On 20-Jan-09, at 5:05 PM, Chloé Rose wrote:
Hi everybody. At the Community Bicycle Network (Toronto) we're looking at moving
from a top-down management model (one co-ordinator, three paid
staff) to a more collective-based model. Question is, who among you are collectives? How are you structured
and organized? What advice would you have for me? Thanks Chloé
Hi Chloe,
I'd heard through a friend that CBN needs to make some changes, so
the best of luck with that.
Our group has always been a collective, though we do have one paid
staff (me, and I only get a monthly honourarium). My role only came
about because we have small team of core volunteers, all of who have
full-time jobs (we also have about 300 casual vols.). I work as a
musician and have a lot more time flexibility, so I can nip in here
and there and get stuff done. Most of our core group have been
involved for over five years, and quite a few beyond that.
(And their dedication is great. The other week, during our stupid
transit strike, one of our guys cycled in from his job 22km away to
make his shift. He had to leave work an hour early to do so, and his
commute took twice as long due to all the motor traffic. And this is
during an Ottawa winter!)
I'm not a boss by any means - I just try to keep the group on track.
I don't direct the group in terms of pushing it where I think it
should go, but more just reminding the group what we collectively
decided to do, and then pushing them towards that. ;) But I do not
consider myself an employee (maybe legally, but not emotionally).
We're a team, and everyone's voice is heard, and mine carries no
extra authority.
I did the job as a volunteer for four years before asking for a
little compensation. And the compensation was mainly because I also
do a lot of the work that the group either shies away from or ignores
(because of time constraints, or the task is just not enjoyable). As
I'm sure most will agree, there's a lot of stuff that needs to be
done to keep a place from getting chaotic, whether it's just a messy
shop, financial issues, ongoing problems with shop users, or liaising
with other community organizations. And these cannot be ignored,
otherwise the enterprise can fail and all that time and goodwill
spent building it up went for naught.
And our way works for us - last year we finally moved to a much
better space, formed a partnership with another org. (they use our
shop during the day for training purposes), and all of our numbers
(income, bikes processed, volunteers, etc.) have steadily gone up.
So we're doing something right. Ideally a group will deal with
everything without needing someone "at the helm". We started like
that, but could not remain like that and succeed.
The coord. of another local group once told me "you don't get the
position because everyone lifts you up to it - you get it because
everyone falls away". And he meant that in a non-derogatory way. We
tend to want to enjoy what we do with our volunteer time. And so
it's quite natural when an org. is growing for vols. to start finding
out about the essential but not necessarily fun tasks, and not
offering to do them. They hope "someone else" will take care of
those things. With our group, I became that someone else.
To give an example: one of our longest-serving volunteers (more than
ten years) recently had to relocate to another Canadian city. He
used to tease me a bit about being anal retentive in my requests to
the group to keep things organized and follow our policies. Then he
started helping out in that city's community bike shop, and sent me
an email saying "sorry that I ever teased you. The shop here has
lots of volunteers and some great people, but it's a physical and
organizational mess!"
If a group can keep itself together by having everyone take
responsibility then they have reached a truly remarkable place. I
hope your group can reach that place.
(Your email came at an interesting time. We're about to incorporate,
and I have to write out, but thankfully not justify, my role. Hence
a perhaps more lengthy response than I had originally intended.)
Cheers, Mark Rehder - Director re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op http://re-cycles.ca