3.3 People
Summary
Leading well means helping the right people take on responsibilities they can grow into. This page covers the conversation that invites people in, how to think about fit and growth, and how volunteers are welcomed and developed. Practical how-to detail stays in the field guides, which are linked below.
3.3.1 The Organizer Conversation
A good conversation moves through five steps, from first contact to a clear next step.
- Connect. Introduce yourself and ask an open question about what matters to the other person.
- Listen. Give them room to explain their concerns and experience. Resist the urge to turn the conversation into a speech.
- Find common ground. Connect their concerns to a relevant part of the movement's work, without pretending you agree about everything.
- Invite. Offer a concrete next step, such as a gathering or introductory meeting.
- Follow up. If they want further contact, agree on how and when.
For preparation, the listening reminder and door-knocking, use the organizing conversations guide.
3.3.2 Nature and nurture
This section is still being written. It will set out how we think about people's strengths and how they develop, and how that shapes the way we lead.
3.3.3 The right people in the right roles
Roles describe the work; people take them on and hand them over. For what roles and circles are, how to read them in Atlas, and how a role changes hands, use 1.4.2 Roles, circles, and decision rights and Taking on or handing over a role. Live assignments stay in Atlas. Guidance on judging fit between a person and a role is still being written.
3.3.4 Supporting growth without assuming rapid transformation
A next step might be running part of a meeting, completing a project, supporting another Fellow, or coordinating a team. Choose something that stretches your skills while fitting your capacity.
Honest feedback goes with this; see 3.1.1. Leadership also includes making it easier for other people to contribute; see 3.1.4.
ProposalRole-specific development rubrics
Rubrics could be written for Fellows, managers, engineers, and other roles. A useful rubric would define observable expectations for the actual responsibility, with examples of good work and the support available.
Possible dimensions include quality, reliability, judgment, collaboration, and helping others develop. These are starting points for discussion, not a scoring system.
Before adoption, define who reviews whom, what evidence is used, how feedback is discussed, and what decisions the review affects. Separate a project's results from judgments about an individual's contribution: outcomes can depend on resources and circumstances outside their control.
Draft rubrics for the Individual Contributor, DRI, and Player-Coach role types already exist; see E.1 Expectations.
3.3.5 Recruiting and developing volunteers
Welcoming participants, following up, training, and handing over sustainable responsibility already have practical guides:
- Recruit. Organizing conversations and the Recruit stage of the organizing cycle.
- Train. Training organizers, which starts from a concrete outcome and lets people practice.
- Follow up. The conversation guide notes that recruitment is only the beginning: make sure someone can welcome the people who respond.