One Street News

November/December 2009

Vol. 2, Issue 11

  1. One Street Leads to 2010
  2. European Helmet Campaign Reaches Out
  3. Resources Highlights – New Bicycle Helmets Page
  4. Hot Topics – Renter’s Syndrome
    5.  

One Street Leads to 2010

By: Sue Knaup, Executive Director 

One Street achieved so many milestones in 2009, I’m quite sure we will look to it in years to come as one of our most exhilarating years. It’s tough to beat a year that started with our brilliant intern, Leo Sobottka, connecting us to partners around the world as our projects with the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) and Prescott College opened new doors for our organization development specialty. 2009 will also be the year we remember when our initial Social Bike Business projects in Los Angeles, Prague and Budapest took their first bold steps forward and inspired our next cities to engage in the program. And, 2009 was the year for our leap from a basic HTML website into an interactive interface that allows updates in seconds and will accommodate new interactive tools as we continue to build it: http://www.onestreet.org 

As we look ahead to 2010, still enjoying the adrenaline rush of 2009, I also sense a relishing of the calm that comes when programs approach their ideal cadence. Our work with our long-time partners continues to accelerate. ECF’s helmet campaign with which we’ve been assisting, has matured significantly and is now directly benefiting ECF, a top measurement of a successful campaign (read more below). The Prescott College bicycle course, which One Street has been helping to develop, will take on much greater impacts for increasing bicycling in 2010. And, our on-call support program for leaders of bicycle organizations around the world has grown to not only answer urgent calls from struggling leaders, but return to assist leaders we have previously helped as they expect far greater achievements for their now-healthy organizations.

So bring on 2010! We’re eager to take One Street to our next level for increasing bicycling through serving local leaders around the world! 

European Helmet Campaign Reaches Out

Gourmet chefs emphasize the time necessary to create a great meal. The same goes for great campaigns. The European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) began their work on their campaign to stop the dangerization of cycling through helmet promotions many years ago when they discovered an inability to increase bicycling where such promotions were taking place. By 2007, ECF’s Helmet Working Group concluded that it was time to launch a full campaign that charges directly at this helmet problem. With One Street’s help, following our proven campaign planning recommendations (find the outline here: www.onestreet.org/campaign-planning ), the ECF Helmet Working Group has created a powerful campaign to match the sometimes overwhelming influence of helmet myths and their abuse by officials seeking to avoid responsibility for dangerous cycling environments. 

ECF first introduced the campaign at the Velo-city conference in June 2009. The response was breathtaking! Leaders from around the world were thrilled to find an organization such as ECF finally taking on this problem. After Velo-city, the ECF Helmet Working Group, including One Street representatives, got to work on the next phase of the campaign—to build an ECF Helmets web page that directly serves the needs of leaders of ECF member organizations who are threatened by the helmet problem: http://www.ecf.com/3500_1 . Please take a look and offer your ideas.

And in early December, ECF’s international e-newsletter featured the campaign and website to invite ECF members and others to take part in this profound effort. So far, responses have come from as far away as Botswana. While we rejoice at the effectiveness of this outreach effort, we can’t ignore the sadness that comes when we realize that this helmet problem is devastating bicycle advocacy efforts not just in the U.S. and Europe, but in countries around the world. 

Resources Highlights – New Bicycle Helmets Page 

Following our news item on the great successes of ECF’s Helmets campaign, we’d like to invite you to visit One Street’s new Bicycle Helmets web page that includes highlights from the ECF campaign: www.onestreet.org/resources-for-increasing-bicycling/136-bicycle-helmets

Hot Topics – Renter’s Syndrome 

One Street’s specialty is working with leaders to overcome crises and help them increase the effectiveness of their organizations. One of the methods we use is to identify and name common dangers as syndromes. “Renter’s Syndrome” has made it to this month’s Hot Topics after several recent on-call sessions heightened our awareness of this pervasive threat. 

Imagine new renters, keys in hand, walking through the door of their new home. What is the first thing they do? Tear up the carpet, paint the walls, replace the appliances and yes, horror of horrors, sometimes even tear down walls. From the renters’ perspective, they’re just trying to make their new nest fit their needs. But from the landlord’s perspective, we scream with them in horror as they discover their property destroyed.

Unfortunately, there is often a frightening parallel when new leaders of organizations step into their roles. They can be newly elected board members or newly hired staff. When Renter’s Syndrome kicks in at organizations, rather than paint brushes and hammers, these are the most common tools of destruction:
  • Changing the organization’s name.
  • Rewriting the organization’s mission.
  • Replacing current, proven programs with new.
  • Rebuilding the entire organization in hopes of securing a particular funding source. 

If you are a leader of a healthy organization, you’ll laugh at these seemingly silly threats because your leadership team and organization culture and policies would never stand for any of this. Unfortunately, here at One Street we receive far too many calls from leaders of organizations who are engulfed in the aftermath of such destruction.

Prevent the threat of Renter’s Syndrome by establishing on-going procedures that honor the work of your current leadership team even as you welcome inspiring new leaders. Remind your current and new team members of the value of new ideas, but only as they fit into the strong organization foundation that has been built over the life of the organization. These procedures and reminders must happen at every board and staff meeting in order to build a healthy culture that honors both the past and the future. In the backdrop, get these concepts down on paper in your Mission-Vision statement, Bylaws, Board of Directors Letter of Agreement and staff documents (find templates here: www.onestreet.org/management  ).  

But just as even the strongest renter’s contract cannot stop an overzealous new renter from destroying a property, unless every current leader of your organization can articulate the culture that honors your organization’s past, you and your organization will be exposed to the dangers of Renter’s Syndrome. Start building that culture today by recalling the successes of the past, the vision you all share together, and the kind words of respect you can use to guide your new recruits away from destruction and towards helping to build on the current strengths of your organization.