Team Recruitment & Onboarding: getting started

The Reef
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Hello Team @reef-recruitment!

Yup, that’s right @RalfWetzel, for now that’s just you and me :crazy_face:

Overview

Getting this Team kick-started should be easy IMHO. I see the the following points:

  1. Planning the recruitment process
  2. Recruitment: getting as big and as diverse a crowd as possible to our public presentation
  3. Selection process in case we get too many applicants
  4. The onboarding process

Below you can find some more details for every point, and then I put a TL;DR at the end.

1) Planning the recruitment process

Long story short: I have come to realise that I am now confident enough to do the presentation without Alberto in the room, which means that we could put the presentation a bit earlier if we would want to.

Changing the date of the presentation (13/10 instead of 24/10), doesn’t make a lot of difference however, but it does have the advantage that the welcome moment doesn’t fall in the week of 1 November.

Deciding on the date of the presentation is a bit urgent though, because we need to print the flyers ASAP.

Can we have a quick chat about this one of these days?

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2) Recruitment: getting as big and as diverse a crowd as possible to our public presentation

For this we need everybody’s help (social media, flyers etc), but I guess it’s us who will need to drive it.

Let’s bring this up at the Coordination Group meeting, and maybe even at the plenary?

3) Selection process in case we get too many applicants

My worry is that this time we’ll get more applicants than we’ll be able to take on in one go, so we’ll need some sort of algorithm to select the first group of people.

My personal preference is to keep things simple, so I would go for “first come first served”, with an exception for people we know, who will be allowed to jump the queue (provided they follow the process).

What do you think?

4) The onboarding process

Later in time we should probably also start thinking what we would like to do to facilitate the onboarding process. This is an issue where we can hopefully learn from your experience, and make sure that we provide the things that you felt were missing.

In the meanwhile I have created an “onboarding manual” (internal link). It’s a 6 page document that explains the key things I think people need to know to be able to find their way in The Reef.

Would you be willing to have a look at this and see whether it meets your needs? Any comments and/or edits are very welcome (pro tip: use this link to download the document for ease of use).

TL;DR

  • Can we have a quick chat one of these days to discuss:
    • the planning of the recruitment process (point 1 above))
    • a possible selection mechanism (point 3)?
  • When you have time, could you please have a look at the onboarding manual (point 4 above) and provide me with some feedback?
1 Like
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Hi Lie,

thanks for that comprehensive mail! Let me start with the dates. Unfortunately, I teach at Oct 13th’s evening, so I can’t join the presentation. Oct 24th I am available. But if you feel that’s time wasted, it shouldnt hold you back. I assume another Reefling would be willing to join, given that you’re in the lead. All the other dates, except Nov 8, look feasible for now, but I expect my teaching and traveling schedule will still fill up in the coming weeks.
I had a look at your onboarding document, and I like it a lot. I learned from it! I sometimes am overwhelmed by the amount of documentation here at the Reef, this manual however is straightforwardly useful. Nothing came to my mind that could be added or changed, all made very much sense and is very comprehensible!
Happy to chat the upcoming days. Between tomorrow, Mon Aug 29 and Wednesday, Aug 31 I am easily available., working remotely from Berlin. What’s good for you, Lie?
Enjoy the Reef’s company, I need to get some overdue work done -.-
Ralf

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Hi Ralf,

In that case I would propose to stick to the original plan and do the presentation the 24th.

Are you free in the afternoon on Wednesday? Any time is good for me really. If you could send me a Zoom link I’ll be there. Otherwise tomorrow afternoon could also work.

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Hi Lie, zoom link sent to your email address. talk on wednesday!
Ralf

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Hi Ralf,

I didn’t prepare a draft agenda, just a list of questions. Let’s see together once we get started?

