What is LocalFiber – Part 5
Committees Move LocalFiber
In ‘What is LocalFiber – Part 4’ I described how we decided on our first community-based action towards identifying and solving our supply chain challenges. In this article I will briefly describe how we are moving forward.
Up until this moment LocalFiber has been run solely by me, and I’ve known for a while that it cannot continue to exist this way if it will continue to exist at all. The initiatives were a great opportunity to start getting others involved in the nuts-n-bolts of LocalFiber, a sink or swim moment.
Besides ‘Fiber-related classes for the public’ we have two other ‘business-related’ initiatives; the Conference, and the Steering Committee. The goal of the conference initiative is to organize the LocalFiber conference on July27th, and the goal of the steering initiative is to create a structure for LocalFiber to exist in perpetuity.
The Committees
Before the solution voting session (described in ‘What is LocalFiber – Part 4’) everyone was made aware that committees were in the near future. When the agenda for the solution voting quarterly meeting was distributed not only did it list ‘creating committees’ in the agenda minutes, but the email also included a mention of the committees and for everyone to be prepared to get more involved moving forward. This has also been a part of the discussion in general over the past few months, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone actively engaged in LocalFiber.
None-the-less, I was nervous, I knew this would be a make-or-break moment for LocalFiber. If no one wanted to take charge then LocalFiber would be no more, an organization like this cannot exist solely by the will of one person. So, once the solution ‘Fiber-related classes for the public’ was chosen, the moment arrived.
The room was previously set-up so that committees could easily sit together and work. There were three tables, one for each of the three initiatives. The presentation showed a slide that listed each initiative and the 2 expectations of their first meeting; a timeline and brainstorm. Before breaking into groups, I explained that this was voluntary, that while today each person will sit with a group, how involved you chose to be is up to you. Each table was labelled as a certain initiative and everyone was then asked to go to the table they were most interested in.
The Point Person
Once everyone was settled, I explained that each group will need to assign a point person, this person can change throughout the duration of the committee’s existence BUT the point person is crucial.
The point-person is basically the committee manager. They would schedule committee meetings, assign tasks, organize committee-related information, and share committee activity at the quarterly meetings. As the Managing Director I would schedule occasional check-ins with the point-person. The purpose of the check-ins is two-fold: 1) To get me up-to-date on committee activity and 2) to discuss any challenges that the point-person is facing.
Now that everyone was at the tables and point-people were chosen, discussion was lively and bustling. Ideas were being thrown around, possible directions discussed, and a faint resemblance of timelines created. Names and emails were collected so that committees could connect beyond the quarterly meeting. People were so involved in the conversation that the meeting continued much beyond our scheduled time.
It was happening, LocalFiber was happening!
What we’d do differently
- Give more direction to committees
- e. for 10 minutes brainstorm, then create timeline for initiative
- Be more explicit prior about point-person role
- Set point-person meetings with Managing Director prior to end of meeting
- Ask committees to set a monthly meeting date
Links to this series ‘Identifying and Addressing Community Supply Chain Challenges’:
What is LocalFiber Part 1 – Creating Community-Based Solutions
What is LocalFiber Part 2 – Identifying Needs
What is LocalFiber Part 3 – Creating Community-Driven Solutions
What is LocalFiber Part 4 – Choosing Our First Initiative
Dana
Dana M Havas, the Managing Director of LocalFiber, is also a graduate student of Applied Economics at Cornell University researching the fiber-to-textile supply chain.
