full-timers/directors/project coordinators: how's the job treating you?
since taking on directing sopo full time, i've come to find that this job is all kinds of intense. wonderful, but exhausting. i'm wondering.. how much if it is me and how much of it is this job? is it unique to community bike shops, or is it like this for other kinds of organizations? or is it more about the organization being a start-up? for the folks in a similar position: what's your day like? hanging in there?
thanks! rachael
Very busy, very exciting, lots of good opportunities to develop stuff and fascinating people to work with. Ive been doing this for 4 years now and cant imagine it any other way.
I think its the same in other organizations related to community enterprise because we tend to believe in what we do and therefore really invest ourselves in our dreams working.
And hiring staff will not make you have less of a workload, quiter the contrary in my experience.
richard
De : thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org [mailto:thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org] De la part de rachael spiewak Envoyé : 20 novembre 2007 09:32 À : The Think Tank Objet : [TheThinkTank] full-timers/directors/project coordinators: how'sthe job treating you?
since taking on directing sopo full time, i've come to find that this job is all kinds of intense. wonderful, but exhausting. i'm wondering.. how much if it is me and how much of it is this job? is it unique to community bike shops, or is it like this for other kinds of organizations? or is it more about the organization being a start-up? for the folks in a similar position: what's your day like? hanging in there?
thanks! rachael
Friends,
While you might not be able to "imagine it any other way" many of your comrades in the bicycle community can and do. Perhaps consider a collective form of organizing where responsibilities, anxieties, and rewards are shared equally. Taking the role of "director" and weeping over your martyrdom is not an attractive quality. Hierarchy is not our friend, whether it rides a bike or drives a car.
Adam (Chicago)
On Nov 20, 2007 10:06 AM, R. Dugas/Vélogik/Carrefour jeunesse emploi Saint-Laurent velogik1@cjestlaurent.org wrote:
Very busy, very exciting, lots of good opportunities to develop stuff and fascinating people to work with. I've been doing this for 4 years now and can't imagine it any other way.
I think it's the same in other organizations related to community enterprise because we tend to believe in what we do and therefore really invest ourselves in our dreams working.
And hiring staff will not make you have less of a workload, quiter the contrary in my experience.
richard
De : thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org [mailto:thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org] De la part de rachael spiewak Envoyé : 20 novembre 2007 09:32 À : The Think Tank Objet : [TheThinkTank] full-timers/directors/project coordinators: how'sthe job treating you?
since taking on directing sopo full time, i've come to find that this job is all kinds of intense. wonderful, but exhausting. i'm wondering.. how much if it is me and how much of it is this job? is it unique to community bike shops, or is it like this for other kinds of organizations? or is it more about the organization being a start-up? for the folks in a similar position: what's your day like? hanging in there?
thanks! rachael _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Our initiative has taken on an egalitarian approach yet informal power structures still develop which lead to some people carrying more of the burden than others. Mainly this process is a function of member activity, those who are more active carry more of the load. Although this is not an egalitarian result, it is an equitable one. So far it has been working and moral is high. That being said we are still a new initiative and have not had to combat the problems that arise with longevity. I would be interested to here from those in similar organizational structures about their experience with issues surounding informal power structures as well as potential solutions or preventative measures. Also it is hard to ignore the benefits of having a director or coordinator, how would you suggest disseminating this role among a collective?
Cheers, Lance Calgary, Alberta
On Nov 21, 2007 3:15 PM, Adam Weber adamlweber@gmail.com wrote:
Friends,
While you might not be able to "imagine it any other way" many of your comrades in the bicycle community can and do. Perhaps consider a collective form of organizing where responsibilities, anxieties, and rewards are shared equally. Taking the role of "director" and weeping over your martyrdom is not an attractive quality. Hierarchy is not our friend, whether it rides a bike or drives a car.
Adam (Chicago)
On Nov 20, 2007 10:06 AM, R. Dugas/Vélogik/Carrefour jeunesse emploi
Saint-Laurent velogik1@cjestlaurent.org wrote:
Very busy, very exciting, lots of good opportunities to develop stuff and fascinating people to work with. I've been doing this for 4 years now and can't imagine it any other way.
I think it's the same in other organizations related to community enterprise because we tend to believe in what we do and therefore really invest ourselves in our dreams working.
