IMBA: Possible new direction for the MMBA

[mbmoehl]

The state board spent 2 years trying to manage an Executive Director from as many different directions as we could possibly think of -- but either we failed as managers, or the ED failed as a director, or the job is just not going to do what we expect it to do. Really, it was a combination of all 3 (in my honest opinion). We tried having the ED be the administrative arm. We tried having the ED be a volunteer coordinator. We tried having the ED be a membership enthusiast to increase membership. We wanted the ED to be the sole voice of communications. All of those roles left huge holes someplace else -- because there's not enough time in a part time position for the ED to be all of those things and the rest was left up to the state board to pick up.

One thing I wanted to note, and this isn't a slam by any means. But, Todd Scott ruined the ED position for us, by going WAY beyond what the job entailed, and going way beyond the time he was paid for.

Well, at least you got the "ruined" part right.

I've gotta say this just sounds pathetic and whiny, blaming someone else's success for our failures. Why don't we look back and try to understand what he did to make the MMBA work or what the varying conditions were between then and now and focus on making it right, instead of posting backhanded comments that detract from the discussion.

[scat silvurz]

[Nelg]

The state board spent 2 years trying to manage an Executive Director from as many different directions as we could possibly think of -- but either we failed as managers, or the ED failed as a director, or the job is just not going to do what we expect it to do. Really, it was a combination of all 3 (in my honest opinion). We tried having the ED be the administrative arm. We tried having the ED be a volunteer coordinator. We tried having the ED be a membership enthusiast to increase membership. We wanted the ED to be the sole voice of communications. All of those roles left huge holes someplace else -- because there's not enough time in a part time position for the ED to be all of those things and the rest was left up to the state board to pick up.

One thing I wanted to note, and this isn't a slam by any means. But, Todd Scott ruined the ED position for us, by going WAY beyond what the job entailed, and going way beyond the time he was paid for.

Well, at least you got the "ruined" part right.

I've gotta say this just sounds pathetic and whiny, blaming someone else's success for our failures. Why don't we look back and try to understand what he did to make the MMBA work or what the varying conditions were between then and now and focus on making it right, instead of posting backhanded comments that detract from the discussion.

Agreed, blaming some one that has not been around for the past three years is petty. Since Todd's departure, every member of the MMBA has had the opportunity to step up and shape the organization including Scotty.

Dennis brought up a good point, there are really only two viable directions to take with where we are at today. Rewrite the MMBA charter and re-organize it to be more effective and financially viable keeping it a Michigan only association. Or become IMBA chapters and find some way to working as a unit at the state level. Option one of the charter re-write is only possible if we have enough volunteers and a revenue stream to support it.

[bentmettle]

Can someone explain *why* the finances are complicated?

There's a notion that works in other businesses- the cost of the product is designed in. If the MMBA can't afford to do what it's doing, or how it's doing it, modify either the services offered, or the delivery of the services.

[nate.phelps]

It seems to me to not consider the process questions in the discussion is a mistake.

Agreed. But I think it is important to address the 'process' and 'business direction' as separate problem statements. Even though they impact each other and need to integrate - a solution for one, may not be the best solution for both.

It seems to me this should be an iterative business direction method. Not just wholesale changes. I don't agree with this being a wholesale change. It is a business and capacity decision.

What are we good at? Working on access advocacy. The website is the de facto source of mtb stuff. And a growing presence in state legislation plus representation in a state trails council.

Arguably the value of a membership list is not the money it generates, it is the network. The larger the network, the greater ability to leverage. It is the non-reliance on one person or entity to get it done.

So if we wanted to leverage the MMBA into better farming practices, what makes sense?
A state wide alliance of mountainbike clubs or coalition. Take the parts of what we do best and offer it to interested parties. There is an interest in a Lansing based advocacy effort by other clubs in the state. The true question is would these clubs pay a membership fee? And I think the answer is yes. What we don't know is what the market will bear.

Or barter valued activities like administrative work. Perhaps there a potential club or other advocacy group that is better at these tasks.Possibly there is, you don't like the first choice, why would another choice be any different?

'What the market will bear' - will this be determined and quantified with research prior to any decision on the proposed MMBA direction? This bears reviewing so we avoid a blind jump to an unknown on a 'maybe they will buy' idea.If I hadn't been in contact with other groups, I wouldn't have brought it to the discussion. I'm beyond blind jumps, I don't have the time to chase down unknowns. Once a real figure is known a more in depth discussion can be held, but if the coaolition idea doesn't pan out, I'm really not going to invest more time into it than I have.

I am going to play devil's advocate.... I am at the State of MI level and an advocacy group comes to me that has no real membership base, no assets and has no ability to directly impact activities at a local level. Why should I listen? I don't think assets have an impact on this and I believe a representative membership is still a membership. If I'm the state park that has relied on a local group for trail work and the group is still there for trailwork is there an issue? And that group has a membership in the coalition, is there a difference?

