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NewCollectiveMembers

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 1 month ago

Hello there, new or or prospective collective member! This page was created to try to simplify the process of becoming involved in Free Ride's Collective Council and to answer some questions you might have about how we're organized. This is just my (Stuart's) thoughts for now, and doesn't necessarily represent the thoughts of the whole collective.

 

Free Ride is an experiment in consensus based organization. For many of our members, Free Ride is the first such organization they've worked with. It can be a confusing and frustrating experience at first, but hopefully, in time, you'll be convinced that it's worth the extra effort.

 

We've got a page on the wiki, DecisionMakingProcess, that describes how the process works. It's probably a good idea to read that before coming to your first collective meeting. We are trying to create a decision making process that respects each member's opinion, and results in decisions that everyone supports, rather than creating a bitter, defeated minority. Just following the rules we establish for running our meetings isn't really enough to realize a consensus process - we depend on each participant working towards creating a group consensus, rather than pursuing individual goals or conflicts.

 

Some important things to keep in mind are:

  • If you realize you're talking significantly more or less than others, try to talk less or more so that others have space to contribute
  • Pay attention to your body language
  • Stay focused on the current point and how your contribution will help the group reach consensus
  • We keep a list (called 'the stack') to keep track of who wants to talk, if you want to talk, raise your hand. The facilitator will signal that they've seen your hand, and you can lower your hand at that point. You'll be called on to speak when your name is reached on the list.
  • When it's time to make a decision we use thumb signals to indicate our opinions. You can point your thumb in any direction, from full up ("I think this is a good idea"), through sideways ("I'm not sure this is a good idea"), to down ("I block this proposal. This is a bad idea, if approved it will hurt the collective"). If anyone chooses to block the decision is either discussed further, discarded, or postponed until a future meeting.
  • Free Ride meetings can be very long, up to four hours in some cases. If you need to get up, take a break, etc, feel free to do so at any time.
  • If you don't understand what's being talked about, please ask!

 

Free Ride's structure has changed as our project has grown. At our core is the general collective council, which meets monthly. In addition to the council, we currently have several committees with varying degrees of autonomy. Each committee has a specific responsibility (maintaining the physical shop space, media outreach, open shop, etc). Anyone is free to join any committee they are interested in. The committees report back to the general collective council every quarter. During these report backs committees discuss their plans for the upcoming quarter and solicit the council for guidance, new goals, or criticisms.

 

We also use liaisons to communicate with other organizations like Construction Junction, Bike Pittsburgh, or Steel City Biofuels. Liaisons communicate the consensus decisions of the group to these organizations and relay information back to the group, they are typically not empowered to make decisions without consulting the group as a whole. We try to rotate these positions every six months.

 

Take a peek at the FAQ and GuideLines pages for more useful information. We also have some Documentation of how different jobs are done, if you're interested.

 

If there's anything you can think of that should be here, please add it or let me know and I'll add it.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Stuart

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