These would be my questions:

  • Recruitment: how to attract as big and as diverse a crowd for the presentation on 24/10?
  • The onboarding process: planning 2 ok? Any further needs? Additional activities?
  • Any further onboarding needs for the current crowd?
  • What to do if we get too many applications?
  • Early recruitment of a couple of households who have expressed interest in in late June?
  • …
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Hi Ralf,

The meeting notes are on Nextcloud (internal link), feel free to amend or complement as you see fit.

Can you please confirm your availability for the 5th of November?

Thanks!

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Hi @RalfWetzel,

With the exception of launching the promotion campaign for the presentation on 24/10 I have taken care of all my action points;

Two questions:

  • When you send emails in the context of The Reef, can you please put The Reef in cc? This is an arrangement that should help us to ensure continuity and transparancy.
  • Any news about your availability on 5 November?

Cheers!

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Hi Lie,

November 5th works out, I dont have to leave that day. I’ll be writing to the interested peeps in the upcoming days, latest weekend. and yes, I’ll be putting the Reef in cc.
keep you posted!
Ralf

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Hi @Lee,
I finally can confirm Nov 5 full day. Thanks for your patience!
Ralf

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Hi @RalfWetzel,

Now that we will have our first new Reeflings, I figured I’d write something up about the buddy system (internal link) that has been mentioned a couple of times.

It’s rather self-explanatory, so it’s very short. What I proposed is this:

  • Nobody is obliged to participate.
  • We’ll try to mix and match people

What do you think? Anything you would like to change or add?

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Hi there!
Sorry to crash your otherwise intimate chat, but I was wondering what you are planning for the 5th of November in terms of current reeflings taking part in the day? Personnaly I would have liked to be involved, but I have another commitment for the moment. Could we imagine a time at the end (or beginning?) of the day for everybody to get together and meet each other? Or could we just come in for part of the day??
Dont know if anybody else is in my situation though…
Thanks for your enlightening answers!

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Hi Sarah,

We haven’t made any plans yet. We’ll get at that when I am back, around mid-October.

My gut feeling is that we will be better off moving the event to the 6th, so when I find the energy I may set up a Doodle to check.

In any case we’ll make sure that there will be ample opportunities for everyone to get to know everyone.

Cheers!

1 Like
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Hi @RalfWetzel,

We have some stuff coming up on the Recruitment & Onboarding front, so I was wondering whether you would be available for a quick chat?

These are the things I think we need to tackle:

  • Presentation on the 24th: any changes to be made compared to how we did the previous one?

  • Onboarding of the people who want to join after the 24th:

    • Which onboarding activities do we need (sociocracy, NVC, decision-making, …)?
      • Planning + who does what
      • How can we organise the work for the get-to-know-each-other workshop?
    • Given the Christmas break and the fact that we don’t have a lot of material for discussion at the plenary meetings, should we (again) postpone the deadline for applying for Associate Membership?

  • Lessons learned from the fast track recruitment attempt

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Just a thought / leaving a note: if anybody says The Reef is very structured in its onboarding process I won’t deny it :grimacing:, but then it seems that we are not really at the outer end of the spectrum. See for instance Heartwood Cohousing’s “Prospective Membership Checklist”. Serious stuff!

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Interesting stuff!

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Hello @RalfWetzel,

Would you be available for a quick check-in on the recruitment and onboarding front?

These are the topics that I think would benefit from a short discussion:

  • The GA of 19/12 on membership requests
  • The Reef’s membership process (internal link)
  • Any other activities for the onboarding of the new Reeflings?

Cheers!

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Hello :slight_smile:
Just wanted to point out the speed dating of habitat et participation in april: https://www.habitat-groupe.be/agenda/bruxelles/26-04-i-speedating-habitat-groupe-bruxelles/

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Thanks @Sarah. I think @Sophie_Beese was planning to go?

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Yes, I’ve just signed up :slight_smile:

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@ChrisM: Welcome on board! :partying_face: :partying_face: :partying_face:

I have updated sections 2 and 3 of the onboarding manual. When you have a moment, could you please have a look at whether everything seems to make sense?

https://c301.nl.tabdigital.eu/f/28644

All comments welcome of course.

1 Like