experienced bike mechanics as volunteers - issues.
Josh here, also from Community Cycles.
Sort of in addition to Rich's email, but expanding on it a bit, and bringing in some other cans of worms...
We have 3 paid staff members, and the rest are volunteers, or get paid as contractors for teaching one class at a time.
I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking about bikebike, and have come to what looks to be some hard decisions. I was brought on as the latest paid staff person, as the "Development Director". Essentially, I'm responsible for 3 things, listed in order of their importance.
- Membership tracking, coordinating, and communication.
- Grantwriting and fundraising events, etc.
- Volunteer Coordination.
I'm realizing the more I read about horizontal power structures and consensus based org's that while our issue of volunteers not wanting or able to commit to anything other than dropping by when it suits them could just be that we have a bunch of flaky volunteers, I'm slowly coming to the realization that our model of paid staff and unpaid volunteer staff is flawed.
I've started and come super close to sending an email to this list several times asking how we can get more out of our volunteers. I realize the inherent issues of our paid staff requesting more of volunteers. There's all kinds of issues here, but it's the model we're in, and I'm not sure how to address it in a positive, productive way. (Of course, job security for myself and two other people also comes into play, for if we get rid of the paid staff positions, then we've put 3 hard working people out of work.)
I'm almost done reading "The Revolution Will Not Be Funded", and would LOVE to continue the discussion we starte at bikebike! online, once some more people have had a chance to read it. (To those of you who asked at bikebike about whether there's any resolution at the end of the book to address whether there's any ways to pay for revolutionary social change org's without funding from foundations, there is. Not some silver bullet magic answer, but they do address the question somewhat.)
I'm interested to hear from other org's that have one or more paid staff members how that structure plays out in the dynamics of your staff, volunteer or paid. Do tensions arise? How do you address them?
For those of you at the shops with no paid staff, when I bring up that model to friends outside of radical activist circles, the response is often "yeah, but if they're all volunteer run, don't they have jobs aside from the bike shop work? wouldn't having a paid staff person working full time on things allow the org to do more work?" this seems like a logical response. If I personally wasn't working full time at Community Cycles, I would be working full time somewhere else. Two things come to mind. 1. I wouldn't be as happy as I am doing the work for the organization I work for. 2. I wouldn't have as much or any time to devote to Community Cycles as a volunteer. Am I missing something? I'm not looking for a critique of capitalism. Is the major reason why a lot of shops don't have paid staff because of the weird power dynamics it brings?
Thanks for taking the time to read this ranting. I hope something fruitful comes of it. Also, if you're still reading this, feel free to call me an idiot.
josh.
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE < urbanbikeproject@gmail.com> wrote:
Cool Rich thanks....here is our volunteer structure:
*Types of Volunteers and Volunteer Structure at UBP* updated 8/3/09
*Drop-In or Unscheduled Volunteers* -Limited to sorting parts, patching tubes, organizational tasks. -May be turned away if the shop is too crowded.
*Scheduled Volunteers *-Sign up in advance for full shifts in one of the following roles: -*Greeter* signs people into the shop, answers basic customer questions, answers phone -*Parts/Back Room* assists mechanics and customers with finding parts in the back room, organizes and keeps the back room neat. -*Sales* assists customers who are looking to purchase a bicycle. -*Mechanic*(s) assist adult customers who are repairing bicycles. -*Youth Mechanic*(s) assist youth who are repairing bicycles. -*Head Mechanic* overseas all activities in the shop and assists Mechanics with difficult repairs.
*Core Volunteers* -Scheduled volunteers who complete 3-4 full shifts per month and 2 tasks from the Core Volunteer Task Sheet. -May keep a project bicycle in the shop longer than the standard 2-week period. -May attend Core Volunteers only shop time and Core Volunteer meetings. -Receive discount when ordering parts from J&B Importers catalog
And this is our experimental Volunteer "Ladder" for moving people up the chain as it were. The idea being, unskilled volunteers can work up as slowly or quickly as they want (most greeters end up quickly learning tube patching during shop time and also basic wheel truing since the truing station is directly behind the greeter). Same for "skilled but new to the shop" volunteers. If they really want to work as a mechanic they can see right in front of them what needs to be done first.
*Skills Checklist* (head mechanic/volunteer coordinator to sign off on each requirement)
*Requirements for Greeter:* -Attended Volunteer Orientation? Date:______
*Additional Requirements for Parts Sorting/Salesperson:*
-Basic identification of parts -Pedal removal/installation, Stem/Seat adjustment, Tire Pumping -Basic Bicycle Sizing Knowledge
*Additional Requirements for Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher:* -Wheel Removal/Installation (coaster, freewheel, derailer) -Tire Removal/Installation, Tube Patching -"How to work with youth" Basic Training? Date:______ -3 *full* shifts at other position (date and position): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______
*Additional Requirements for Mechanic:* -Attend/Pass Advanced Mechanics Class or Test? Date:_____
*Additional Requirements for Youth Mechanic:* -3 *full* shifts as Mechanic (date): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______ -1 *full* shift as Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher: Date:_____
Additional Requirements for Head Mechanic:* -3 *full* shifts as Youth Mechanic (date): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______ -1 *full* shift shadowing Head Mechanic (date): Date:______ -Approval from Collective of Core-Volunteers: Date:______
It's just been hard to convince people with tons of experience that they*really do
- need to (and are required to) be greeter or parts sorter for at least 3
shifts before they can even think about working with customers.
Please share thoughts and ideas!
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 11:28 AM, R Points poster@richpoints.com wrote:
Hey Brian, Yeah we have similar issues at Community Cycles. We have a dozen or so core volunteers who show up each week for a three hour shift, we call the facilitators. Most of these folks have worked in bike shops or are advanced shade tree mechanics. By and large most of our facilitators are limited when it comes to people skills. In addition, even though these facilitators show up on a regular basis it's been almost impossible to schedule them for a shift. And a lot of times facilitators show up and don't even work on bikes they just hang out. We do have a monthly facilitator meeting which has been sparsely attended at best.
Currently we don't have a mechanism for interested volunteers to become facilitators or high level volunteers. The result is our facilitator pool has become old, stagnant and untrained. To address this we've been working on developing a facilitator training process.
The training process, still in it's first draft, is broken into four training sessions. The trainings are focused on admin/greeter, daily shop ops, mechanics and community outreach. Once you've gone through the training you'll be qualified to schedule a three/four hour facilitator shift each week at the shop or work on a special project/event.
As you mentioned a lot of enthusiastic volunteers are not particularly mechanically inclined. One perk we've talked about is if a new facilitator commits to 6 months of shifts they can take our Bike Mechanics 101 class for free http://communitycycles.org/programs/classes.html
We'll be launching this new training program at our next facilitator meeting at the end of this month. Wish us luck.
Ride On! Rich
*CC Facili(Tator) Training Manual* To become a facilitator or high level volunteer at Community Cycles, you need to go through a series of simple trainings. Once you've gone through them, you're qualified to represent Community Cycles at events outside of the shop. Facilitators gain privilege to order from our wholesalers at 10% over cost.
*Criteria*
- To be a facilitator you must have completed the training and commit
to one shift per week for a minimum of a three month period. If you are unable to make your shift it is your responsibility to have it covered by another facilitator. If you cannot cover your shift please let staff know asap that you will not be able to attend. 2. Attend a mandatory monthly facilitator meeting at the shop. Usually the third Tuesday of each month.
