The Nonlinear Library EA - 10 Lessons Learned - One Year at EA Switzerland by Alix Pham
Apr 27, 2024
13:35
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: 10 Lessons Learned - One Year at EA Switzerland, published by Alix Pham on April 27, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
I wanted to reflect on my first year as a full-time community builder at EA Switzerland. The lessons I share here might be more useful for people who are more or less involved in community building or field building / coordination, but I think some of them are not only work-useful but also life-useful (at least to me). I don't think they are specific to the Swiss context either.
So here is a pile of things I (re)learned:
On People:
1. Sometimes unstructured conversations are the most productive conversations.
I tend to prepare meetings and think about the best ways to make the conversation time as useful as possible. Most of the time, it is also what's expected of me, especially when the person I'm meeting with is very busy and their time is more valuable than mine. And I might project that need for time optimization for all my meetings.
This involves a lot of guesswork and anticipation about what the person can bring me or what I can bring the person. But I've been regularly surprised at how much I learn (or teach!), when the whole extent of the conversation doesn't follow a set agenda. Sometimes the best agenda is going with the flow.
I've explored topics and ideas that I would never have thought I would have discussed with my conversation partner if I didn't step out of my comfort zone and stop pushing the conversation in the direction I prepared.
2. It's crazy how low the bar can be for people to feel empowered.
Sometimes I just need to tell someone "Have you thought about [insert something that often can be a little obvious]?" and that's enough for them to take the leap. I've been on the other side of that story, and it's been transformative for me. It literally took my 80,000 Hours advisor to tell me that above sentence with "working in biosecurity" and I jumped in the rabbit hole to explore this (thank you very much, if you're reading me!).
Sometimes it's just about reaching out, being accessible, and sending a timely nudge. I've also been on the other side of that one, and that's what brought me to attend my first EAG (many thanks to you too, if you're also reading me).
There are many shapes this can take, and the ones that I love to use the most (because I get to see the warmth it brings to people) are something like:
I really like what you're working on, let's talk about it more during a meeting.
I really like your energy, let's have a meeting about how I can help you in your journey.
*Looking genuinely excited about something they just told you*
You've been excited about [that cool project / job opportunity / etc.], what keeps you from doing it / applying / etc.?
Crazy, huh? and easy, wouldn't you say? I want to do it more, and better (of course, I think it's only useful if one is authentic about it).
On Teams:
3. Dedicated recurring feedback sessions make a healthy team.
Every team has its ups and downs, every individual has their expectations, working styles, and strengths and weaknesses. Building on past lessons, our team of two at EA Switzerland has been doing monthly 1-h "Team Dynamics" sessions. We have a few prompts that we prepare in silence at the beginning of the meeting, and when we're done, we talk about them.
How do you find working with the team?
Do you think we're headed in the right direction as a team?
Is there anything we can do to improve team dynamics? How can we make this more effective and more fun? What's something we can/should start doing as a team?
Are there any aspects of our team culture/company culture you wish you could change?
What's one thing we can do to improve internal communication?
How is the workload? Should we redistribute responsibilities?
Let's give ourselves constructive feedback
What is a diff...
I wanted to reflect on my first year as a full-time community builder at EA Switzerland. The lessons I share here might be more useful for people who are more or less involved in community building or field building / coordination, but I think some of them are not only work-useful but also life-useful (at least to me). I don't think they are specific to the Swiss context either.
So here is a pile of things I (re)learned:
On People:
1. Sometimes unstructured conversations are the most productive conversations.
I tend to prepare meetings and think about the best ways to make the conversation time as useful as possible. Most of the time, it is also what's expected of me, especially when the person I'm meeting with is very busy and their time is more valuable than mine. And I might project that need for time optimization for all my meetings.
This involves a lot of guesswork and anticipation about what the person can bring me or what I can bring the person. But I've been regularly surprised at how much I learn (or teach!), when the whole extent of the conversation doesn't follow a set agenda. Sometimes the best agenda is going with the flow.
I've explored topics and ideas that I would never have thought I would have discussed with my conversation partner if I didn't step out of my comfort zone and stop pushing the conversation in the direction I prepared.
2. It's crazy how low the bar can be for people to feel empowered.
Sometimes I just need to tell someone "Have you thought about [insert something that often can be a little obvious]?" and that's enough for them to take the leap. I've been on the other side of that story, and it's been transformative for me. It literally took my 80,000 Hours advisor to tell me that above sentence with "working in biosecurity" and I jumped in the rabbit hole to explore this (thank you very much, if you're reading me!).
Sometimes it's just about reaching out, being accessible, and sending a timely nudge. I've also been on the other side of that one, and that's what brought me to attend my first EAG (many thanks to you too, if you're also reading me).
There are many shapes this can take, and the ones that I love to use the most (because I get to see the warmth it brings to people) are something like:
I really like what you're working on, let's talk about it more during a meeting.
I really like your energy, let's have a meeting about how I can help you in your journey.
*Looking genuinely excited about something they just told you*
You've been excited about [that cool project / job opportunity / etc.], what keeps you from doing it / applying / etc.?
Crazy, huh? and easy, wouldn't you say? I want to do it more, and better (of course, I think it's only useful if one is authentic about it).
On Teams:
3. Dedicated recurring feedback sessions make a healthy team.
Every team has its ups and downs, every individual has their expectations, working styles, and strengths and weaknesses. Building on past lessons, our team of two at EA Switzerland has been doing monthly 1-h "Team Dynamics" sessions. We have a few prompts that we prepare in silence at the beginning of the meeting, and when we're done, we talk about them.
How do you find working with the team?
Do you think we're headed in the right direction as a team?
Is there anything we can do to improve team dynamics? How can we make this more effective and more fun? What's something we can/should start doing as a team?
Are there any aspects of our team culture/company culture you wish you could change?
What's one thing we can do to improve internal communication?
How is the workload? Should we redistribute responsibilities?
Let's give ourselves constructive feedback
What is a diff...