[hackerspaces] how to deal with tired staff, with hackespaces blues

Tue Jan 21 17:41:31 CET 2014

thaks Sam, you are right!

2014/1/21 Sam Ley <sam.ley at gmail.com>

> No matter how nicely people claim their own spaces run, there are always
> issues popping up that have to be dealt with. A hackerspace where every
> single member contributes equally is a bit of a unicorn - when dealing with
> humans patterns tend to evolve.
>
> I'm not "staff" at our space, but I am on the board, and the main lease,
> and insurance policies, etc. and do a lot of work for the space. We had a
> situation recently where the administrative work of the space had slowly
> collected into a very small group of people (instead of being distributed,
> as was the intent for a member-managed space). We also had a growing
> respect problem, people sniping on emails, talking behind each others
> backs, doing little things to intentionally bug other members, etc. Nothing
> outrageous, but enough to be really frustrating.
>
> We ended up calling for a group meeting (we don't have them that often),
> and had a bit of a "come to Jesus" talk. We started out by going around the
> circle and having everyone describe their favorite memory from the space
> (we only have 18-22 members at a time so this didn't take forever) which
> got people thinking about WHY they were involved at all.
>
> Then we laid out what tasks we weren't going to keep doing (who wants to
> do them?) and I just sort of spilled my guts on the personal respect issue
> and asked the open question "who thinks this is a good way for a group to
> run?". Fortunately our members are basically all good people who just got
> sloppy, and everyone committed to trying harder.
>
> This was a few months ago, and now things are mostly better. People are
> taking on new responsibilities, there are still personality conflicts but
> they are mostly getting dealt with head-on now rather than manifesting in
> passive-aggressive behavior.
>
> People are people, and it is important to continue to set the
> expectations. It is amazing how much peoples behavior will change depending
> on the initial expectations - why do people bus their own tables at
> quick-serve restaurants, but don't even think about doing it at a fancy
> restaurant? There aren't "people who clean up after themselves" and "people
> who don't", just "people who respond to the subtle cues and expectations
> put on them".
>
> Consider having a come to jesus meeting.
> Consider having a more specific "new member" orientation process.
> Stop doing some things for people - ask that someone new take on the
> responsibility.
> Get people to agree on something, or make some commitment for improvement.
> Be honest - people probably don't want to make you frustrated, they just
> aren't thinking about it.
>
> -Sam
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 8:47 AM, Joshua Pritt <ramgarden at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> We have cameras everywhere so if someone was seen using a tool or machine
>> last and broke it they would need to pay for it to fix or replace it.  Or
>> help try to fix it.
>> Some of the more expensive tools that actually belong to a member but is
>> left at the space for everyone to use has a strict, "if you break it you
>> buy two" policy!
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 10:39 AM, Florencia Edwards <floev22 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> thanks guys this is good advice!
>>>
>>>
>>> 2014/1/21 dosman <dosman at packetsniffers.org>
>>>
>>>> If the space is not "owned" by the members then it's going to be
>>>> treated like a pay-for workshop service since that is what you are
>>>> providing. There's nothing wrong with that, but it sounds like you need to
>>>> charge more and pay your staff more if they are getting burned out. If you
>>>> want the users to start cleaning up more then have your staff start
>>>> enforcing cleanup by users. You could also reduce your open hours to reduce
>>>> the burden on your staff. Yea none of these things are pleasant for the
>>>> users but again, they are really customers, not members in this scenario.
>>>>
>>>> On the other hand, if you want the members to take more ownership in
>>>> the space then you need to include them more. Start by kicking out any
>>>> jackasses breaking shit if that's what it takes to build trust. Your
>>>> community is small, someone knows who is causing the problems. Then get the
>>>> members back with keyed access. Also like others have said, have some
>>>> meetings with your member base, communicate that the core group is getting
>>>> tired and that some folks need to step up and help or possibly transition
>>>> into leadership roles. There may be people interested who have held back
>>>> because current leadership has been closely guarded or has been doing a
>>>> good job on the surface.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Jan 21, 2014, at 9:06 AM, Florencia Edwards wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > It's a different culture here. We have people in charge of
>>>> coordinating workshops, of putting in a spreadsheet who are attending,
>>>> another preson in charge of buying workshop materials, a person a in charge
>>>> of the community to make blogposts, and general posts informing workshops
>>>> and memberships to people out there who aren't member  and coordinating the
>>>> general forum. A person in charge of content layout. This is the staff. The
>>>> members are just doing their own projects, they don't have time for doing
>>>> stuff for the makerspece. Where I live, people are not even used to wash
>>>> their own dishes, we wash a lot for them
>>>> >
>>>> > And since rent is not cheap, we can't make memberships free or just a
>>>> "donate what you can"  thing
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > 2014/1/21 Joshua Pritt <ramgarden at gmail.com>
>>>> > What kind of work are you doing?  I've always thought of a
>>>> hackerspace as a bunch of volunteers anyway. If anyone sees the trash can
>>>> overflowing just take it out. If you see a giant pile of dirt or something
>>>> on the floor sweep it up.  Then once a month or every third month hold a
>>>> clean up day on a Saturday and everyone pitches in on a pizza and soda. The
>>>> other bit of work would be running the space which is usually handled by
>>>> the treasurer and president and secretary and facilities committee. These
>>>> positions are elected by the members every quarter or semi annually.  This
>>>> way someone who doesn't want to our doesn't have the time to run the place
>>>> can let someone else do it. Of course there has to be someone to nominate
>>>> themselves for each position and they know they are doing it for free so
>>>> they have to really want to see the space continue to grow and thrive. I'm
>>>> not sure how that would work if everyone has this survivor attitude...
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > On Jan 21, 2014 8:45 AM, "Florencia Edwards" <floev22 at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Dear hackerspaces, how do you deal with a tired staff. I'm one of
>>>> them, it seems like we work work work, and every day there are less
>>>> members, less people willing to give something back to the space and  we
>>>> get the feeling that the majority just wants to take and doesn't share ,
>>>> wants discounts, and  to get  free materials but they never give anything
>>>> to anyone. There are  people that think we are millionaires and want to
>>>> take part of the cut any way they can.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Here where we are from people don't trust each other, they are like
>>>> survivors, try to get what they need and than they escape.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > And in fact, we are losing money every month. As staff we are badly
>>>> paid, we are more sort of  volunteers, we can't get through the month with
>>>> what we win. I work here at the space full time, than i get home and i keep
>>>> working , I can't afford lunch anymore . We can sense that the whole staff
>>>> is tired and in a bad mood, and the more time it passes it's worse. And I
>>>> wish I could see more people happy with this, changing, wanting to share,
>>>> wanting to make a community... But sometimes it feels like a illusion
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Any advice, or just share our pain hehe, we should make
>>>> hackerspaces blues.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > _______________________________________________
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>>>> > >
>>>> >
>>>> >
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>>>
>>>
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>>
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