Trainings* You'll need to schedule to complete four trainings during open shop hours. Each training session is 3 - 4 hours. You must complete the trainings within two months of your start date.
- Greeter*
The greeter is one of the most important roles in the shop. Functioning as greeter is a quick way for you to get oriented to Community Cycles and what we do. We've put together an awesome Greeter manual that will help you answer the most common questions we hear in the shop each day.
2. * Kids Bikes and New Donation processing* - Strip bikes for parts as needed - Check - Frame and wheels for cracks, dings and bends - Fix Tubes - patch tubes and replace as needed - Replace - Rotten tires, seats, grips, frayed cables and rotten cable housing - Remove - light and lock hardware, seized rusty chains... - Clean - Drive train, wheels and hubs, frame, handle bars... - Install - Missing reflectors, valve caps - Flatten Bikes - Sort parts 3. * Shadow Facilitator*Shadow a certified tater for a shift helping EABers in progress, tune ups or sale bikes. Shadow taters will do one tater chore; i.e. clean bathroom, take out trash, sweep... After this shift you will be "qualified" to help EABers and work on in shop tune ups.
4. * Grab Bag - Would be taters can choose from any of theseactivities.*
Repeat any of the first three trainings Greeter Trainer Finisher/Sales Community tabling event Street team UCAR CHaRM Farmers Market North Storage staff assistant Tune Ups RBC Special event*Super Facilitator* Volunteers who demonstrate mastery of bike mechanics and/or volunteer beyond one shift per week. Super facilitators gain access to the key code on a case by case basis.
- Complete the six week bike mechanics course or other bicycle
mechanics training course.
- Demonstrate bicycle mechanic mastery
- Complete a bike safety instruction course
- Demonstrate bicycle safety and be capable of teaching a short bike
safety seminar
- Volunteer for 2 or more shifts per week
- Be active on a sub committee of the CC board of directors
- Work on a special event or campaign.
Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote:
Hi All,
Since we opened shop I've observed that our best volunteers are those that hardly know anything about the mechanical side of bikes but have enthusiasm and a desire to learn. They end up being the most patient with customers and eventually the best teachers/passers on of bike knowledge. On the flip side are experienced bike mechanics. Most, but not all, are pushy, completely disregard our "hands off the tools philosophy" and don't understand when we ask them to "please attend volunteer orientation" if you would like to volunteer as a mechanic here ("but i'm already a mechanic!").
Recently a bike mechanic of thirty years came in because he heard about us and wanted to observe what went on. To make a long story short, he did everything BUT observe and I had to ask/tell/almost yell at him several times to let people in the shop "do it themselves". The last time I told him to "let him do it himself" he responded with "but i have so much knowledge to share!", to which I replied "here we let people get that knowledge themselves and don't watch over them constantly or take tools out of their hands", which he didn't seem to understand ("what if they make a mistake and something breaks?!"). To lighten the mood (they'll probably laugh, or cry...), bring a hammer out and explain that this is your "rim straightener" or "frame alignment tool".
My questions to the other collectives out there:
1.) Do you have a similar issue? or is it just us, haha 2.) How have you gotten experienced mechanics (like the above example) to "buy-in" to your system if at first they resisted?
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing listThethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
I am camping on this internet today!
"Is the major reason why a lot of shops don't have paid staff because of the weird power dynamics it brings?"
Not us, we would LOVE to pay someone. I'm personally not concerned at all about power dynamics or volunteer vs. paid staff conflicts. Having a paid person who is there every time open shop happens (right now only 5.5 hours a week) would actually resolve a lot of problems we have right now, as well as leave that person with off-shop time to further develop our youth programming, which none of the founders or current volunteers have time for (we're all paid elsewhere for the most part).
We currently sell bikes to pay for rent, expenses and a little emergency overhead. There is not much room for expansion (and I don't want us to focus on selling bikes, education and youth programming are the priority) there to pay someone a salary, so the funding will have to come from somewhere else.
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 3:13 PM, veganboyjosh@gmail.com wrote:
Josh here, also from Community Cycles.
Sort of in addition to Rich's email, but expanding on it a bit, and bringing in some other cans of worms...
We have 3 paid staff members, and the rest are volunteers, or get paid as contractors for teaching one class at a time.
I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking about bikebike, and have come to what looks to be some hard decisions. I was brought on as the latest paid staff person, as the "Development Director". Essentially, I'm responsible for 3 things, listed in order of their importance.
- Membership tracking, coordinating, and communication.
- Grantwriting and fundraising events, etc.
- Volunteer Coordination.
I'm realizing the more I read about horizontal power structures and consensus based org's that while our issue of volunteers not wanting or able to commit to anything other than dropping by when it suits them could just be that we have a bunch of flaky volunteers, I'm slowly coming to the realization that our model of paid staff and unpaid volunteer staff is flawed.
I've started and come super close to sending an email to this list several times asking how we can get more out of our volunteers. I realize the inherent issues of our paid staff requesting more of volunteers. There's all kinds of issues here, but it's the model we're in, and I'm not sure how to address it in a positive, productive way. (Of course, job security for myself and two other people also comes into play, for if we get rid of the paid staff positions, then we've put 3 hard working people out of work.)
I'm almost done reading "The Revolution Will Not Be Funded", and would LOVE to continue the discussion we starte at bikebike! online, once some more people have had a chance to read it. (To those of you who asked at bikebike about whether there's any resolution at the end of the book to address whether there's any ways to pay for revolutionary social change org's without funding from foundations, there is. Not some silver bullet magic answer, but they do address the question somewhat.)
I'm interested to hear from other org's that have one or more paid staff members how that structure plays out in the dynamics of your staff, volunteer or paid. Do tensions arise? How do you address them?
For those of you at the shops with no paid staff, when I bring up that model to friends outside of radical activist circles, the response is often "yeah, but if they're all volunteer run, don't they have jobs aside from the bike shop work? wouldn't having a paid staff person working full time on things allow the org to do more work?" this seems like a logical response. If I personally wasn't working full time at Community Cycles, I would be working full time somewhere else. Two things come to mind. 1. I wouldn't be as happy as I am doing the work for the organization I work for. 2. I wouldn't have as much or any time to devote to Community Cycles as a volunteer. Am I missing something? I'm not looking for a critique of capitalism. Is the major reason why a lot of shops don't have paid staff because of the weird power dynamics it brings?
Thanks for taking the time to read this ranting. I hope something fruitful comes of it. Also, if you're still reading this, feel free to call me an idiot.
josh.
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE < urbanbikeproject@gmail.com> wrote:
Cool Rich thanks....here is our volunteer structure:
*Types of Volunteers and Volunteer Structure at UBP* updated 8/3/09
*Drop-In or Unscheduled Volunteers* -Limited to sorting parts, patching tubes, organizational tasks. -May be turned away if the shop is too crowded.
*Scheduled Volunteers *-Sign up in advance for full shifts in one of the following roles: -*Greeter* signs people into the shop, answers basic customer questions, answers phone -*Parts/Back Room* assists mechanics and customers with finding parts in the back room, organizes and keeps the back room neat. -*Sales* assists customers who are looking to purchase a bicycle. -*Mechanic*(s) assist adult customers who are repairing bicycles. -*Youth Mechanic*(s) assist youth who are repairing bicycles. -*Head Mechanic* overseas all activities in the shop and assists Mechanics with difficult repairs.
