RepsNext – Status Update June 2017

In the past few months we have kept working on the implementation of our RepsNext initiative. The RepsNext initiative has started more than a year ago with the goal to bring the Mozilla Reps program to the next level. Back in January we wrote a status update. Almost half a year later, we want to provide a further update. We have also published our OKRs for the current quarter with goals to further the implementation of RepsNext.

Resources

The Resources training is finalized. It’s still a little bit text-heavy, but we want to move forward with the training and iterate based on feedback. For this, we have reached out to a few selected Reps based on the past 6 months to ask them to test the training and give initial feedback about the process and content. Once we have this feedback, we will adjust the training if needed and then open up the Resources track for applications. Applications will most probably be done in a Google Form and will include general info about the Rep as well as a free-text input field where the Rep can explain why they are fitted for the track as well as provide some links to previous, good budget requests they filed. You can learn more about the Resources Track on the Resources Wiki page.

Onboarding Process

We have simplified and streamlined the on-boarding process for new Reps. Until April we had a lot of applications that were open for more than 6 months. We are happy to report that we have started to on-board 20 new Reps between April and now. Further 10 Reps are in the administrative process of signing the agreement and creating profiles on the Portal. All of this is thanks to a new Webinar. The Webinar allows us to give Reps the very needed first information about Reps and what to expect being a Rep.

Participation Alignment

The Council is working with the Participation team in order to co-create the quarterly and yearly goals and OKRs for 2017. This happened twice already this year and we will continue to give our valuable input and feedback for the quarters to come. The program’s goals are also being created based the team’s goals and priorities. We are also attending the monthly Open Innovation Team calls. Of course this is an ongoing work that will continue. The Reps Council is also involved in strategic and operational discussions as representatives for the broader community, giving feedback on the currently ongoing strategic projects. All of this work will continue at the All Hands in San Francisco later this month.

Leadership

At the beginning of our work on RepsNext, we wanted to do a specific Leadership Track Reps can apply for as a specialization. Throughout the past months it became clear that we want all Reps to improve their leadership skills to help out other Reps as well as their communities. Therefore we created an initial list of good leadership resources for everyone to access and learn. At first this is a basic list of resources which will be improved on in the future. We want all Reps to be able to improve their leadership skills as soon as possible and later build on top of this knowledge with further resources. Please provide your feedback in the Discourse topic!

Coaching

Previously known as Regional Coaches, Community Coaches will continue to support local communities. Additionally to that we are currently creating a Coaches Training to train new Reps on coaching skills as well as existing mentors to improve their skills. These coaches will be able to coach Reps in regards to personal development. The idea is to have the Coaches Training on a self-serve basis, so everyone can take the training and complete a narrative which will be evaluated at the end to graduate from the training. This will help us to increase the quality of coaching/mentoring in the Reps program as well as in local communities. Additionally it will decrease the current bottleneck we have onboarding new Reps and we will be able to assign a coach to every Rep on a one year commitment basis with the option to switch the coach after this period. We are currently reviewing the implementation proposal so we can add the training to Teachable and publish it for all Reps.

Functional areas

We recently asked all Reps to choose their path for the future. This gives us a valuable basis to argue around functional doers in the Reps program. We will further build out the exact details about functional doers and their interest. The ongoing strategy projects will additionally give us valuable guidance in coming up with the perfect opportunities for functional doers. If you are interested in statistics about this survey, join our discussion on Discourse.

Upcoming work

We are in the last steps to finish our work on the Resources track and the Coaching training. This allows us to start talks on further improvements in the third quarter of this year. We are also going to the All Hands to discuss Reps, Strategy, Mobilizers and more with the Open Innovation team. We will update you about the outcomes of that after the All Hands.

You can follow all the Reps program’s goals and progress in the Reps Issue Tracker.

Which thoughts cross your mind upon reading this? Where would you like to help out? Let’s keep the conversation going! Join the discussion on Discourse.