So I think the MMBA looks like this:
a board of directors
an advocacy director
an advocacy team
a membership compromised of clubs

Can you define 'club'? Is this a cycling club? Or other advocacy group? Or MMBA Chapter (that has become a IMBA Chapter) that signs on as a 'club'?
Does it matter?

There would be some new definitions of duty, the treasurer would handle membership for instance, but the focus of the principals is singletrack.

How do you mitigate the risk of offering the MMBA assets (Chapters) to another non-business focused organization (IMBA)? My understanding (the long timers can correct me if I am wrong) is that the IMBA model was derived from the MMBA years ago.And the MMBA model was the first of it's kind in the world? Why is it that we feel the need to reinvent the wheel or claim the reinvention of the wheel? It seems to me the real issue is change. Why is it that you expect this to fail when to date it has not for other organizations larger than us and groups smaller than us? Not all of IMBA is advocacy, parts of it are for profit and parts are the new shared services.

What is to prevent the current MMBA issues from happening to IMBA down the road, they're in the same spot and the mt bike support basically dissolves? It seems to me that this is a real potential that it knocks mt. bike efforts in MI all the way back to 1990.

Given the level of industry support for IMBA,the inroads made in trailbuilding, and the growth made into other countries causes me to think that sure this is a possibility, but if they fail, we fail even if we are not connected. It means something much larger.

[nate.phelps]

Can someone explain *why* the finances are complicated?

There's a notion that works in other businesses- the cost of the product is designed in. If the MMBA can't afford to do what it's doing, or how it's doing it, modify either the services offered, or the delivery of the services.

The finances aren't all that complicated. We take in a certain amount of money and pay the bills. There have been cuts, some indirect and some direct, to stay within a budget. The financial concern is that if we continue as we are, tougher decisions have to be made.

The other part of the discussion is volunteer capacity. We are reaching what we have the capacity to achieve as an organization in our current form.

So an option was presented that address both concerns.

[jonw9]

So, maybe I missed it, but what kind of time frame are we looking at?

Is it a calendar year, or fiscal, can we "join" at any time, and how long would it take?

I think I read something about an information session at the Expo, perhaps we could have a vote as well?

[Geff]

So, maybe I missed it, but what kind of time frame are we looking at?

Is it a calendar year, or fiscal, can we "join" at any time, and how long would it take?

I think I read something about an information session at the Expo, perhaps we could have a vote as well?

Yes...what is the time frame we are looking at here?

[nate.phelps]

So, maybe I missed it, but what kind of time frame are we looking at?

Is it a calendar year, or fiscal, can we "join" at any time, and how long would it take?

I think I read something about an information session at the Expo, perhaps we could have a vote as well?

Yes...what is the time frame we are looking at here?

Certainly not tomorrow. Or the next day.

This was a 10,000' view to the membership, see if the idea floated or not.
If so then we start working on the 5000' and so on.

[Scotty]

Besides the fact that Todd Scott was putting in tons of hours, what was it specifically that he was doing the no one else seems capable of replicating? If the MMBA was thriving under his direction, has anyone contacted him to get his opinion on this matter? I'd be interested in hearing it. What do you mean by "thriving", more members, additional trials, a manageable budget, better advocacy?

Getting all the chores done is not thriving. I'd avoid putting too much stock in the "Todd is God" club. Not everyone worships at that alter.

The ED position over the past decade simply hasn't panned out the way that anybody had hoped for when it first came up. At it's worst it was someone literally taking the MMBA's money and hiding out at his mother's house. And at it's best the position has been difficult for the organization to direct and manage.

If dues are going to be spent to hire a full time administrator/advocate, there needs to be some obvious value to the membership or it's not worth spending the money. Even if you think Todd walked on water, if you can't fill the position with someone else effectively there's probably a broader issue here than simply who holds the job.

That's what needs to be addressed.

[mbmoehl]

Besides the fact that Todd Scott was putting in tons of hours, what was it specifically that he was doing the no one else seems capable of replicating? If the MMBA was thriving under his direction, has anyone contacted him to get his opinion on this matter? I'd be interested in hearing it. What do you mean by "thriving", more members, additional trials, a manageable budget, better advocacy?

Getting all the chores done is not thriving. I'd avoid putting too much stock in the "Todd is God" club. Not everyone worships at that alter.

The ED position over the past decade simply hasn't panned out the way that anybody had hoped for when it first came up. At it's worst it was someone literally taking the MMBA's money and hiding out at his mother's house. And at it's best the position has been difficult for the organization to direct and manage.

If dues are going to be spent to hire a full time administrator/advocate, there needs to be some obvious value to the membership or it's not worth spending the money. Even if you think Todd walked on water, if you can't fill the position with someone else effectively there's probably a broader issue here than simply who holds the job.

That's what needs to be addressed.

I've only been a member for the past two years so i didn't get to see the MMBA under the direction of anyone other than Marnie, so any comparison and contrast i would have to take on faith from this forum. I don't want to get into an ED name bashing, so what was it the the MMBA, as a whole lets say, did differently when it was at it's peak than it's doing today. There has to be additional factors aside from the ED, like this ridiculous economy...