*Core Volunteers* -Scheduled volunteers who complete 3-4 full shifts per month and 2 tasks from the Core Volunteer Task Sheet. -May keep a project bicycle in the shop longer than the standard 2-week period. -May attend Core Volunteers only shop time and Core Volunteer meetings. -Receive discount when ordering parts from J&B Importers catalog
And this is our experimental Volunteer "Ladder" for moving people up the chain as it were. The idea being, unskilled volunteers can work up as slowly or quickly as they want (most greeters end up quickly learning tube patching during shop time and also basic wheel truing since the truing station is directly behind the greeter). Same for "skilled but new to the shop" volunteers. If they really want to work as a mechanic they can see right in front of them what needs to be done first.
*Skills Checklist* (head mechanic/volunteer coordinator to sign off on each requirement)
*Requirements for Greeter:* -Attended Volunteer Orientation? Date:______
*Additional Requirements for Parts Sorting/Salesperson:*
-Basic identification of parts -Pedal removal/installation, Stem/Seat adjustment, Tire Pumping -Basic Bicycle Sizing Knowledge
*Additional Requirements for Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher:* -Wheel Removal/Installation (coaster, freewheel, derailer) -Tire Removal/Installation, Tube Patching -"How to work with youth" Basic Training? Date:______ -3 *full* shifts at other position (date and position): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______
*Additional Requirements for Mechanic:* -Attend/Pass Advanced Mechanics Class or Test? Date:_____
*Additional Requirements for Youth Mechanic:* -3 *full* shifts as Mechanic (date): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______ -1 *full* shift as Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher: Date:_____
Additional Requirements for Head Mechanic:* -3 *full* shifts as Youth Mechanic (date): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______ -1 *full* shift shadowing Head Mechanic (date): Date:______ -Approval from Collective of Core-Volunteers: Date:______
It's just been hard to convince people with tons of experience that they*really do
- need to (and are required to) be greeter or parts sorter for at least 3
shifts before they can even think about working with customers.
Please share thoughts and ideas!
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 11:28 AM, R Points poster@richpoints.com wrote:
Hey Brian, Yeah we have similar issues at Community Cycles. We have a dozen or so core volunteers who show up each week for a three hour shift, we call the facilitators. Most of these folks have worked in bike shops or are advanced shade tree mechanics. By and large most of our facilitators are limited when it comes to people skills. In addition, even though these facilitators show up on a regular basis it's been almost impossible to schedule them for a shift. And a lot of times facilitators show up and don't even work on bikes they just hang out. We do have a monthly facilitator meeting which has been sparsely attended at best.
Currently we don't have a mechanism for interested volunteers to become facilitators or high level volunteers. The result is our facilitator pool has become old, stagnant and untrained. To address this we've been working on developing a facilitator training process.
The training process, still in it's first draft, is broken into four training sessions. The trainings are focused on admin/greeter, daily shop ops, mechanics and community outreach. Once you've gone through the training you'll be qualified to schedule a three/four hour facilitator shift each week at the shop or work on a special project/event.
As you mentioned a lot of enthusiastic volunteers are not particularly mechanically inclined. One perk we've talked about is if a new facilitator commits to 6 months of shifts they can take our Bike Mechanics 101 class for free http://communitycycles.org/programs/classes.html
We'll be launching this new training program at our next facilitator meeting at the end of this month. Wish us luck.
Ride On! Rich
*CC Facili(Tator) Training Manual* To become a facilitator or high level volunteer at Community Cycles, you need to go through a series of simple trainings. Once you've gone through them, you're qualified to represent Community Cycles at events outside of the shop. Facilitators gain privilege to order from our wholesalers at 10% over cost.
*Criteria*
- To be a facilitator you must have completed the training and
commit to one shift per week for a minimum of a three month period. If you are unable to make your shift it is your responsibility to have it covered by another facilitator. If you cannot cover your shift please let staff know asap that you will not be able to attend. 2. Attend a mandatory monthly facilitator meeting at the shop. Usually the third Tuesday of each month.
Trainings* You'll need to schedule to complete four trainings during open shop hours. Each training session is 3 - 4 hours. You must complete the trainings within two months of your start date.
- Greeter*
The greeter is one of the most important roles in the shop. Functioning as greeter is a quick way for you to get oriented to Community Cycles and what we do. We've put together an awesome Greeter manual that will help you answer the most common questions we hear in the shop each day.
2. * Kids Bikes and New Donation processing* - Strip bikes for parts as needed - Check - Frame and wheels for cracks, dings and bends - Fix Tubes - patch tubes and replace as needed - Replace - Rotten tires, seats, grips, frayed cables and rotten cable housing - Remove - light and lock hardware, seized rusty chains... - Clean - Drive train, wheels and hubs, frame, handle bars... - Install - Missing reflectors, valve caps - Flatten Bikes - Sort parts 3. * Shadow Facilitator*Shadow a certified tater for a shift helping EABers in progress, tune ups or sale bikes. Shadow taters will do one tater chore; i.e. clean bathroom, take out trash, sweep... After this shift you will be "qualified" to help EABers and work on in shop tune ups.
4. * Grab Bag - Would be taters can choose from any of theseactivities.*
Repeat any of the first three trainings Greeter Trainer Finisher/Sales Community tabling event Street team UCAR CHaRM Farmers Market North Storage staff assistant Tune Ups RBC Special event*Super Facilitator* Volunteers who demonstrate mastery of bike mechanics and/or volunteer beyond one shift per week. Super facilitators gain access to the key code on a case by case basis.
- Complete the six week bike mechanics course or other bicycle
mechanics training course.
- Demonstrate bicycle mechanic mastery
- Complete a bike safety instruction course
- Demonstrate bicycle safety and be capable of teaching a short bike
safety seminar
- Volunteer for 2 or more shifts per week
- Be active on a sub committee of the CC board of directors
- Work on a special event or campaign.
Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote:
Hi All,
Since we opened shop I've observed that our best volunteers are those that hardly know anything about the mechanical side of bikes but have enthusiasm and a desire to learn. They end up being the most patient with customers and eventually the best teachers/passers on of bike knowledge. On the flip side are experienced bike mechanics. Most, but not all, are pushy, completely disregard our "hands off the tools philosophy" and don't understand when we ask them to "please attend volunteer orientation" if you would like to volunteer as a mechanic here ("but i'm already a mechanic!").
Recently a bike mechanic of thirty years came in because he heard about us and wanted to observe what went on. To make a long story short, he did everything BUT observe and I had to ask/tell/almost yell at him several times to let people in the shop "do it themselves". The last time I told him to "let him do it himself" he responded with "but i have so much knowledge to share!", to which I replied "here we let people get that knowledge themselves and don't watch over them constantly or take tools out of their hands", which he didn't seem to understand ("what if they make a mistake and something breaks?!"). To lighten the mood (they'll probably laugh, or cry...), bring a hammer out and explain that this is your "rim straightener" or "frame alignment tool".
My questions to the other collectives out there:
1.) Do you have a similar issue? or is it just us, haha 2.) How have you gotten experienced mechanics (like the above example) to "buy-in" to your system if at first they resisted?
