-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Who's Got the Best Volunteer On-Boarding /
Training Program?
From: Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, March 09, 2017 11:46 am
To: The Think Tank <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org>
Cc: Jean-François_Caron <jfcaron3@gmail.com>
This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my question slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a different issue than the one I intended.Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn how to run the shop? I mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people who just want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core bottom-liners learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, learning, respected, and supported? And do you have materials or approaches to share?For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do things like:
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them about how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding their work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with mechanics in community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get it" and it sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to "get it?" Or do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, ethically woke, naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our workshops? I'm pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it to work itself out -- so help me out: what do we got?JoshOn Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars <danceswithcars@gmail.com> wrote:send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day.Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it...Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho.Differences between founders, board members,paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of acoop as community shop.Shared decision making,not just ram thru an agendaso that they can go drink.Established places with history and traditions,some written, is different from a startup.Youth and other variations such asmobile clinics at events like farmers markets,tech supporting a group ride, etc give amini how it works, what's required, andbuilt in developing leading experience,imnsho.On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, <cyclista@inventati.org> wrote:I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas
co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles
Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only______________________________
have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with
paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in
charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is
ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified
volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first,
or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=s haring
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevC >w7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp= sharing
Additional links:
mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/
<http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ >
drop-in volunteer day:
http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
<http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ >
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed
regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders <analyst@bikefarm.org> wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com <mailto:ashooner@gmail.com>> wrote:
Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org <mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org >> wrote:
Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com <mailto:ashooner@gmail.com>> wrote:
Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy
Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop
Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org <mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org >> wrote:
The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills <https://diy.org/skills>.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org <mailto:tom@rosewoodbikes.org>> wrote:
I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin
Rosewood Bikes
Program Director
16126 SE Stark
Portland OR, 97233
Shop: 503-568-1938 <tel:(503)%20568-1938>
Personal: 510-996-8655 <tel:(510)%20996-8655>
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com <mailto:jbisker@gmail.com>> wrote:
Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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Matthew McMunn
-Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator-
http://therecyclery.org/ <http://therecyclery.org/>
Facebook @TheRecyclery
Twitter @RecycleryChi
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