Work

People are usually very poorly prepared to work in a non-authoritarian environment. In this section we gather what we know about making collective work successful.

Responsibility

What does it mean to be responsible in Groundwork? Taking residual responsibility, as we mentioned before, doesn't mean you make all the decisions concerning that area without any input or feedback from the rest of the collective. It doesn't mean you're saddled with all the work. It doesn't even really mean that you have to see that all the work gets done. What taking RR does mean is that you are responsible for soliciting information, criticism, and especially help from the rest of the collective. It means you are responsible for the decisions made - including decisions to let certain areas slide if you feel they aren't critical. What it especially means is making decisions that you feel are best for all concerned.

To clarify some of these things, let's take an example. Suppose Groundwork has decided to show a film. You agree to take on the job of seeing that leaflets advertising the film get distributed in the community. The first step is to inspire volunteers to post leaflets in various designated areas. You do this, but you can't get enough volunteers. Your choices are to do it all yourself, or just decide that certain areas won't get done because they aren't critical.

The second choice isn't an irresponsible decision. Decisions should be based on what's best for all concerned. In other words, if the only way all the areas are going to get leafletted is if you put in a lot of time and effort and burn yourself out on the project, then it probably isn't worth doing it all. This is an acceptable decision if you know that leafletting those areas isn't crucial. The decision should be based on its effects on you (do you have enough energy to put into this?) and on the effects on the rest of the collective (is the film going to flop because of what you didn't do?). It's important not to make decisions that are too individualistic (caring for your own welfare at the cost of others) or too martyr-like (caring for the welfare of others at the cost of your own).

Another problem is making sure that the volunteers that were supposed to do some of the work actually got it done. You can assume they did it, which isn't unreasonable if they've always been trustworthy before, or you can check up on them. One way of checking is to go to the area they were supposed to leaflet and see if any are up. Another is to ask the person to tell you when they get it done. Then, if you don't hear from them, it won't seem strange when you ask. If you are depending on unreliable people and you don't check up on them, you are unreliable as well. This is another aspect of irresponsibility.

If, after you've finished all the leafletting you're going to do, someone criticizes you for some reason, this doesn't mean you've been irresponsible. If their criticism is valid, but you feel you tried to make the best decision, all it means is that you've make a mistake. It's important not to feel that you have to be perfect to be responsible---you make mistakes, you learn from them.

When you take responsibility for something it's often a good idea to get an overview of the whole problem. Then you can decide how much energy you have available (either personally or in people who have volunteered to help), and bring to the entire collective the question of how good a job they want done before you even start. This way you can avoid spending all your time on non-critical things or doing things in a round-about way. You may even discover that the project is going to take more than you are willing to give. You then have the option of deciding it's not worth it before you spend a lot of time that will be wasted on it.

Example

For example,say you've taken RR for showing the movie. You could start by deciding what movie to order, ordering the movie, and then trying to find a room to show it in. But what happens if you discover you aren't able to get a room because you asked too late? You'll have a film, which will probably have to be paid for, and nowhere to show it. If you had started out with an overview, you would have seen that the wise thing would have been to check everything out first before committing yourself, and then begin committing yourself to the things you could back out of with a minimum of fuss. If you had found out that getting a room was free and that you could drop you request without causing any hassles, then that was the thing you should have done first. If you had taken an overview you wouldn't have been stuck with a film you couldn't show.

Being responsible also means leaving responsibly. If a DPR is leaving the collective or has just gotten tired of that job, they have an obligation to make a disciplined withdrawal. They either finish the job to the collective's satisfaction or train someone else to take over. If the leaving DPR doesn't do this it can create a lot of hassles for the people still in the collective.

Doing something responsibly means that you make sure the work gets done as well as it can be, that you try to consider everyone's needs, and that you don't waste the energy of yourself and others. It also means agreeing to encourage praise or criticism from the collective and to try to learn from your mistakes.