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing listThethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
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http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
-- Thanks for supporting Community Cycles, Boulder's first and only non-profit bike shop! Ask me how you can sponsor a Youth Earn-A-Bike student for just $100. www.communitycycles.org
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Ross from Recycle Bicycle Harrisburg, Pa
Reference below whether there's any ways to pay for revolutionary social change org's without funding from foundations, there is. Not some silver bullet magic answer,
Most of our core volunteers are retired and are being paid by that capitalistic system that seems to get bashed on this forum. I am awed when I see these gray/no hair guys/gals kneeling down and teaching inter city youth bike repair / safety / physics and pushing higher education. Please send more of those self motivated, financially secure, tool owning volunteers my way.
Then a question: What percentage of bikes that you work on come from a non-capitalistic factory?
Subject: [TheThinkTank] experienced bike mechanics as volunteers - issues.
Josh here, also from Community Cycles.
Sort of in addition to Rich's email, but expanding on it a bit, and bringing in some other cans of worms...
We have 3 paid staff members, and the rest are volunteers, or get paid as contractors for teaching one class at a time.
I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking about bikebike, and have come to what looks to be some hard decisions. I was brought on as the latest paid staff person, as the "Development Director". Essentially, I'm responsible for 3 things, listed in order of their importance.
- Membership tracking, coordinating, and communication.
- Grantwriting and fundraising events, etc.
- Volunteer Coordination.
I'm realizing the more I read about horizontal power structures and consensus based org's that while our issue of volunteers not wanting or able to commit to anything other than dropping by when it suits them could just be that we have a bunch of flaky volunteers, I'm slowly coming to the realization that our model of paid staff and unpaid volunteer staff is flawed.
I've started and come super close to sending an email to this list several times asking how we can get more out of our volunteers. I realize the inherent issues of our paid staff requesting more of volunteers. There's all kinds of issues here, but it's the model we're in, and I'm not sure how to address it in a positive, productive way. (Of course, job security for myself and two other people also comes into play, for if we get rid of the paid staff positions, then we've put 3 hard working people out of work.)
I'm almost done reading "The Revolution Will Not Be Funded", and would LOVE to continue the discussion we starte at bikebike! online, once some more people have had a chance to read it. (To those of you who asked at bikebike about whether there's any resolution at the end of the book to address whether there's any ways to pay for revolutionary social change org's without funding from foundations, there is. Not some silver bullet magic answer, but they do address the question somewhat.)
I'm interested to hear from other org's that have one or more paid staff members how that structure plays out in the dynamics of your staff, volunteer or paid. Do tensions arise? How do you address them?
For those of you at the shops with no paid staff, when I bring up that model to friends outside of radical activist circles, the response is often "yeah, but if they're all volunteer run, don't they have jobs aside from the bike shop work? wouldn't having a paid staff person working full time on things allow the org to do more work?" this seems like a logical response. If I personally wasn't working full time at Community Cycles, I would be working full time somewhere else. Two things come to mind. 1. I wouldn't be as happy as I am doing the work for the organization I work for. 2. I wouldn't have as much or any time to devote to Community Cycles as a volunteer. Am I missing something? I'm not looking for a critique of capitalism. Is the major reason why a lot of shops don't have paid staff because of the weird power dynamics it brings?
Thanks for taking the time to read this ranting. I hope something fruitful comes of it. Also, if you're still reading this, feel free to call me an idiot.
josh.
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE urbanbikeproject@gmail.com wrote:
Cool Rich thanks....here is our volunteer structure:
Types of Volunteers and Volunteer Structure at UBP
updated 8/3/09
Drop-In or Unscheduled Volunteers
-Limited to sorting parts, patching tubes, organizational tasks.
-May be turned away if the shop is too crowded.
Scheduled Volunteers
-Sign up in advance for full shifts in one of the following roles:
-Greeter signs people into the shop, answers basic customer questions, answers phone
-Parts/Back Room assists mechanics and customers with finding parts in the back room, organizes and keeps the back room neat.
-Sales assists customers who are looking to purchase a bicycle.
-Mechanic(s) assist adult customers who are repairing bicycles.
-Youth Mechanic(s) assist youth who are repairing bicycles.
-Head Mechanic overseas all activities in the shop and assists Mechanics with difficult repairs.
Core Volunteers
-Scheduled volunteers who complete 3-4 full shifts per month and 2 tasks from the Core Volunteer Task Sheet.
-May keep a project bicycle in the shop longer than the standard 2-week period.
-May attend Core Volunteers only shop time and Core Volunteer meetings.
-Receive discount when ordering parts from J&B Importers catalog
And this is our experimental Volunteer "Ladder" for moving people up the chain as it were. The idea being, unskilled volunteers can work up as slowly or quickly as they want (most greeters end up quickly learning tube patching during shop time and also basic wheel truing since the truing station is directly behind the greeter). Same for "skilled but new to the shop" volunteers. If they really want to work as a mechanic they can see right in front of them what needs to be done first.
Skills Checklist (head mechanic/volunteer coordinator to sign off on each requirement)
Requirements for Greeter:
-Attended Volunteer Orientation? Date:______
Additional Requirements for Parts Sorting/Salesperson:
-Basic identification of parts
-Pedal removal/installation, Stem/Seat adjustment, Tire Pumping
-Basic Bicycle Sizing Knowledge
Additional Requirements for Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher:
-Wheel Removal/Installation (coaster, freewheel, derailer)
-Tire Removal/Installation, Tube Patching
-"How to work with youth" Basic Training? Date:______
-3 full shifts at other position (date and position): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______
Additional Requirements for Mechanic:
-Attend/Pass Advanced Mechanics Class or Test? Date:_____
Additional Requirements for Youth Mechanic:
-3 full shifts as Mechanic (date): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______
-1 full shift as Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher: Date:_____
Additional Requirements for Head Mechanic:
-3 full shifts as Youth Mechanic (date): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______
-1 full shift shadowing Head Mechanic (date): Date:______
-Approval from Collective of Core-Volunteers: Date:______
It's just been hard to convince people with tons of experience that they really do need to (and are required to) be greeter or parts sorter for at least 3 shifts before they can even think about working with customers.
Please share thoughts and ideas!
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington
-a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop-
1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building)
Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours:
Thursday 6:30-9:00
Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 11:28 AM, R Points <poster@richpoints.com> wrote:
Hey Brian,
Yeah we have similar issues at Community Cycles. We have a dozen or so core volunteers who show up each week for a three hour shift, we call the facilitators. Most of these folks have worked in bike shops or are advanced shade tree mechanics. By and large most of our facilitators are limited when it comes to people skills. In addition, even though these facilitators show up on a regular basis it's been almost impossible to schedule them for a shift. And a lot of times facilitators show up and don't even work on bikes they just hang out. We do have a monthly facilitator meeting which has been sparsely attended at best.
Currently we don't have a mechanism for interested volunteers to become facilitators or high level volunteers. The result is our facilitator pool has become old, stagnant and untrained. To address this we've been working on developing a facilitator training process.
The training process, still in it's first draft, is broken into four training sessions. The trainings are focused on admin/greeter, daily shop ops, mechanics and community outreach. Once you've gone through the training you'll be qualified to schedule a three/four hour facilitator shift each week at the shop or work on a special project/event.
As you mentioned a lot of enthusiastic volunteers are not particularly mechanically inclined. One perk we've talked about is if a new facilitator commits to 6 months of shifts they can take our Bike Mechanics 101 class for free http://communitycycles.org/programs/classes.html
We'll be launching this new training program at our next facilitator meeting at the end of this month. Wish us luck.
Ride On!
