Re: [TheThinkTank] how to deal with enthusiastic but wrong volunteermechanics?

13 May 2009

      Interesting that classes came up. The volunteer in question was actually
shadowing in a class we teach, to get a feel for teaching bike mechanics, as
well to learn the stuff. The incident where they gave incorrect mechanical
instruction was in this setting. The instructor didn't want to correct the
person in front of the class, and was uncomfortable even bringing it up,
since he was the instructor, and he wasn't expecting to have to be
correcting other "teachers" who are giving poor advice...
The situation needs more research, but I was speaking with another staff
member about it tonight (after it was appropriate to contact volunteer), and
we both decided you folks would be a good place to turn in the meantime.
On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 11:54 PM, Ryan Guzy ryanguzy@gmail.com wrote:
...
At Bike Saviours we've been doing an 8 week class session. We require it of
new volunteers before they can wrench in our shop. The idea of the class is
to expose them to good mechanic practices and teach the principles behind
the systems. AFter they've taken the class they gain experience by working
in the shop and helping others.
These are the class topics in order: 1. Intro to our shop and bike basics,
2. headsets, 3. bottom brackets, 4. hub bearings and gears, 5. brakes and
intro to cables, 6. derailleurs and shifters, 7. wheel truing, 8. extra
topics (tire sizing, fixed gear, bar wrapping, bike style) and review.
We cluster the bearing systems together and we teach that all open bearing
systems are the same. We do a similar thing with cables, using brakes to
teach the barrel adjuster which is very helpful when you do shifters.
We've been revising our class handouts using Google Docs, They are almost
done, let me know if you're interested in checking them out. I'll also look
into putting links on the wiki.
--Ryan
On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 10:12 PM, John Carlson john.carlson@comcast.netwrote:
...
We've had similar experiences in our space.  I keep coming back to the
same philosophy - you don't fight something by pushing against it, because
resistance is met with resistance.  There is a reason we have unskilled, but
enthusiastic people, myself included at times - because they have not really
learned the proper way to do things.  And there are is a reason that they
help others with wrong information - because they want to help and nobody
else is there to do it.  We all know how frantic it can get and they jump in
and help because they really want to.
So the solution we came up with is that we need to be more intentional
about our volunteer training.  Most organizations like ours rely on
volunteers but don't really spend the time to really train them.  It's
always 'learn as you go' mentality and that can be pretty haphazard and
incomplete.  Many years later a core volunteer may never even know how to
overhaul a headset or understand all the different types of brakes and how
to adjust them.  One way we are dealing with this is by creating a new
volunteer only night, with no sales, no open shop and an organized agenda
which includes instruction for volunteers.  Part class, part work on bikes
we need fixed.  It's a good start.  We are kicking it off with a volunteer
appreciation party and then it will run every Monday night from 6-9pm.  And
we are looking for other ways to be more intentional about an internal
training program for volunteers.  The new progam will definately create more
skilled volunteers and helps enthusiasm across the board.  People like
having the right information to pass on to others.  It's empowering.
Anyway, being intentional about helping our volunteers learn more and do
things the right way creates a new thing and makes the old irrelevant.  So
any ideas for us also, on how all of you do internal training for
volunteers/staff would be really helpful to us. Let us know your ideas!
John
Sibley Bike Depot
St. Paul, MN
----- Original Message -----
*From:* veganboyjosh@gmail.com
*To:* The Think Tank thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
*Sent:* Tuesday, May 12, 2009 11:10 PM
*Subject:* [TheThinkTank] how to deal with enthusiastic but wrong
volunteermechanics?
Sorry for dominating the emails, folks. Community Cycles is in all kinds
of transition, and we're looking for help.
I don't know all the details right now, so I'll keep this general.
We've been lucky enough to have a volunteer show up who's very motivated
and enthusiastic about our mission and our programs. This person has gotten
really involved in existing programs and even helped work on and start a new
one.
 Recently, this person was asked by another shop visitor a mechanical
question, since it was clear that the volunteer was more staff like, and
less client. The answer given was very incorrect (one of the details I'm
missing is what the quesiton/answer were), but this was witnessed by another
very competent experienced mechanic, who was uncomfortable correcting the
misstatement in front of the group.
 In another situation, the same volunteer was seen making very basic
mistakes when working alone on a bike. From what I understand, the big one
was being asked to install cables on a bike, and neglecting to include
housing.
We would like to continue having this person as a part of our team, but we
also need to make sure the advice and work they do is correct, safe, and
appropriate.
One other wrinkle, is that the two incidents were witnessed by two
different staff members, both very skilled mechanics.
How to approach the volunteer? Any help or experience you folks have would
be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
josh.

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Re: [TheThinkTank] how to deal with enthusiastic but wrong volunteermechanics?

veganboyjosh＠gmail.com