And hiring staff will not make you have less of a workload, quiter the contrary in my experience.
richard
De : thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org [mailto:thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org] De la part de rachael spiewak Envoyé : 20 novembre 2007 09:32 À : The Think Tank Objet : [TheThinkTank] full-timers/directors/project coordinators: how'sthe job treating you?
since taking on directing sopo full time, i've come to find that this job is all kinds of intense. wonderful, but exhausting. i'm wondering.. how much if it is me and how much of it is this job? is it unique to community bike shops, or is it like this for other kinds of organizations? or is it more about the organization being a start-up? for the folks in a similar position: what's your day like? hanging in there?
thanks! rachael _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
if you want to talk about hierarchy and power structure, you have to recognize that a director of a non-profit is an employee of the co-op. therefore, i and the other organizers of the co-op are the director's boss.
but thinking about it that way is silly. making "more left than thou" judgments about it is immature. i do "consider a collective form of organizing where responsibilities, anxieties, and rewards are shared equally". but, until the revolution i have to consider a world where i have to pay bills. for atlanta, or any city, to have an affective bike co-op, a lot of work has to be done. we tried to have a handful of people do all the work in spare time. that does not work. it became clear that managing a bike co-op is, at the bare minimum, one full-time job. with all of us lacking a trust-fund, we had to figure out how to support someone to carry the load.
oddly enough, since we made that move, our co-op has secured grants, increased open hours for the community and, god forbid, increased revenue.
what are we going to do with all the money we're bringing in? well, we are going to further and broaden our mission to create equitable access to cycling by providing affordable bicycle maintenance services and education.
making this work has meant paying someone to work full time. if it has created a hierarchy, the director is on the bottom. as a member of the co-op, she is equal to other organizers. before hiring her, we would talk about what we wanted to do, achieve consensus and then... things would happen very slowly. NOW when we decide something, it happens quickly because it is someone's full-time job to MAKE it happen. so guess what? atlanta has a kick-ass bike co-op. it's one thing to talk about left-wing theory, it's a bigger thing to put put the theory into practice.
On Nov 21, 2007 6:20 PM, lance ayer lanceayer@gmail.com wrote:
Our initiative has taken on an egalitarian approach yet informal power structures still develop which lead to some people carrying more of the burden than others. Mainly this process is a function of member activity, those who are more active carry more of the load. Although this is not an egalitarian result, it is an equitable one. So far it has been working and moral is high. That being said we are still a new initiative and have not had to combat the problems that arise with longevity. I would be interested to here from those in similar organizational structures about their experience with issues surounding informal power structures as well as potential solutions or preventative measures. Also it is hard to ignore the benefits of having a director or coordinator, how would you suggest disseminating this role among a collective?
Cheers, Lance Calgary, Alberta
On Nov 21, 2007 3:15 PM, Adam Weber adamlweber@gmail.com wrote:
Friends,
While you might not be able to "imagine it any other way" many of your comrades in the bicycle community can and do. Perhaps consider a collective form of organizing where responsibilities, anxieties, and rewards are shared equally. Taking the role of "director" and weeping over your martyrdom is not an attractive quality. Hierarchy is not our friend, whether it rides a bike or drives a car.
Adam (Chicago)
On Nov 20, 2007 10:06 AM, R. Dugas/Vélogik/Carrefour jeunesse emploi
Saint-Laurent velogik1@cjestlaurent.org wrote:
Very busy, very exciting, lots of good opportunities to develop stuff and fascinating people to work with. I've been doing this for 4 years now and can't imagine it any other way.
I think it's the same in other organizations related to community enterprise because we tend to believe in what we do and therefore really invest ourselves in our dreams working.
And hiring staff will not make you have less of a workload, quiter the contrary in my experience.
richard
De : thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org [mailto:thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org] De la part de rachael spiewak Envoyé : 20 novembre 2007 09:32 À : The Think Tank Objet : [TheThinkTank] full-timers/directors/project coordinators: how'sthe job treating you?
since taking on directing sopo full time, i've come to find that this job is all kinds of intense. wonderful, but exhausting. i'm wondering.. how much if it is me and how much of it is this job? is it unique to community bike shops, or is it like this for other kinds of organizations? or is it more about the organization being a start-up? for the folks in a similar position: what's your day like? hanging in there?
thanks! rachael _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
To the folks that say "no hierarchy!" all I can say is Good Luck as
you try to get others to pull their weight. Pretty well ever
situation I've ever been involved with that tried to be egalitarian
(and that includes many years of working in professional music
groups) ends up with a few people doing most of the work, while many
coast along thinking how great and easy it is to be part of the
thing. And funnily enough, the ones that contribute the least are
often the ones that make the most noise when things aren't going the
way they like (and those things may not be going they way the like
because they won't attend the meetings, and even profess that they
don't read all the group's emails to keep themselves informed). Our
group is lucky, in that we only seem to have one of these types, and
everyone else seems to contribute as much as they are able.
