Internal Communication methods
Fran Ellis
Public
Seen by 112
Hello, I'm Fran, I'm co-leading Arts this year, which involves general oversight of all things art grants, centre camp (the Point), programmes, wristbands, decor and temple/effigy. I'm starting this discussion as I'm also a macro lead and comms lead for Microburn and involved in various community-safety areas of the Borderland, and feel there are some simple ways we at Nest could increase transparency and opportunities for co-creation and also address recent discussions on centralisation vs. decentralisation. Whilst we are obviously not going to overhaul our internal comms methods before this year's event, (getting the show on the road is priority!) I think it's worthwhile to start the conversation anyway.
Current Internal Comms:
For those that aren't aware, the planning of Nest happens mostly via Asana (a project management platform), online meetings (of leads), community meetings (of anyone), email, Google Drive, sometimes Facebook and of course more recently Loomio.
Add any more methods if I've missed them!
Challenges:
Whilst Asana is a highly organised tool of keeping all discussions, tasks, documents etc. in one place, and retaining knowledge for the following year, it means that only those Nestlings that have volunteered for lead roles are able to see how the event is organised and what tasks need doing. And whilst emails may reduce noise on the main comms channels, it means knowledge is retained only by those party to the exchange. In my opinion, that the majority of the Nest community are unable to see how the event is organised adds to the general feeling that it all happens 'behind closed doors'. It may also negatively impact recruitment and on-boarding: if people are able to see how the event is organised, maybe they'd be more inclined to take tasks/roles on themselves in the future. It's easy to say 'anyone can get involved by taking on a lead role', but many may be hesitant to take a leadership role if they have limited understanding of what that involves. This may add to the usual suspects leading the thing year on year and eventually becoming burnt out.
Suggestions:
For the reasons mentioned above, I think it would be beneficial to open up so-called 'internal' communications to the wider community. If everyone is a co-creator, everyone should be able to see how this thing is co-created.
How?
That's up to us! Could we open up Asana to the wider Nest community? Could we move all planning to Loomio? Could we invite anyone to planning meetings, if we can get past the 10-person Hangouts limit? Some small adjustments to our internal/digital comms could have a hugely positive impact on community cohesion.
Some inspiration:
-At Microburn all planning happens on Slack, where all channels are open for everyone to observe or participate in (including the coreleads channel). This is excluding art grants, low-income applications, conflict resolution and the like, which involve confidential info and are therefore private channels to the people working in that area each year.
-Anyone can attend MB planning meetings, you don't have to be a lead. They are always recorded and left on YouTube and minutes are in the publicly accessible MB Google folder for anyone to read.
-For both MB and BL, conversations and discussions happen on threads either on Slack or Talk (Loomio). This means knowledge is accessible by the whole community and is retained, to be referred back to in subsequent years by new people.
-BL is highly decentralised, which wouldn't necessarily work for Nest and is a gradual process, not something that can happen overnight. But for inspiration, check out the Realities platform. Anyone can add a necessary task to Realities, and anyone can pick tasks up. Kiez Burn in Germany are also using this system, and Burnerot in Israel is using something similar called Doocrat.
Excited to hear people's ideas and opinions on this <3
Lozmatron Sun 12 May 2019 8:54AM
It sounds to me like there is a separate issue being touched upon here (which perhaps warrants a separate thread/discussion to keep things clear) about the boundaries around the core team members’ scope for autonomy, and which decisions require community consultation.
For example, I don’t think logistically it’s sensible to consult with the community around which insurance policy we take out if we have someone experienced who knows what we need, what makes the event ethical, safe, legally compliant etc. It slows a process which is time sensitive and fairly black and white.
I know the event has a Master Operational plan which outlines core team duties. Could this be shared in a separate thread for discussion/ feedback from the community?
Lexy Thu 9 May 2019 9:13PM
I agree in principle that Nest organisation could and should be made more open and transparent.
I don't see any reason why we can't have everything on Asana open to everyone who is on Asana, and adding anyone who specifically wants to be added. Most won't want to, but I have no issues with full transparency, and open meetings as MicroBurn does.
If there are specific sensitive issues that require confidentiality (such as discussing an individual) then this can be in person, on phone or via email to specific person / people. But this is few and far between and for 99% of discussions can be open, so this could be the default.
J Sun 12 May 2019 8:53AM
+1 for @lexyp 's comment.
Siren Mon 13 May 2019 11:38AM
HI all, we're having another discussion on managing social media channels and in particular challenging behaviour on a different thread. It's been SO valuable and considerate and respectful and the suggestions and contributions have been brilliant and providing us with a super way forward. There are already strategic changes i would like to make for next year, even before these discussions started happening, and they are very aligned to some of the feedback and discussion points we've had on loomio so far.
If people are happy for me to, i would like to capture some of this Internal Comms piece within the wider Comms strategy and the Social Media management piece into one big proposal about Knowledge Sharing, Transparency and Communications for us all as a consultation group to then take to the Nest Community Meeting on the saturday for discussion.
I'll make sure to tag you all in the proposal so that you can add further thoughts and options so that we have plenty to go with. Please let me know what you think. :slight_smile:
@franellis @lexyp @pauliophario @whothefkisjason @tomallen4 @ionasteen
Tom Allen Wed 19 Jun 2019 8:14PM
can i ask why this didn't happen in the end? genuinely interested in the real reason
Lozmatron Wed 19 Jun 2019 8:50PM
Probably because Nest was happening, and people are re-gathering their spoons... at a guess...
Fran Ellis Thu 20 Jun 2019 10:21AM
yeah sorry that I stopped commenting here actually, after making the initial post - I was thinking more on all the good ideas and suggestions posted, having an excellent week with everyone and of course catching up on life afterwards, as Lozmatron guessed! Lozmatron also right that there are two topics - the modifying how we communicate for planning essentially being a route to a more decentralised organisational model, I now realise, and this isn’t necessarily what this community wants. So now some of us are discussing and working on a proposal for an alternative specific to the Nest community. If it’s something people are interested in then cool, if not, i would suggest simply enjoying Nest for all its magic and going to be decentralised somewhere else... that’s what I will be doing anyway 😊
Fran Ellis Thu 20 Jun 2019 10:23AM
Will edit the context of original post later including all the new ideas and suggestions posted by others - unless someone else can be bothered to do it before me then please go ahead 🙌
Paul Phare Thu 20 Jun 2019 11:46AM
I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater Fran. Myself and others who have been part of the core team are aware of and see need for decentralisation of how the event is organised. The problem I see is a demand from certain quarters that we do it now and a certain amount of finger wagging for not having done it already. Steps can be taken in that direction and I've seen proposals that seem measured and practical to implement. As I'm helping to wrap things up for this year I would love to see some of these implemented in 2020. Let's keep the discussions open and hopefully those who appear angry with us will see that their concerns are being listened to.
Paul
07775705374
Paul Phare · Wed 1 May 2019 8:18AM
It was a genuine offer to join the core team and to come along to the event we have planned at Nest. We won’t be able to make any changes to the structure or the way we do things in any short period of time but you are welcome to continue making suggestions on Loomio in the meantime.