[inasnit]

I've only been a member for the past two years so i didn't get to see the MMBA under the direction of anyone other than Marnie, so any comparison and contrast i would have to take on faith from this forum. I don't want to get into an ED name bashing, so what was it the the MMBA, as a whole lets say, did differently when it was at it's peak than it's doing today. There has to be additional factors aside from the ED, like this ridiculous economy...

Its not that "the mmba" did things that much differently. Its that "the mmba" grew and changed. Todd used to be our Advocacy Director, our Volunteer Coordinator, our Communications Director, our Webmaster, our Fundraiser, our face and our voice. He was our sales guy for ads. He was our trail coordinator support. He "guided" the board and set direction. He planned & coordinated the annual meeting and secured the guest speaker. He shook hands in Lansing and Washington DC. He built trail and attended chapter meetings.

What did "the MMBA" do differently when Todd was ED? We relied on Todd to keep the train on the tracks and running on time. The state board used to meet 4 times per year. That's it. Everything that needed to be dealt with could be done in those 4 meetings. Because our employee was keeping the lights on. When the state board realized that this was not a sustainable model, Todd stepped down. The state board has filled in the gaps as best it could for the past few years.

Our insurance policy was minimal. Our treasurer was doing nothing more than "keeping a checkbook". Our Membership Director, Merchandise Director, and CPS director were 2 people living in the same house and managing themselves just fine on their own (and also went to every CPS race in the state with the MMBA tent). There was no online store. There was no membership database. Our website was little more than this forum.

Times have changed. Expectations have changed. Volunteers have changed.

Since Todd left, the board is now meeting every other month via phone, plus 4 "in person" meetings per year. We spend hours and hours on those phone calls talking about insurance policies, waiver retention policies, financial concerns, advocacy concerns, membership numbers, bike patrol, cps, merchandise, newsletters, BRB ... We spent countless hours in the past two years trying to affectively manage our ED. We wrote job descriptions. We set goals and deliverables. And then we had to follow up on those goals and deliverables. We had become personnel managers and HR consultants.

Because we are all otherwise employed, and acting on volunteer time - this has left very little energy and motivation left to do much more than keep the train on the tracks. And it is no longer running on time. And there is no one new stepping up to the plate. No changes to our bylaws will change that.

What is currently being required of a Volunteer Board of Directors is just WAY too much. What I really want to do is ride my bike, but the price I'm paying right now to do so is just too flipping high.

[scat silvurz]

And there is no one new stepping up to the plate. No changes to our bylaws will change that.

What is currently being required of a Volunteer Board of Directors is just WAY too much. What I really want to do is ride my bike, but the price I'm paying right now to do so is just too flipping high.

Marty really hit on the crux of the issue here.

For those who have been in the MMBA in the Todd-days, up til the present, it's a glaring observance that one keeps seeing the SAME ol' FACES, year after year, pulling the same rope - this observance will come as no surprise whatsoever. This organization is at the tipping point of critical burnout. Few would probably admit that, but you know it's true.

I would hypothesize that it's perhaps a blessing that the IMBA option exists, and that maybe it's time to wipe the slate clean and go for the sea-change. This opportunity with IMBA will not remain on the table forever. I maintain that the current State Board should think very hard about expediting the IMBA Assimilation before the February Elections, or face a cosmically embarrassing lack of participation or interest, in restocking the State Board's pond.

[Geff]

And there is no one new stepping up to the plate. No changes to our bylaws will change that.

What is currently being required of a Volunteer Board of Directors is just WAY too much. What I really want to do is ride my bike, but the price I'm paying right now to do so is just too flipping high.

Marty really hit on the crux of the issue here.

For those who have been in the MMBA in the Todd-days, up til the present, it's a glaring observance that one keeps seeing the SAME ol' FACES, year after year, pulling the same rope - this observance will come as no surprise whatsoever. This organization is at the tipping point of critical burnout. Few would probably admit that, but you know it's true.

I would hypothesize that it's perhaps a blessing that the IMBA option exists, and that maybe it's time to wipe the slate clean and go for the sea-change. This offer from IMBA will not remain on the table forever. I maintain that the current State Board should think very hard about expediting the IMBA Assimilation before the February Elections, or face a cosmically embarrassing lack of participation or interest, in restocking the State Board's pond.

I agree for the most part on this and from keeping tabs on this thread, feel that if new blood really doesn't help out, then we will die quietly on the vine.

[jonw9]

Really, judging from the "Pathetic" thread, we as a whole are struggling from a lack of volunteers. If we can't get people to show up for 2 hours on a Saturday for free pizza and trail work, who actually believes that there are any people waiting to take up the work of the State board.

I think this is where the IMBA should be tried. Give it a shot for a year or 2, then reassess. If there are people complaining that they hate it (and there will be) it would be the perfect opportunity to "put up or shut up".