In the next few posts we will share with all MAS members a set of high level objectives for the year of 2010. These objectives will be term-long objectives and will manifest themselves in our projects and the way we conduct our work. We shared these objectives with chapter presidents, local tarbiya directors, and MAS Youth directors in our quarterly web meeting. We would like to start sharing these with our general membership for everyone to be aware of our national effort and to take these objectives and realize them in their locality. Please note that these are strategic, high level objectives that need to be translated into more specific, measurable ones by our team and by all the local teams. Please follow this post’s thread and pay extra attention to how you can adopt this objective in your own work and actions.

Objective 1: To increase the contribution of MAS members to the tarbiya effort and resources – Contribute over Consume – C over C

What is this objective about?

This objective seeks to encourage MAS members to become contributors to tarbiya resources and programs rather than mere consumers of them. The national team has decided to leverage the power of the MAS membership and its experience to build a strong and relevant tarbiya offering on the local and national levels. This signifies a shift from programs and resources prepared by a central team to programs and resources prepared by a larger proportion of MAS’s membership. The shift aims at utilizing the power and talent of the membership to create, share, transcribe, translate, edit, publish, and filter tarbiya material. This effort utilizes the tremendous experience MAS members are gaining on a daily basis and makes it part of what MAS can offer to its members and community at large.

Why this objective?

• Leveraging the experience of MAS members. Tarbiya is mainly about sharing experience. People develop by interacting with others and learning about their experiences. MAS members, on the ground and active in many areas of Islamic work, are constantly exposed to opportunities for learning and development. They interact with great mentors, listen to lectures, engage in discussions, work in committees, and go through exciting life experiences within and outside MAS. This experience SHOULD NOT be kept to themselves. It must be shared. This model will make MAS members aware of the importance of sharing and contributing what they have gained to the tarbiya of others, both locally and nationally.
• Leveraging the time of MAS members. Many MAS members think that there is little they can contribute to the tarbiya offering and resources. This is not true. There is MUCH that MAS members can offer. Many MAS members have time to offer, but they do not have a space to contribute. By making this shift, MAS members will be able to contribute to tarbiya programs and resources by merely sharing their time. They can transcribe lectures, workshops, or discussions. They can translate important material. They can proofread, edit, or filter material. They can tag and categorize material shared by others.
• Moving away from “wait” mode. Many MAS members developed the mentality of “waiting” for the central team to deliver. When the curriculum is outdated, people cry “where is the new curriculum?” When some material is missing, people continuously call for “experts” to create this material for them. When we make this shift, people will be actively contributing. They will be reaching out to “experts” in their localities and will be eager to share what they have prepared and contribute it to a national offering.
• Establishing ownership of programs and resources. Collectively building resources makes people feel a sense of belonging to a larger team and a sense of ownership of our programs which leads to continuous improvements and contributions. It also helps people to start developing a sense of gaining reward by contributing to the development and growth of many people and not just themselves.
• Coping with the dynamic growth of MAS. MAS is growing extremely fast and moving into many new areas. Without the contribution of MAS members it is very hard to find experts who can keep up with the rapid changes that are taking place on the ground, let alone provide relevant solutions to the challenges of tarbiya. Asking the right questions, sharing new experiences, and attempting to face the specific realities of people on the ground will make MAS’s tarbiya offering more meaningful and develop “experts” in many of the new areas of tarbiya. The best people to bring real experience to the table are those who are experiencing reality.
• Maximizing the contribution of “experts.” Experts now become real resources. Instead of consuming the experts in the central preparation of material or putting them all in a committee that cannot meet or discuss due to geographic and logistical barriers, the general membership will be utilizing experts locally. They will turn to them for their questions and thereby contribute to the questions AND answers of our tarbiya offering. People will video and audio tape speakers and share. Others will transcribe the great wealth of audio material already available instead of requesting the experts to write. Many will be interviewing intellectuals about new challenges and sharing their results. Experts will have time to filter, comment, and summarize the contributions made by others.
• Promoting the best learning and developing experience: learning by contributing. People read more and better when they know that they will be sharing what they learn. If I am posting an article and know that others will see and use it, I read it better. When I translate a piece, my retention of the meaning is better. When I transcribe an audio lecture, I learn it twice; once through listening and once through typing. When I share my experience, I go through it multiple times: once when I experience it, once when I share it, and many times when people comment and give feedback on it.

Connection to MAS’s Executive Strategy

MAS Executive Council recently adopted a 6-item strategy. One of these items was to “use a ground up approach.” Our objective of contributing over consuming ties directly into this strategy.

How is the national team realizing this objective?