Responsibility necessitates a positive attitude toward what you take responsibility for. There is a tendency for all of us, coming from the society we do, to avoid as much responsibility as possible, using a legalistic or literal interpretation of the agreements we've made to do so. For example, bureaucrats are famous for the ability to say "oh, that's not my department, go see someone else."

In Groundwork, that's not an acceptable attitude. Our political 'path' says we want to encourage people to take control over their own lives. Control necessitates responsibility. This isn't an oppressive attitude because each person is fully in control of what they take responsibility for. And they take a critical attitude toward their work but not a judgemental attitude toward themselves. Self-criticism, like criticism of another person, should be loving.

Becoming a Designated Person Responsible

When taking on a new job, it's best to proceed through the following phases--

Learn the job well as it was done before you start to change it. You can learn it by:
- Reading past Job Descriptions (Green Documents)
- Talking to people who had the job
- Asking for criticism and suggestions (what could be done to make it better?)
- Understanding the input and output of the job, that is, who is going to be affected if you change things (having a socialist consciousness).

Take RR.

That is, now you can take an overview of the job, change how the work is handled, look for help because you can't handle it, or whatever. It's yours. You may also consider how to divide it into several jobs, which you can coordinate. Taking RR doesn't mean you have to do all the work yourself, just see that it gets done.

Get the job wired

That is, get it down so that the work flows easily in a minimum amount of time, files set up for easy access, clear decisions on how to handle "normal" problems - for example, the DPR for periodicals should make sure that staffers and customers all know how to make suggestions for new periodicals and what the decision-making process is.

Write (or change) a job description and keep it updated and on file in the Green Documents.

This will help make your disciplined withdrawal a success. It also means the job can be handled by someone with less commitment of energy. The job description might include check lists, traps to watch out for, tips, and whatever other useful information.

You might consider sharing RR or moving on to another job.

Requests for Help with Work (Not collectively approved - 4/83)

Some people are overloaded, while others don't know what to do. You might have RR, but want others to help (if you want to give up RR, see Disciplined Withdrawal under Concepts).

Turn to those doing the least before asking those doing the most because skills and information create a "natural" hierarchy (as opposed to the authoritarian one in business and government). Turning to those doing the least makes the group larger and more decentralized, giving more people power. Also, those doing the least may not know what needs doing and can benefit from your instruction/inspiration. You might also consider looking outside the collective, that is, notes on the message board, appeals (gentle) to friends, suggestions to interested customers, or people you would like to know better.

Volunteering is never expected (although it's awfully nice), i.e. the bad feelings because someone didn't volunteer to help you. You must take responsibility for making your needs known in a way that doesn't guilt trip.

In an authoritarian environment, those with RR control rewards and punishments which allow them to order work to be done. In a liberal environment, hints, manipulation, and guilt are often used (In some families, the father uses authoritarian methods and the mother uses liberal techniques). In collective work, we must be careful to break away from these common patterns. You are going to have to learn new ways to ask for help on the work you took responsibility for. On the other hand, most people have only known the authoritarian and liberal methods, and may respond to your requests and attempts to be an RR person by accusing you of being authoritarian or guilt-tripping. You might ask them how you can make your needs known without hassling them, i.e. ask them to become active in finding new ways for making collective work successful.

The other side of this is for you not to respond to someone asking you for help by feeling pressured or manipulated.

How to ask for help depends on how desperate you are and you should try to request help before getting too desperate. Here are some ways:

statements which don't require answers are always okay:

"If you want to learn how to receive books, I could use some help."
"It wouldn't make me mad if..."
This can also include statements in the Day Book asking for help, not directed at any particular person.

Asking questions that don't demand "yes" answers:

"Would you like to..."

bargaining:

"I could really use some help. If you'd help me now, I'd buy you juice at the next TG or be forever grateful, or help you..."

Asking for a social decision (usually after giving up on other ways):

"I'm pretty desperate for help, can you make this your problem too?" This could include a plea in the Day Book which then should be on the next meeting agenda.