Paid Staff - Where to Begin
I am soliciting the advice of fellow cooperatives who currently employ paid staffers. Our organization has grown enough in it's 10 year history that we are prepared to bring on a part time paid staffer for the summer and fall months of next year. If there is anyone who would feel comfortable chatting with me either via a series of emailed questions or over the phone I would greatly appreciate it.
Our goals with a paid staffer are primarily to alleviate the task of some of the less enticing jobs from our volunteers, to set the stage for being open more hours, and to dedicate a resource to further develop fund-generating streams like eBay and Craigslist.
Feel free to reply with general commentary to the list or contact me privately to speak directly. I am open to any and all advice or criticism as our organization explores this next big step.
Thanks, Sam Bozeman Bike Kitchen (Montana, USA)
As the former temporary sole staff member at a bike coop, I think it's really important that you have clear and reasonable job expectations. Also, I would say it's really important that the person you hire has one specific supervisor. It can be extremely difficult to work for a group of volunteers. Hope that helps.
Feel free to email me with any specific questions.
Sam Den 03/12/2014 09.28 skrev "Sam Haraldson" sam@bozemanbikekitchen.org:
I am soliciting the advice of fellow cooperatives who currently employ paid staffers. Our organization has grown enough in it's 10 year history that we are prepared to bring on a part time paid staffer for the summer and fall months of next year. If there is anyone who would feel comfortable chatting with me either via a series of emailed questions or over the phone I would greatly appreciate it.
Our goals with a paid staffer are primarily to alleviate the task of some of the less enticing jobs from our volunteers, to set the stage for being open more hours, and to dedicate a resource to further develop fund-generating streams like eBay and Craigslist.
Feel free to reply with general commentary to the list or contact me privately to speak directly. I am open to any and all advice or criticism as our organization explores this next big step.
Thanks, Sam Bozeman Bike Kitchen (Montana, USA)
-- http://bozemanbikekitchen.org
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I agree with Sam. You want to hire your first employee because you probably have a [scale] problem and you think they are the solution.
The volunteers who run the shop have various expectations about running the shop. The poor schmucks who deal with the [lack of] accounting have various expectations about running the shop. The disgruntled volunteers that [sometimes] monitor the digital communication are ready to dump everything they are doing on the person who 'gets paid.' And the list of complaints goes on, especially if you have a [functional or dysfunctional] board of individuals with lots of ideas.
All of these expectations are good! They all have the secret sauce of keeping a coop / non-profit alive -- passion! The problem is when hiring your first employee people forget that things *did work* before, not perfectly, but enough to make it 10 years in your case. The other problem is that the sum of all these expectations [if left unmanaged] is literally a superman and/or superwoman capable of everything with the ability to bend time beyond 24 hours a day.
You can see where this is going...
So like Sam said, clearly define the specific goals the first employee is going to tackle. I would also add that before you hire the first employee you should outline the tasks that the second, third, forth and thirtieth employees will accomplish. That way everyone knows where their expectations sit in the hiring chain. This will of course change over time, but it is a great way to manage expectations, and make sure all the passion that has kept you organization running for 10 years feels heard and valued.
Good luck.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Morrison c: 801-688-0183
On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 8:34 AM, samuelchristianjensen@gmail.com wrote:
As the former temporary sole staff member at a bike coop, I think it's really important that you have clear and reasonable job expectations. Also, I would say it's really important that the person you hire has one specific supervisor. It can be extremely difficult to work for a group of volunteers. Hope that helps.
Feel free to email me with any specific questions.
Sam Den 03/12/2014 09.28 skrev "Sam Haraldson" sam@bozemanbikekitchen.org:
I am soliciting the advice of fellow cooperatives who currently employ paid staffers. Our organization has grown enough in it's 10 year history that we are prepared to bring on a part time paid staffer for the summer and fall months of next year. If there is anyone who would feel comfortable chatting with me either via a series of emailed questions or over the phone I would greatly appreciate it.
Our goals with a paid staffer are primarily to alleviate the task of some of the less enticing jobs from our volunteers, to set the stage for being open more hours, and to dedicate a resource to further develop fund-generating streams like eBay and Craigslist.
Feel free to reply with general commentary to the list or contact me privately to speak directly. I am open to any and all advice or criticism as our organization explores this next big step.
Thanks, Sam Bozeman Bike Kitchen (Montana, USA)
-- http://bozemanbikekitchen.org
The ThinkTank mailing List <a href=" http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org">Unsubscribe from this list</a>
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Not specific bike collective advice--this is based on my experience in "a bunch" of small nonprofit organizations that relied almost exclusively on volunteers. Unless you have a great volunteer who is in charge of (and loves doing) volunteer coordination, you may want to make that a significant part of the job. This would include scheduling volunteers, making sure volunteers show up, making sure volunteers feel appreciated, recruiting more volunteers, having that "difficult" conversation with the "problem" volunteer. The typical term for the position is "volunteer coordinator" but I like the term "community coordinator" much better.
sheldon
.............. Sheldon Mains SPOKES Bike Walk Connect www.SpokesConnect.org www.fb.com/SpokesConnect Minneapolis, MN 612/618-7149 Three ways to donate to SPOKES:
- Volunteer. 2. Donate repairable used bikes. 3. Financial donations
always welcome. Check www.SpokesConnect.org for details.
On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 9:34 AM, samuelchristianjensen@gmail.com wrote:
As the former temporary sole staff member at a bike coop, I think it's really important that you have clear and reasonable job expectations. Also, I would say it's really important that the person you hire has one specific supervisor. It can be extremely difficult to work for a group of volunteers. Hope that helps.
Feel free to email me with any specific questions.
Sam Den 03/12/2014 09.28 skrev "Sam Haraldson" sam@bozemanbikekitchen.org:
I am soliciting the advice of fellow cooperatives who currently employ paid staffers. Our organization has grown enough in it's 10 year history that we are prepared to bring on a part time paid staffer for the summer and fall months of next year. If there is anyone who would feel comfortable chatting with me either via a series of emailed questions or over the phone I would greatly appreciate it.
Our goals with a paid staffer are primarily to alleviate the task of some of the less enticing jobs from our volunteers, to set the stage for being open more hours, and to dedicate a resource to further develop fund-generating streams like eBay and Craigslist.
Feel free to reply with general commentary to the list or contact me privately to speak directly. I am open to any and all advice or criticism as our organization explores this next big step.
Thanks, Sam Bozeman Bike Kitchen (Montana, USA)
-- http://bozemanbikekitchen.org
The ThinkTank mailing List <a href=" http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org">Unsubscribe from this list</a>
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participants (4)
-
Jonathan Morrison -
Sam Haraldson -
samuelchristianjensen＠gmail.com -
sheldon mains