Rich
CC Facili(Tator) Training Manual
To become a facilitator or high level volunteer at Community Cycles, you need to go through a series of simple trainings. Once you've gone through them, you're qualified to represent Community Cycles at events outside of the shop. Facilitators gain privilege to order from our wholesalers at 10% over cost.
Criteria
1.. To be a facilitator you must have completed the training and commit to one shift per week for a minimum of a three month period. If you are unable to make your shift it is your responsibility to have it covered by another facilitator. If you cannot cover your shift please let staff know asap that you will not be able to attend.
2.. Attend a mandatory monthly facilitator meeting at the shop. Usually the third Tuesday of each month.
Trainings
You'll need to schedule to complete four trainings during open shop hours. Each training session is 3 - 4 hours. You must complete the trainings within two months of your start date.
1.. Greeter
The greeter is one of the most important roles in the shop. Functioning as greeter is a quick way for you to get oriented to Community Cycles and what we do. We've put together an awesome Greeter manual that will help you answer the most common questions we hear in the shop each day.
2.. Kids Bikes and New Donation processing
a.. Strip bikes for parts as needed
b.. Check - Frame and wheels for cracks, dings and bends
c.. Fix Tubes - patch tubes and replace as needed
d.. Replace - Rotten tires, seats, grips, frayed cables and rotten cable housing
e.. Remove - light and lock hardware, seized rusty chains...
f.. Clean - Drive train, wheels and hubs, frame, handle bars...
g.. Install - Missing reflectors, valve caps
h.. Flatten Bikes
i.. Sort parts
3.. Shadow Facilitator
Shadow a certified tater for a shift helping EABers in progress, tune ups or sale bikes. Shadow taters will do one tater chore; i.e. clean bathroom, take out trash, sweep... After this shift you will be "qualified" to help EABers and work on in shop tune ups.
4.. Grab Bag - Would be taters can choose from any of these activities.
Repeat any of the first three trainings
Greeter Trainer
Finisher/Sales
Community tabling event
Street team
UCAR
CHaRM
Farmers Market
North Storage staff assistant
Tune Ups
RBC
Special event
Super Facilitator
Volunteers who demonstrate mastery of bike mechanics and/or volunteer beyond one shift per week. Super facilitators gain access to the key code on a case by case basis.
a.. Complete the six week bike mechanics course or other bicycle mechanics training course.
b.. Demonstrate bicycle mechanic mastery
c.. Complete a bike safety instruction course
d.. Demonstrate bicycle safety and be capable of teaching a short bike safety seminar
e.. Volunteer for 2 or more shifts per week
f.. Be active on a sub committee of the CC board of directors
g.. Work on a special event or campaign.
Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote:
Hi All,
Since we opened shop I've observed that our best volunteers are those that hardly know anything about the mechanical side of bikes but have enthusiasm and a desire to learn. They end up being the most patient with customers and eventually the best teachers/passers on of bike knowledge. On the flip side are experienced bike mechanics. Most, but not all, are pushy, completely disregard our "hands off the tools philosophy" and don't understand when we ask them to "please attend volunteer orientation" if you would like to volunteer as a mechanic here ("but i'm already a mechanic!").
Recently a bike mechanic of thirty years came in because he heard about us and wanted to observe what went on. To make a long story short, he did everything BUT observe and I had to ask/tell/almost yell at him several times to let people in the shop "do it themselves". The last time I told him to "let him do it himself" he responded with "but i have so much knowledge to share!", to which I replied "here we let people get that knowledge themselves and don't watch over them constantly or take tools out of their hands", which he didn't seem to understand ("what if they make a mistake and something breaks?!"). To lighten the mood (they'll probably laugh, or cry...), bring a hammer out and explain that this is your "rim straightener" or "frame alignment tool".
My questions to the other collectives out there:
1.) Do you have a similar issue? or is it just us, haha
2.) How have you gotten experienced mechanics (like the above example) to "buy-in" to your system if at first they resisted?
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington
-a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop-
1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building)
Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours:
Thursday 6:30-9:00
Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
_______________________________________________
Thethinktank mailing list
Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org
To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
_______________________________________________
Thethinktank mailing list
Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org
To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
-- Thanks for supporting Community Cycles, Boulder's first and only non-profit bike shop! Ask me how you can sponsor a Youth Earn-A-Bike student for just $100. www.communitycycles.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
The issue I was trying to get at is how to use these experienced folk, who may feel put off by having to go through seemingly basic training and requirements in order to work for a shop (for free) where they may be the most experienced wrench on any given day; in a way that is satisfying for them and that works out for the shop. The problem is that many of them have seemed unwilling to learn another way of wrenching on bikes (*not* wrenching themselves, but teaching others to wrench) and that's not good, for our shop anyway. We desire volunteers who want to help the shop and most importantly help other people learn to fix bikes, to which we have a very specific way doing.
The tool point is an interesting one. Except in very specific circumstances we don't allow people to bring their own tools into the shop. What has happened in the past is someone brings tools, another individual in the shop borrows one or something goes missing and we end up getting asked to replace the tool. Hence, UBP tools only in the shop.
Over and out,
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 4:22 PM, Recycle Bicycle of Harrisburg, Pa < recyclebicycle@verizon.net> wrote:
Ross from Recycle Bicycle Harrisburg, Pa
Reference below *whether there's any ways** to pay for revolutionary social change org's without funding from foundations, there is. Not some silver bullet magic answer,* ** Most of our core volunteers are retired and are being paid by that capitalistic system that seems to get bashed on this forum. I am awed when I see these gray/no hair guys/gals kneeling down and teaching inter city youth bike repair / safety / physics and pushing higher education. Please send more of those self motivated, financially secure, tool owning volunteers my way.
Then a question: What percentage of bikes that you work on come from a non-capitalistic factory?
*Subject:* [TheThinkTank] experienced bike mechanics as volunteers - issues.
Josh here, also from Community Cycles.
Sort of in addition to Rich's email, but expanding on it a bit, and bringing in some other cans of worms...
We have 3 paid staff members, and the rest are volunteers, or get paid as contractors for teaching one class at a time.
I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking about bikebike, and have come to what looks to be some hard decisions. I was brought on as the latest paid staff person, as the "Development Director". Essentially, I'm responsible for 3 things, listed in order of their importance.
- Membership tracking, coordinating, and communication.
- Grantwriting and fundraising events, etc.
- Volunteer Coordination.
I'm realizing the more I read about horizontal power structures and consensus based org's that while our issue of volunteers not wanting or able to commit to anything other than dropping by when it suits them could just be that we have a bunch of flaky volunteers, I'm slowly coming to the realization that our model of paid staff and unpaid volunteer staff is flawed.
I've started and come super close to sending an email to this list several times asking how we can get more out of our volunteers. I realize the inherent issues of our paid staff requesting more of volunteers. There's all kinds of issues here, but it's the model we're in, and I'm not sure how to address it in a positive, productive way. (Of course, job security for myself and two other people also comes into play, for if we get rid of the paid staff positions, then we've put 3 hard working people out of work.)
I'm almost done reading "The Revolution Will Not Be Funded", and would LOVE to continue the discussion we starte at bikebike! online, once some more people have had a chance to read it. (To those of you who asked at bikebike about whether there's any resolution at the end of the book to address whether there's any ways to pay for revolutionary social change org's without funding from foundations, there is. Not some silver bullet magic answer, but they do address the question somewhat.)