The national team was taking steps towards achieving this objective even before it was explicitly articulated. Here are a few examples of how the national team is working towards its realization:

• The MT-Portal Project: This is one of the major projects we are taking on this term. We would like to create a strong online community around tarbiya. This project (which will be shared later in detail) will allow MAS members to come together in a central place where they can share experiences and resources. This project is essential for achieving the C over C objective. It will be the central place where questions can be asked and answers will be provided, by all of us. It will be the central place where resources will be shared, transcribed, filtered, and translated.
• The Tarbiya Annual Meeting (TAM): TAM in the past was a meeting for tarbiya workers which naturally transformed into an all member meeting around tarbiya. As you all have experienced, and many have explicitly mentioned, TAM creates more questions than answers and presents more challenges and problems than solutions. This was, and will continue to be, by design. We would like to establish this objective: we contribute to the solutions of our challenges together. Speakers and moderators play the role of facilitators rather than lecturers and contribute to the discussions along with everyone else. The results of the past 3 TAMs shaped the direction and strategy of both MAS Tarbiya National and MAS as a whole. People now come to the TAM with the mentality of contributing rather than merely consuming. They have started adopting C over C, at least in the TAM.
• The Light House Project (LHP): One would find the same attitude when looking deeply at the LHP. There are more questions than answers and more discussion points than discussions. There has been a constant request in the lighthouse beams of the previous two episodes that we launched in 2009 asking people to “contribute.” We asked people to share their opinions, reflections, and writings on the specified topics. This was and is part of an effort to encourage contribution over consumption.
• Building the Tarbiya mini-Guides: Even in projects as essential as the developing of a set of guides for tarbiya, the MAS Tarbiya Mini Guides project, we are taking the C over C approach. We are calling on all local tarbiya directors, chapter presidents, and MAS Youth directors to contribute to the making of these guides. We will also make a similar call to the MAS membership. We want these guides to be as relevant and as real as possible. This will only result by involving people on the ground.
• The Tarbiya Standards Map (TSM): The national team even decided to build our curriculum and study material using the same approach. The tarbiya standard map is a mind map, a tree, or a taxonomy describing the final product that we are working towards: who are MAS members and what does their environment look like? (more about this project later). We would like all of our mentors, leaders, and members to contribute to drawing this map and the programs and resources needed to achieve it.

How can we realize this objective locally?

Here is where the real action happens. Local chapters need to aim for this objective on the local level and encourage their members to participate in the national effort. Every chapter should make this a priority in 2010. Below are a few examples of how this can be done. Please note that these are only EXAMPLES and possible ideas are countless.

• Promote the spirit of C over C. In our small and large gatherings, we should remind each other of the importance of contributing to our tarbiya effort. When we speak about it, it will effect our actions, then our daily habits, then become a natural part of our lives.
• Follow up on contribution efforts. Mentors and committee leaders should follow up on how much people are contributing to ongoing tarbiya projects.
• Assign contribution tasks. Local tarbiya committees should assign individuals and small groups some tasks for the local tarbiya work. For example, let the monthly meeting be planned and executed by a group. Let this group change every few meetings. They should be responsible for planning and executing as well as summarizing and sharing with the rest of the chapter and the rest of the nation. Give some people the responsibility of creating some material or designing some programs.
• Share your successful projects with the rest of the nation. Every chapter has a strength. Some chapters are more advanced than others. It is very essential to the development of MAS as a whole for this experience to be shared. If you develop a Personal Development Plan in your chapter, or a nice monthly program, or a unique recreational effort, PLEASE SHARE IT with the rest of us. If you conduct a local training, TAPE IT and SHARE IT. Your successful project is a property of MAS not your chapter. It is our collective right to benefit from each other’s work.
• Own a national project. Reach out to our national team and take ownership of some projects. Form a small group of people who like to write and research and own an episode of the Lighthouse project or prepare some material for the curriculum. Do not wait for the national team to assign you something. Reach out to them. Come up with ideas and pilot them in your chapter.

Individual application

MAS members are the main players in this shift. They are the ones who will make it or break it. Commercial companies make breakthroughs using the power of the public and MAS will make a breakthrough in tarbiya if we can capitalize on the tremendous wealth we have in our members. Crowd sourcing is becoming a norm and the MAS crowd is a unique crowd. Here are a few tips on how MAS members can make this shift:

• Get out of the “wait” mode
• Share your experience; it’s extremely valuable.
• Find out what you can contribute. Even transcribing an audio lecture is a great service.
• Try to write. Writing is very effective for one’s own development. Create your own blog NOW!
• When asked to contribute, take it as an order.
• Reach out to your local committee and find out how you can contribute.
• Reach out to the national team and find out how you can contribute.
• Know that “a little” is not a little when put together. The river is nothing but a compilation of streams.
• Keep your camera or mp3 recorder with you and record events that you attend. Make sure you take the permission of the speaker before taping him/her.
• Say 10 times a day, “I can’t wait for the mt-portal to launch!” When it does launch, we will hold you accountable to these claims.