I ended up in my position at re-Cycles many years ago because there
was a lot of stuff that needed doing as we grew, and no one was
making it happen. The founder of the group had gone on sabbatical
from his day job (and from us), and since I had already been
organizing our physical shop space I took on what he had been doing
(he came back and just volunteered as a mechanic, leaving me in my
position). I'd see something and suggest to the group and no one
would take things on. So I would do it because it had to get done.
For a few years I was even taking our metal scrap to the recyclers,
and taking home the sink towels so that they'd get washed!
(Fortunately others took these above items on as I said I'd drop them.)
I really like what I do (most times), and I think every place like
ours needs someone that will be the group's representative (at the
best of times) and the metaphorical clean-up person (at worst of
times). Watch when something big and perhaps non-fun comes along,
and how many others go silent when asked "can we all deal with
this?". Well, real life often dictates what actions need take
place, and if everyone steps away then things can start to fall apart.
And I'll be the first to acknowledge that most folks simply do not
have the time, let alone the variables of personal inclination, to
contribute to what's needed for most volunteer-run NGO's. I'm lucky
because I do not have a 9-5 job, though keeping our place organized
takes enough of my time that 2 years ago I asked for (and received) a
monthly honourarium. We have a great bunch of people in our core
group, and most have been with us for over five years (one has been
since our start in '98!). I think it's fabulous that these different
people continue to believe in and contribute to make our shop
happen. Some have had to cut back their time, but I know they still
believe in the cause.
Next year I enter my 8th year with re-Cycles, and 7th as its
Director, and it has been a great experience.
Mark http://re-cycles.ca
On 21-Nov-07, at 7:10 PM, Jay Varner wrote:
if you want to talk about hierarchy and power structure, you have to recognize that a director of a non-profit is an employee of the co-op. therefore, i and the other organizers of the co-op are the director's boss.
but thinking about it that way is silly. making "more left than thou" judgments about it is immature. i do "consider a collective form of organizing where responsibilities, anxieties, and rewards are shared equally". but, until the revolution i have to consider a world where i have to pay bills. for atlanta, or any city, to have an affective bike co-op, a lot of work has to be done. we tried to have a handful of people do all the work in spare time. that does not work. it became clear that managing a bike co-op is, at the bare minimum, one full-time job. with all of us lacking a trust-fund, we had to figure out how to support someone to carry the load.
oddly enough, since we made that move, our co-op has secured grants, increased open hours for the community and, god forbid, increased revenue.
what are we going to do with all the money we're bringing in? well, we are going to further and broaden our mission to create equitable access to cycling by providing affordable bicycle maintenance services and education.
making this work has meant paying someone to work full time. if it has created a hierarchy, the director is on the bottom. as a member of the co-op, she is equal to other organizers. before hiring her, we would talk about what we wanted to do, achieve consensus and then... things would happen very slowly. NOW when we decide something, it happens quickly because it is someone's full-time job to MAKE it happen. so guess what? atlanta has a kick-ass bike co-op. it's one thing to talk about left-wing theory, it's a bigger thing to put put the theory into practice.