I'm interested to hear from other org's that have one or more paid staff members how that structure plays out in the dynamics of your staff, volunteer or paid. Do tensions arise? How do you address them?
For those of you at the shops with no paid staff, when I bring up that model to friends outside of radical activist circles, the response is often "yeah, but if they're all volunteer run, don't they have jobs aside from the bike shop work? wouldn't having a paid staff person working full time on things allow the org to do more work?" this seems like a logical response. If I personally wasn't working full time at Community Cycles, I would be working full time somewhere else. Two things come to mind. 1. I wouldn't be as happy as I am doing the work for the organization I work for. 2. I wouldn't have as much or any time to devote to Community Cycles as a volunteer. Am I missing something? I'm not looking for a critique of capitalism. Is the major reason why a lot of shops don't have paid staff because of the weird power dynamics it brings?
Thanks for taking the time to read this ranting. I hope something fruitful comes of it. Also, if you're still reading this, feel free to call me an idiot.
josh.
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE < urbanbikeproject@gmail.com> wrote:
Cool Rich thanks....here is our volunteer structure:
*Types of Volunteers and Volunteer Structure at UBP* updated 8/3/09
*Drop-In or Unscheduled Volunteers* -Limited to sorting parts, patching tubes, organizational tasks. -May be turned away if the shop is too crowded.
*Scheduled Volunteers *-Sign up in advance for full shifts in one of the following roles: -*Greeter* signs people into the shop, answers basic customer questions, answers phone -*Parts/Back Room* assists mechanics and customers with finding parts in the back room, organizes and keeps the back room neat. -*Sales* assists customers who are looking to purchase a bicycle. -*Mechanic*(s) assist adult customers who are repairing bicycles. -*Youth Mechanic*(s) assist youth who are repairing bicycles. -*Head Mechanic* overseas all activities in the shop and assists Mechanics with difficult repairs.
*Core Volunteers* -Scheduled volunteers who complete 3-4 full shifts per month and 2 tasks from the Core Volunteer Task Sheet. -May keep a project bicycle in the shop longer than the standard 2-week period. -May attend Core Volunteers only shop time and Core Volunteer meetings. -Receive discount when ordering parts from J&B Importers catalog
And this is our experimental Volunteer "Ladder" for moving people up the chain as it were. The idea being, unskilled volunteers can work up as slowly or quickly as they want (most greeters end up quickly learning tube patching during shop time and also basic wheel truing since the truing station is directly behind the greeter). Same for "skilled but new to the shop" volunteers. If they really want to work as a mechanic they can see right in front of them what needs to be done first.
*Skills Checklist* (head mechanic/volunteer coordinator to sign off on each requirement)
*Requirements for Greeter:* -Attended Volunteer Orientation? Date:______
*Additional Requirements for Parts Sorting/Salesperson:*
-Basic identification of parts -Pedal removal/installation, Stem/Seat adjustment, Tire Pumping -Basic Bicycle Sizing Knowledge
*Additional Requirements for Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher:* -Wheel Removal/Installation (coaster, freewheel, derailer) -Tire Removal/Installation, Tube Patching -"How to work with youth" Basic Training? Date:______ -3 *full* shifts at other position (date and position): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______
*Additional Requirements for Mechanic:* -Attend/Pass Advanced Mechanics Class or Test? Date:_____
*Additional Requirements for Youth Mechanic:* -3 *full* shifts as Mechanic (date): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______ -1 *full* shift as Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher: Date:_____
Additional Requirements for Head Mechanic:* -3 *full* shifts as Youth Mechanic (date): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______ -1 *full* shift shadowing Head Mechanic (date): Date:______ -Approval from Collective of Core-Volunteers: Date:______
It's just been hard to convince people with tons of experience that they*really do
- need to (and are required to) be greeter or parts sorter for at least 3
shifts before they can even think about working with customers.
Please share thoughts and ideas!
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 11:28 AM, R Points poster@richpoints.comwrote:
Hey Brian, Yeah we have similar issues at Community Cycles. We have a dozen or so core volunteers who show up each week for a three hour shift, we call the facilitators. Most of these folks have worked in bike shops or are advanced shade tree mechanics. By and large most of our facilitators are limited when it comes to people skills. In addition, even though these facilitators show up on a regular basis it's been almost impossible to schedule them for a shift. And a lot of times facilitators show up and don't even work on bikes they just hang out. We do have a monthly facilitator meeting which has been sparsely attended at best.
Currently we don't have a mechanism for interested volunteers to become facilitators or high level volunteers. The result is our facilitator pool has become old, stagnant and untrained. To address this we've been working on developing a facilitator training process.
The training process, still in it's first draft, is broken into four training sessions. The trainings are focused on admin/greeter, daily shop ops, mechanics and community outreach. Once you've gone through the training you'll be qualified to schedule a three/four hour facilitator shift each week at the shop or work on a special project/event.
As you mentioned a lot of enthusiastic volunteers are not particularly mechanically inclined. One perk we've talked about is if a new facilitator commits to 6 months of shifts they can take our Bike Mechanics 101 class for free http://communitycycles.org/programs/classes.html
We'll be launching this new training program at our next facilitator meeting at the end of this month. Wish us luck.
Ride On! Rich
*CC Facili(Tator) Training Manual* To become a facilitator or high level volunteer at Community Cycles, you need to go through a series of simple trainings. Once you've gone through them, you're qualified to represent Community Cycles at events outside of the shop. Facilitators gain privilege to order from our wholesalers at 10% over cost.
*Criteria*
- To be a facilitator you must have completed the training and
commit to one shift per week for a minimum of a three month period. If you are unable to make your shift it is your responsibility to have it covered by another facilitator. If you cannot cover your shift please let staff know asap that you will not be able to attend. 2. Attend a mandatory monthly facilitator meeting at the shop. Usually the third Tuesday of each month.
Trainings* You'll need to schedule to complete four trainings during open shop hours. Each training session is 3 - 4 hours. You must complete the trainings within two months of your start date.
- *Greeter*
The greeter is one of the most important roles in the shop. Functioning as greeter is a quick way for you to get oriented to Community Cycles and what we do. We've put together an awesome Greeter manual that will help you answer the most common questions we hear in the shop each day.
- *Kids Bikes and New Donation processing*
- Strip bikes for parts as needed - Check - Frame and wheels for cracks, dings and bends - Fix Tubes - patch tubes and replace as needed - Replace - Rotten tires, seats, grips, frayed cables and rotten cable housing - Remove - light and lock hardware, seized rusty chains... - Clean - Drive train, wheels and hubs, frame, handle bars... - Install - Missing reflectors, valve caps - Flatten Bikes - Sort parts
- *Shadow Facilitator*
Shadow a certified tater for a shift helping EABers in progress, tune ups or sale bikes. Shadow taters will do one tater chore; i.e. clean bathroom, take out trash, sweep... After this shift you will be "qualified" to help EABers and work on in shop tune ups.
- *Grab Bag - Would be taters can choose from any of these
activities.*
Repeat any of the first three trainings Greeter Trainer Finisher/Sales Community tabling event Street team UCAR CHaRM Farmers Market North Storage staff assistant Tune Ups RBC Special event*Super Facilitator* Volunteers who demonstrate mastery of bike mechanics and/or volunteer beyond one shift per week. Super facilitators gain access to the key code on a case by case basis.
