Thanks Alex! On Monday, November 30, 2015 at 11:08:26 AM UTC-5, Alex Hillman wrote: > > Just like within the community, trust is key. I ended up hiring someone > who I'd known for a few years already, who I'd observed organize events and > other projects. > > This is a little bit different from hiring someone who knows they want to > be a community manager, or hangs out in community manager circles - and I'd > argue gives us much much better results. Hiring someone you already know > even a LITTLE bit gaves us a HUGE running start in working together. At the > same time, I know that it's not always (or often) possible. But I usually > suggest that people scour their existing communities and relationships > before hiring someone they're just getting to know - it puts you at a huge > advantage. > > This also leads to the second thing that I've learned in hiring for > communities, the qualities that I look for: > > - the person needs to want to be a *member* of the community, but > perhaps doesn't have the means or a "reason" to. > - the person is *curious* about other people, and curious how things > work instead of having a lot of their own assumptions about how things are > supposed to work. > - the person has *goals that the community can help them achieve* - > personally or professionally. > > Almost everything else is trainable, from technical skills to > communication skills. But those things...you can't train someone for. > > In the case of Dana (our first hire), she was about to graduate from > college with an MFA. She said to me, almost literally, "I don't know what > the hell I'm going to do with this MFA. I wish there was a job where I > could just be at Indy Hall and figure out how to support myself". > > I asked her, if she *could* do that, what would it need to look like. And > together, we designed her job. Sound familiar? :) > > *This, by the way, is how you build that ownership, just like you do with > members. Every new person I've hired since has gone through the same > process of making the job their own. Their first job is to figure out the > job, ask a lot of questions, and learn how we make decisions. What they do > beyond that is more of a coaching experience than a management experience - > helping them find, set, and achieve goals both for the community and for > themselves.* > > Realize that an employee is probably the only person in your community who > *needs* *to be at the space*, and that's a liability. I've dealt with > this by focusing so much on that individual's goals as a part of the job > expectations. A good employee needs to be getting more out of the job than > a paycheck, just like members need to be getting more out of their > membership than a desk. > > Because so much of our community actively participates, there wasn't quite > 40 hours a week worth of "operations" work needed. So with the rest of her > time I encouraged Dana to explore, learn, try things...and figure out how > she would support herself long term as a member rather than staff. > > Part of how we did that with Dana, was that I personally invested a > portion (about half) of her salary into the business and made it clear that > there was a finite amount of time that the money would be available. > > Her goal was to not need that income by the end of the year, and to be > able to supplement the Indy Hall portion herself. If things went well, > she'd have MORE than replaced my supplement, and would be asking for me to > look for her replacement. > > Which is exactly what happened, and is exactly the process that we've > repeated now for 7-8 generations of "staff". They get a 1 year runway > (though it's artificially imposed now), and at the end of that year, their > goal is to be at a member desk instead of a staff desk. > > This model has morphed each year, as we've added more team members and > some have ended up staying involved in other, more advanced ways. > > I've found that in a lot of coworking spaces, they have a hard time hiring > *great* people because the best people are likely to want to do their own > thing. I think that there's a ton of value in *hiring people who want to > do their own thing but don't know what it is yet*, and building their > "exit" into the hiring model from the start. If they choose to stick around > at the end of that period, that's great (so long as the reasons are right, > and not just because they're comfortable). But putting the "time bomb" on > the job makes it easier for a different kind of person to feel comfortable > taking on such an open-ended position. > > Basically, the same things you need to do with your community you'll do > with your first hired gun: Alignment of ambition. Layers of participation > and leadership. And above all, communication communication communication. > > -Alex > > > ------------------ > *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* > Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com > Listen to the podcast: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/podcast > > On Sat, Nov 28, 2015 at 7:09 PM, <[email protected] <javascript:>> > wrote: > >> Wow. >> >> Its been two years of fits and starts, landlords, real estate brokers, >> money gone, money found, planning, envisioning, taking bids, negotiating, >> negotiating, and negotiating, architects, engineers, designers, IT people, >> and so on... >> >> So even getting to this stage has taken some blood sweat and tears, and >> yes... I'm still excited to build a community of creators, innovators and >> collaborators! >> >> One key person from the beginning I knew I wanted onboard is a fantastic >> Community Manager. >> >> It sounds crazy to me but, this is starting to be more difficult than >> finding the contractor (an that was not easy!) >> >> So would anyone have any pointers, advice, a website or meetup group to >> suggest where Community Managers go or hangout? Because after the salary, >> (what I can afford) and resume... Meeting this person will be key for my. >> >> If anyone has any guidance it would be greatly appreciated! >> >> Shane Barbanel >> Founder >> CoLab-Factory >> 14-16 Dekalb Ave >> Brooklyn NY 11201 >> >> -- >> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected] <javascript:>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > >
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