Feb/Mar 2012 Planning Committee Reflections

Planning group members for the Staff Inservice taking place February 21, February 28, March 6, and March 13 of 2012, were Amelia, Vagrant, and Paul. Their reflections from this event are listed below, along with a list of recommendations to the planning committees of future Inservices and All-Staff meetings.

Communication with the board
At their meeting on March 14, the board debriefed the in-service, went over narrative statement, expressed concerns with budget implications of closing for 4 days and paying staff during that time. The board discussed monthly in-services going forward; no formal approval decision was made but they basically said "make it happen." The next step is to work out a concrete plan with budgetary considerations, specific hours of closure and/or staff overtime. Present this to the board and move forward.

All-Staff Meeting Times

 * We discussed various options for timing all-staff meetings: settled on closing Free Geek 1 hour early and going 1 hour late, netting a 2-hour meeting. This approach is minimally disruptive to the regular work day, our busiest Thrift Store hours as well as staff members' personal schedules.


 * Other Timing Issues: The timing of this winter's Inservice was difficult for the planning committee due to weekends occurring directly before each Inservice day. Saturdays were the last day to plan things, and the use of that time was compromised due to committee members' schedules. We still think it might be good to hold these meetings at or near the beginning of the week (sets a good tone for the week ahead.) Also if overtime is needed for In-Service efforts, extra sub hours may also be needed and should also be approved, as well as making sure that staff are available to do overtime (beyond just approving the expense.)

Agenda Planning
Planning for working group meetings was compromised by lack of time to meet with presenters of those topics and/or designate people to lead the discussion. We need to clearly outline the goals of the discussion ahead of time and articulate that to participants. Assigning one or two staff as the parties responsible for facilitating, scribing and presenting will make these meetings much more effective.

Time spent
Amelia put in 4-5 hrs./week for 6 consecutive weeks, during and before the In-Service meetings. Amelia, Paul and Vagrant had about 6 hrs. of meetings together and 3.5 more hrs. of prep/follow-up work with Tasha. Vagrant and Paul each put in about 3 hrs. of prep work. This doesn't include the In-services themselves or time Amelia and Paul spent preparing for their respective trainings. Mark also helped schedule (#Amelia will ask him for hrs. estimate. We also should find out how much time trainers spent preparing lesson plans.)

Minutes
We're still missing some to get on the wiki. #Amelia will draft up schedule of trainings/working groups and minutes we expected to see, which ones we have/don't have. Will email to Paul and Vagrant to see if she missed anything. Also will upload things to wiki if they were only emailed out. Wiki categorization: Category: Inservice. Sub-categories: Dates. Sub- within Feb/Mar 2012: Trainings, Meeting Notes, Initial sign-up page, Evaluation, Meeting Resources (include Tasha's docs.) Solicit wiki feedback as well.

Planning committee recommendations

 * Look at doing some form of in-service training once per quarter. This may come out to a half-day, full day, or 2-3/hr. chunks. This should realistically meet the training needs of the organization (SEPARATE from all-staff meeting goals and objectives, will address topics like "mental health awareness" and "accessibility" and "discrimination" that are most effectively communicated when all staff are in the room together.)
 * All-staff mtgs. should be 5-7pm, close Free Geek 1 hr. early and keep everyone late. Select the dates based on which dates people really can't do.
 * Outsource meeting goals to the staff further in advance and inform them more actively of the progression of the planning process. Use means other than email to do this. Agenda should be finalized two weeks in advance.
 * Hours need to be allocated for planning, planning group should be constant group composed of HR admin, 1 or maximum 2 other staff members. Realistically expect a 4:1 ratio of prep time to meeting time.
 * Use our next all-staff meeting to plan out agendas for the next 5-6 months of mtgs. Can use Tasha's recommendations as a jumping off point, as well as survey results.