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Josh Muir here from the bike church in Santa Cruz on conflict-
Primarily, the first step has got to be for the collective to discuss
the behavior that's making folks feel uncomfortable. communication
can either create the clarity for people to adjust their behavior and
their experience of the (offensive) behavior, or it can trigger what
I think of as being the actual conflict. People have a hard time
delivering and receiving criticism. With practice, groups that go
through the process of sharing criticism and even experience the
"conflict" process i think get better at it. I have learned to let
go of some amount of dread of conflicts, and have learned a lot about
my own reactions in that situation. When the strain is too much for
the org. and attempts to discuss issues and establish goals for
understanding and mutual trust only lead to dead-end or hurtful
discussions, seek outside mediation. generally the sooner the better
cause collectives can get quite disrupted by such events.
despite our wealth of of experience with interpersonal conflict
within the collective, we are still not as prepared with a mediation/
conflict resolution process as we could be (which I believe to be
really important). We had 3-year conflict during which time power
was too concentrated and finally outside hired mediators gave a
growing collective the clarity and strength to make hard choices
(kick out an offending member who was carrying 75% of the collective
work load). More recently, conflicts have simmered and then
exploded- the collective members offered whatever they were willing
to share about the issue and set in motion steps for in -house and
then outside mediation if needed- the result has been the departure
of one of the parties (in one case a core member who over-stepped
his bounds left on his own(left town), and in another one party in a
conflict left rather than go through processing with the group)
It is something that we all deal with- how to be diverse and get
along- how to communicate without pushing buttons and how to not
react to your buttons being pushed. I have found that if people are
encouraged to feel empowered and speak clearly to each other without
imposing themselves, growth actually happens for those who stick it
out (and i suppose, those who are invited to stick it out, because it
is the collective's prerogative to decide who they're to work with)
It is super stressful. it's important.
and how DO you decide if someone's a thief? or even harder, how do
you feel empowered to make that decision and keep someone out of the
shop, especially when your only one mechanic working one day/wk in a
twelve member collective?
On Aug 24, 2007, at 1:24 PM, Graham Stewart wrote:
Two questions: Why is panhandling a major problem? How do you decide if someone is a bike thief?
Graham
Simon Z wrote:
The major problems I have seen are sexual harassment, threats of violence, panhandling, theft from the shop or use of the shop by
known bike thieves. None of these behaviors are tolerated and shop coordinators are free to remove and ban indefinitely anyone doing this. We try to keep a photographic record of these offenders to display in our shops.
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank- bikecollectives.org
Joshua Muir joshua@santacruzhub.org
Frances Cycles -- francescycles.com Handbuilt cycling framesets Touring, Track, Raod,Cross, and cycletrucks for hauling any distance
The Bicycle Church Collective Community Self-Service Cycle Repair 3pm to 7pm everyday except Sunday 703 Pacific Ave (enter on Spruce St) Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (831) 425-2453