On Nov 21, 2007 6:20 PM, lance ayer lanceayer@gmail.com wrote:
Our initiative has taken on an egalitarian approach yet informal
power structures still develop which lead to some people carrying more of the burden than others. Mainly this process is a function of member activity, those who are more active carry more of the load. Although this is not an egalitarian result, it is an equitable one. So far it has been working and moral is high. That being said we are still a
new initiative and have not had to combat the problems that arise with longevity. I would be interested to here from those in similar organizational structures about their experience with issues surounding informal power structures as well as potential solutions or preventative measures. Also it is hard to ignore the benefits of having a director or coordinator, how would you suggest disseminating this role among a collective?Cheers, Lance Calgary, Alberta
On Nov 21, 2007 3:15 PM, Adam Weber adamlweber@gmail.com wrote:
Friends,
While you might not be able to "imagine it any other way" many of
your comrades in the bicycle community can and do. Perhaps consider a collective form of organizing where responsibilities, anxieties, and rewards are shared equally. Taking the role of "director" and
weeping over your martyrdom is not an attractive quality. Hierarchy is
not our friend, whether it rides a bike or drives a car.Adam (Chicago)
On Nov 20, 2007 10:06 AM, R. Dugas/Vélogik/Carrefour jeunesse
emploiSaint-Laurent velogik1@cjestlaurent.org wrote:
Very busy, very exciting, lots of good opportunities to develop
stuff and fascinating people to work with. I've been doing this for 4
years now and can't imagine it any other way.I think it's the same in other organizations related to
community enterprise because we tend to believe in what we do and therefore really
invest ourselves in our dreams working.And hiring staff will not make you have less of a workload,
quiter the contrary in my experience.richard
De : thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org [mailto:thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org] De la part de
rachael spiewak Envoyé : 20 novembre 2007 09:32 À : The Think Tank Objet : [TheThinkTank] full-timers/directors/project
coordinators: how'sthe job treating you?since taking on directing sopo full time, i've come to find that
this job is all kinds of intense. wonderful, but exhausting. i'm
wondering.. how much if it is me and how much of it is this job? is it unique to
community bike shops, or is it like this for other kinds of organizations? or
is it more about the organization being a start-up? for the folks in a
similar position: what's your day like? hanging in there?thanks! rachael _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank- bikecollectives.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank- bikecollectives.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank- bikecollectives.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank- bikecollectives.org
lance ayer wrote:
how would you suggest disseminating this role among a collective?
At the Bike Dump in Winnipeg we have six subcommittees:
- Volunteer coordination (includes volunteer appreciation and some
other stuff...) 2. Triage (sorting the good from the bad, in terms of bikes & parts, keeping shit organized, calling people who haven't worked on their bikes in a month) 3. Space (fixing stuff when it breaks, electrical, plumbing, doors, making stuff look nice, & signs, etc.) 4. Outreach (includes soliciting and receiving donations, liaising with other groups in the community) 5. Workshops 6. Finances (bookkeeping, paying rent, fundraising)
The committee system has been used off and on. We try to have people rotate committees often enough so that power isn't entrenched, but not so often they don't get a chance to figure out what the hell they're doing. Committees often rotate tasks within the sub-group, but it's up to each of them how they want to organize themselves.
It also makes general meetings speedier: most of it is quick report-backs from each committee.
One concern can be that when people are on too many committees (in my estimation this usually means more than one) they aren't focussed enough and can't get stuff done as well. To each their own, though!
macho http://bike-dump.ca
I think there is merit and downfalls to both hierarchy and communal structures. All "successful" organizations will find a healthy compromise between the two as they grow and learn, the rest will stagnate and/or disappear.
That being said, I would like to answer Rachael's original question...
"Live in the moment and give what you can for as long as you can, and then get out before the organization and/or you start to suffer."
I serve more than what is considered full time, and I do it because I love the organization, the mission, the volunteers, the potential, and the people we serve. Above all I consider myself a servant of the mission and the organization, I am there to help it succeed and help those that need our services.
I was given a gift by being able to do this full-time and that is in the back of my mind everyday I go to work. I can only hope that as an organization we can provide similar jobs for others with a desire to dedicate themselves to this unique blend of community outreach and bicycle advocacy. While I have energy, I know I won't be able to keep this pace up forever. Right now there are more administrative things that need to be done than their are people, so I pick up that slack and take the blame is something isn't satisfactory. (Why is it the loudest critics are the ones with the smallest piece of the bigger picture?)
As we create more jobs, my job will change but for the better of the organization -- less hours, more responsibility. Hopefully I can grow and change with the position or at least have the forsight to know when someone else would do the job better.
One interesting thing is that I don't ride as much, there are a couple volunteers that jokingly claim I don't know how. I still love to, but to keep sane I need time away from bicycles. So I have hobbies and other side projects for balance. I wrench on cars (OMG!), motorcycles, the house, programming projects, watch netflix with my wife Joe and our three cats, go to the park and play fetch with our dog Apollo. That balance is what keeps me going, without it I think I would burn out. Over half a decade and still going strong.
participants (8)
-
Adam Weber -
Jay Varner -
Jonathan Morrison -
lance ayer -
Macho Philipovich -
Mark Rehder -
R. Dugas/Vélogik/Carrefour jeunesse emploi Saint-Laurent -
rachael spiewak