- Complete the six week bike mechanics course or other bicycle
mechanics training course.
- Demonstrate bicycle mechanic mastery
- Complete a bike safety instruction course
- Demonstrate bicycle safety and be capable of teaching a short bike
safety seminar
- Volunteer for 2 or more shifts per week
- Be active on a sub committee of the CC board of directors
- Work on a special event or campaign.
Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote:
Hi All,
Since we opened shop I've observed that our best volunteers are those that hardly know anything about the mechanical side of bikes but have enthusiasm and a desire to learn. They end up being the most patient with customers and eventually the best teachers/passers on of bike knowledge. On the flip side are experienced bike mechanics. Most, but not all, are pushy, completely disregard our "hands off the tools philosophy" and don't understand when we ask them to "please attend volunteer orientation" if you would like to volunteer as a mechanic here ("but i'm already a mechanic!").
Recently a bike mechanic of thirty years came in because he heard about us and wanted to observe what went on. To make a long story short, he did everything BUT observe and I had to ask/tell/almost yell at him several times to let people in the shop "do it themselves". The last time I told him to "let him do it himself" he responded with "but i have so much knowledge to share!", to which I replied "here we let people get that knowledge themselves and don't watch over them constantly or take tools out of their hands", which he didn't seem to understand ("what if they make a mistake and something breaks?!"). To lighten the mood (they'll probably laugh, or cry...), bring a hammer out and explain that this is your "rim straightener" or "frame alignment tool".
My questions to the other collectives out there:
1.) Do you have a similar issue? or is it just us, haha 2.) How have you gotten experienced mechanics (like the above example) to "buy-in" to your system if at first they resisted?
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing listThethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
-- Thanks for supporting Community Cycles, Boulder's first and only non-profit bike shop! Ask me how you can sponsor a Youth Earn-A-Bike student for just $100. www.communitycycles.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
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One idea we've discussed, but have not implemented is to use more experienced mechanics to put on specific workshops. This way, they can teach their style in a more structured environment away from open shop, thus avoiding the conflicts in the shop. For example, there's one fellow who would like to help out more but is self-admittedly too impatient with people doing it the "wrong way." So, he is exploring the possibility of teaching a wheel-building workshop or other more advanced skill. Just a possibility.
Spokemistress Sarah Bike Forth!
On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 8:31 AM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE < urbanbikeproject@gmail.com> wrote:
The issue I was trying to get at is how to use these experienced folk, who may feel put off by having to go through seemingly basic training and requirements in order to work for a shop (for free) where they may be the most experienced wrench on any given day; in a way that is satisfying for them and that works out for the shop. The problem is that many of them have seemed unwilling to learn another way of wrenching on bikes (*not*wrenching themselves, but teaching others to wrench) and that's not good, for our shop anyway. We desire volunteers who want to help the shop and most importantly help other people learn to fix bikes, to which we have a very specific way doing.
The tool point is an interesting one. Except in very specific circumstances we don't allow people to bring their own tools into the shop. What has happened in the past is someone brings tools, another individual in the shop borrows one or something goes missing and we end up getting asked to replace the tool. Hence, UBP tools only in the shop.
Over and out,
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 4:22 PM, Recycle Bicycle of Harrisburg, Pa < recyclebicycle@verizon.net> wrote:
Ross from Recycle Bicycle Harrisburg, Pa
Reference below *whether there's any ways** to pay for revolutionary social change org's without funding from foundations, there is. Not some silver bullet magic answer,* ** Most of our core volunteers are retired and are being paid by that capitalistic system that seems to get bashed on this forum. I am awed when I see these gray/no hair guys/gals kneeling down and teaching inter city youth bike repair / safety / physics and pushing higher education. Please send more of those self motivated, financially secure, tool owning volunteers my way.
Then a question: What percentage of bikes that you work on come from a non-capitalistic factory?
*Subject:* [TheThinkTank] experienced bike mechanics as volunteers - issues.
Josh here, also from Community Cycles.
Sort of in addition to Rich's email, but expanding on it a bit, and bringing in some other cans of worms...
We have 3 paid staff members, and the rest are volunteers, or get paid as contractors for teaching one class at a time.
I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking about bikebike, and have come to what looks to be some hard decisions. I was brought on as the latest paid staff person, as the "Development Director". Essentially, I'm responsible for 3 things, listed in order of their importance.
- Membership tracking, coordinating, and communication.
- Grantwriting and fundraising events, etc.
- Volunteer Coordination.
I'm realizing the more I read about horizontal power structures and consensus based org's that while our issue of volunteers not wanting or able to commit to anything other than dropping by when it suits them could just be that we have a bunch of flaky volunteers, I'm slowly coming to the realization that our model of paid staff and unpaid volunteer staff is flawed.
I've started and come super close to sending an email to this list several times asking how we can get more out of our volunteers. I realize the inherent issues of our paid staff requesting more of volunteers. There's all kinds of issues here, but it's the model we're in, and I'm not sure how to address it in a positive, productive way. (Of course, job security for myself and two other people also comes into play, for if we get rid of the paid staff positions, then we've put 3 hard working people out of work.)
I'm almost done reading "The Revolution Will Not Be Funded", and would LOVE to continue the discussion we starte at bikebike! online, once some more people have had a chance to read it. (To those of you who asked at bikebike about whether there's any resolution at the end of the book to address whether there's any ways to pay for revolutionary social change org's without funding from foundations, there is. Not some silver bullet magic answer, but they do address the question somewhat.)
I'm interested to hear from other org's that have one or more paid staff members how that structure plays out in the dynamics of your staff, volunteer or paid. Do tensions arise? How do you address them?
For those of you at the shops with no paid staff, when I bring up that model to friends outside of radical activist circles, the response is often "yeah, but if they're all volunteer run, don't they have jobs aside from the bike shop work? wouldn't having a paid staff person working full time on things allow the org to do more work?" this seems like a logical response. If I personally wasn't working full time at Community Cycles, I would be working full time somewhere else. Two things come to mind. 1. I wouldn't be as happy as I am doing the work for the organization I work for. 2. I wouldn't have as much or any time to devote to Community Cycles as a volunteer. Am I missing something? I'm not looking for a critique of capitalism. Is the major reason why a lot of shops don't have paid staff because of the weird power dynamics it brings?
Thanks for taking the time to read this ranting. I hope something fruitful comes of it. Also, if you're still reading this, feel free to call me an idiot.
josh.
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE < urbanbikeproject@gmail.com> wrote:
Cool Rich thanks....here is our volunteer structure:
*Types of Volunteers and Volunteer Structure at UBP* updated 8/3/09
*Drop-In or Unscheduled Volunteers* -Limited to sorting parts, patching tubes, organizational tasks. -May be turned away if the shop is too crowded.
*Scheduled Volunteers *-Sign up in advance for full shifts in one of the following roles: -*Greeter* signs people into the shop, answers basic customer questions, answers phone -*Parts/Back Room* assists mechanics and customers with finding parts in the back room, organizes and keeps the back room neat. -*Sales* assists customers who are looking to purchase a bicycle. -*Mechanic*(s) assist adult customers who are repairing bicycles. -*Youth Mechanic*(s) assist youth who are repairing bicycles. -*Head Mechanic* overseas all activities in the shop and assists Mechanics with difficult repairs.
