and health services but despite her efforts, little changed.
Faced with the same barriers and the same responses, she could easily have continued making the same arguments and hoping for a different outcome. Instead, she began organising.
Schools, colleges, faith groups, trade unions and community organisations across the city came together to listen to one another and share their experiences. Thousands of conversations took place. Through those conversations, a common concern emerged: the lack of adequate mental health support for young people.
The coalition decided to act. Together, they engaged decision-makers, built public support and created pressure for change. Rather than trying to solve every aspect of the issue, they focused on a specific and achievable goal: securing counselling provision for secondary schools.
The campaign was not a straightforward success story. There were setbacks. Requests were rejected. Progress stalled. Meetings ended without agreement. But because the work was rooted in relationships and collective commitment, it did not depend on the energy or influence of a single individual. The coalition persisted.
Eventually, funding was secured. Over the past three years, almost a million pounds of funding has been secured, seeing all secondary schools in Brighton benefit from school-based counsellors. The campaign achieved its immediate goal and helped contribute to wider conversations about mental health support for young people beyond Brighton.
What began as one person's experience of frustration and loss became a collective effort that delivered tangible change. A local story initiated conversations at a national level and a commitment from the government was secured, which has now translated into over £150 million of funding, annually, to support children’s access to mental health professionals across England.
Turning stories into collective action
For communicators, one of the most powerful aspects of the session was the way organising can reframe storytelling.
In many organisations, stories are gathered to support campaigns that have already been designed. Lived experience is used to illustrate a policy problem or strengthen a communications message.
Organising takes a different approach. Stories are not simply evidence for a campaign. They are often the starting point. People share their experiences, identify common concerns and discover that what feels like an individual problem is often part of a wider pattern. Through that process, private experiences become public issues.
The role of storytelling is not just to raise awareness. It is to build agency. People stop being seen as beneficiaries, service users or audiences. They become participants in shaping the change they want to see.
That shift matters because it changes the relationship between organisations and the people they work alongside. Instead of speaking for communities, organisations create opportunities for communities to speak and act for themselves.
Power and policy go hand in hand
Another important challenge from the session was directed at the way many organisations approach change. Civil society invests significant time and energy in developing policy solutions. Research, evidence and expertise are essential parts of the work. They help us understand problems and identify potential answers.
But policy alone does not create change. Decision-makers rarely act simply because a proposal is well evidenced or logically argued. Change happens when there is enough organised power behind an issue to make action unavoidable.
Sébastien suggested that many organisations devote considerable resources to refining policy while investing far less in building the relationships and collective influence needed to secure it.
The lesson was not that policy matters less. Rather, it was a reminder that policy and power are different things. Effective change requires both. Without strong ideas, power lacks direction. Without organised power, even the strongest ideas can struggle to gain traction.
What does this mean for communicators?
The session ended with an important challenge for anyone working in communications.
Much of our day-to-day work is focused on outputs: reports, content, media engagement, fundraising, volunteer management and stakeholder communications. These activities are important and necessary.
But organising encourages us to ask a different set of questions.
Does our communications work invite people to come together around shared concerns?
Does it create opportunities for participation and collective action?
Does it help strengthen relationships to weather setbacks?
Does it help build the power needed to maintain momentum and achieve change?
If the answer is no, then we may be communicating but not increasing our ability to influence the world around us.
Lasting change rarely begins with a perfectly crafted message. More often, it begins when people come together, recognise a shared problem and decide to act.