*Core Volunteers* -Scheduled volunteers who complete 3-4 full shifts per month and 2 tasks from the Core Volunteer Task Sheet. -May keep a project bicycle in the shop longer than the standard 2-week period. -May attend Core Volunteers only shop time and Core Volunteer meetings. -Receive discount when ordering parts from J&B Importers catalog
And this is our experimental Volunteer "Ladder" for moving people up the chain as it were. The idea being, unskilled volunteers can work up as slowly or quickly as they want (most greeters end up quickly learning tube patching during shop time and also basic wheel truing since the truing station is directly behind the greeter). Same for "skilled but new to the shop" volunteers. If they really want to work as a mechanic they can see right in front of them what needs to be done first.
*Skills Checklist* (head mechanic/volunteer coordinator to sign off on each requirement)
*Requirements for Greeter:* -Attended Volunteer Orientation? Date:______
*Additional Requirements for Parts Sorting/Salesperson:*
-Basic identification of parts -Pedal removal/installation, Stem/Seat adjustment, Tire Pumping -Basic Bicycle Sizing Knowledge
*Additional Requirements for Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher:* -Wheel Removal/Installation (coaster, freewheel, derailer) -Tire Removal/Installation, Tube Patching -"How to work with youth" Basic Training? Date:______ -3 *full* shifts at other position (date and position): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______
*Additional Requirements for Mechanic:* -Attend/Pass Advanced Mechanics Class or Test? Date:_____
*Additional Requirements for Youth Mechanic:* -3 *full* shifts as Mechanic (date): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______ -1 *full* shift as Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher: Date:_____
Additional Requirements for Head Mechanic:* -3 *full* shifts as Youth Mechanic (date): 1)________ 2)________ 3)_______ -1 *full* shift shadowing Head Mechanic (date): Date:______ -Approval from Collective of Core-Volunteers: Date:______
It's just been hard to convince people with tons of experience that they
- really do* need to (and are required to) be greeter or parts sorter
for at least 3 shifts before they can even think about working with customers.
Please share thoughts and ideas!
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 11:28 AM, R Points poster@richpoints.comwrote:
Hey Brian, Yeah we have similar issues at Community Cycles. We have a dozen or so core volunteers who show up each week for a three hour shift, we call the facilitators. Most of these folks have worked in bike shops or are advanced shade tree mechanics. By and large most of our facilitators are limited when it comes to people skills. In addition, even though these facilitators show up on a regular basis it's been almost impossible to schedule them for a shift. And a lot of times facilitators show up and don't even work on bikes they just hang out. We do have a monthly facilitator meeting which has been sparsely attended at best.
Currently we don't have a mechanism for interested volunteers to become facilitators or high level volunteers. The result is our facilitator pool has become old, stagnant and untrained. To address this we've been working on developing a facilitator training process.
The training process, still in it's first draft, is broken into four training sessions. The trainings are focused on admin/greeter, daily shop ops, mechanics and community outreach. Once you've gone through the training you'll be qualified to schedule a three/four hour facilitator shift each week at the shop or work on a special project/event.
As you mentioned a lot of enthusiastic volunteers are not particularly mechanically inclined. One perk we've talked about is if a new facilitator commits to 6 months of shifts they can take our Bike Mechanics 101 class for free http://communitycycles.org/programs/classes.html
We'll be launching this new training program at our next facilitator meeting at the end of this month. Wish us luck.
Ride On! Rich
*CC Facili(Tator) Training Manual* To become a facilitator or high level volunteer at Community Cycles, you need to go through a series of simple trainings. Once you've gone through them, you're qualified to represent Community Cycles at events outside of the shop. Facilitators gain privilege to order from our wholesalers at 10% over cost.
*Criteria*
- To be a facilitator you must have completed the training and
commit to one shift per week for a minimum of a three month period. If you are unable to make your shift it is your responsibility to have it covered by another facilitator. If you cannot cover your shift please let staff know asap that you will not be able to attend. 2. Attend a mandatory monthly facilitator meeting at the shop. Usually the third Tuesday of each month.
Trainings* You'll need to schedule to complete four trainings during open shop hours. Each training session is 3 - 4 hours. You must complete the trainings within two months of your start date.
- *Greeter*
The greeter is one of the most important roles in the shop. Functioning as greeter is a quick way for you to get oriented to Community Cycles and what we do. We've put together an awesome Greeter manual that will help you answer the most common questions we hear in the shop each day.
- *Kids Bikes and New Donation processing*
- Strip bikes for parts as needed - Check - Frame and wheels for cracks, dings and bends - Fix Tubes - patch tubes and replace as needed - Replace - Rotten tires, seats, grips, frayed cables and rotten cable housing - Remove - light and lock hardware, seized rusty chains... - Clean - Drive train, wheels and hubs, frame, handle bars... - Install - Missing reflectors, valve caps - Flatten Bikes - Sort parts
- *Shadow Facilitator*
Shadow a certified tater for a shift helping EABers in progress, tune ups or sale bikes. Shadow taters will do one tater chore; i.e. clean bathroom, take out trash, sweep... After this shift you will be "qualified" to help EABers and work on in shop tune ups.
- *Grab Bag - Would be taters can choose from any of these
activities.*
Repeat any of the first three trainings Greeter Trainer Finisher/Sales Community tabling event Street team UCAR CHaRM Farmers Market North Storage staff assistant Tune Ups RBC Special event*Super Facilitator* Volunteers who demonstrate mastery of bike mechanics and/or volunteer beyond one shift per week. Super facilitators gain access to the key code on a case by case basis.
- Complete the six week bike mechanics course or other bicycle
mechanics training course.
- Demonstrate bicycle mechanic mastery
- Complete a bike safety instruction course
- Demonstrate bicycle safety and be capable of teaching a short bike
safety seminar
- Volunteer for 2 or more shifts per week
- Be active on a sub committee of the CC board of directors
- Work on a special event or campaign.
Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote:
Hi All,
Since we opened shop I've observed that our best volunteers are those that hardly know anything about the mechanical side of bikes but have enthusiasm and a desire to learn. They end up being the most patient with customers and eventually the best teachers/passers on of bike knowledge. On the flip side are experienced bike mechanics. Most, but not all, are pushy, completely disregard our "hands off the tools philosophy" and don't understand when we ask them to "please attend volunteer orientation" if you would like to volunteer as a mechanic here ("but i'm already a mechanic!").
Recently a bike mechanic of thirty years came in because he heard about us and wanted to observe what went on. To make a long story short, he did everything BUT observe and I had to ask/tell/almost yell at him several times to let people in the shop "do it themselves". The last time I told him to "let him do it himself" he responded with "but i have so much knowledge to share!", to which I replied "here we let people get that knowledge themselves and don't watch over them constantly or take tools out of their hands", which he didn't seem to understand ("what if they make a mistake and something breaks?!"). To lighten the mood (they'll probably laugh, or cry...), bring a hammer out and explain that this is your "rim straightener" or "frame alignment tool".
My questions to the other collectives out there:
1.) Do you have a similar issue? or is it just us, haha 2.) How have you gotten experienced mechanics (like the above example) to "buy-in" to your system if at first they resisted?
Brian
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
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-- Thanks for supporting Community Cycles, Boulder's first and only non-profit bike shop! Ask me how you can sponsor a Youth Earn-A-Bike student for just $100. www.communitycycles.org
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participants (4)
-
Recycle Bicycle of Harrisburg, Pa -
Sarah McCullough -
Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE -
veganboyjosh＠gmail.com