One Street News

May-June 2011

Vol. 4, Issue 5

1. Bike Parts Shipment Arrives in Uganda
2. Resources – Complete Streets: It’s About More Than Just Bike Lanes
3. Hot Topics – Escaping Crisis Mode
4. Supporter Spotlight – The Robin Lee Whittlesey Foundation 

Bike Parts Shipment Arrives in Uganda

Our Social Bike Business program partner in Uganda, Ride 4 a Woman (R4W), rode a roller coaster of crisis and elation in May and June. Several weeks after we helped R4W secure Uganda’s first wholesale account for genuine bicycle parts they were thrilled to learn that their first order had arrived in Kampala. The boxes contained vital parts for their rental bike fleet, parts for bikes used by their women members, and professional tools necessary for their bicycle repair workshop in their women’s community centre, currently under construction.  

But almost immediately this exciting news was followed by devastating bad news – customs had slapped an unexpected fee of $562 onto the shipment and, unless it was paid in 21 days from the announcement, all of these precious items would be publicly auctioned!

Because R4W has been spending all the money they earn from their bike rentals to construct their women’s community centre they had no such amount available to pay this random fee. Desperation began to set in. 

But at One Street, helping leaders through such crises is one of our specialties. Working with the R4W leaders, we developed an emergency fundraising strategy, got the word out to select partners and individuals, some of whom even launched their own in-office fundraising challenges, and within ten days of the dire news, we had all raised the full amount plus the bank fees to wire it to R4W’s bank account. The money arrived one day before the items were to be auctioned! R4W leaders delivered the money and the boxes were released to continue their journey to Bwindi and R4W’s waiting arms. They can now turn their energies back towards fixing bikes and helping their women members learn bicycling and repair skills.

All of us at One Street and R4W want to thank everyone who contributed to solving this emergency. Here is a personal message from R4W’s Executive Director, Denis Rubalema:  

“We were stuck with no funds to pay this customs price tag and so we put out our cry to everyone who cares about Ride 4 a Woman to help us get this shipment out and like a miracle, this came to light.

We would like to thank you for helping us pay this huge bill and please send our warmest Thank You messages to all the donors that made this possible. Ride 4 a Woman is very grateful.

We pledge to continue doing the good work of helping to empower women with bicycles.”

Resources – Complete Streets: It’s About More Than Just Bike Lanes 

In our March e-newsletter, we highlighted a paper that takes a hard look at New York City’s recent efforts to improve bicycle infrastructure. They certainly aren’t doing everything right and, like all U.S. cities, have a long way to go before most of their citizens will give cycling a try, but their determination to get there is truly outstanding. This new video, Complete Streets: It’s About More Than Just Bike Lanes, demonstrates this determination and offers clear, easy street improvements that any city can implement to invite more people to choose bicycling and walking.

Hot Topics – Escaping Crisis Mode

As our lead article in this issue shows, sometimes there is no way to avoid a crisis. When such crises hit healthy organizations, the leaders jump into action to remedy the situation as quickly as possible so they can return to their good work.

However, at One Street, we have sometimes discovered a strange tendency in organizations that have suffered more than their fair share of crises – the leaders begin to see crisis mode as their normal mode of operation. When this occurs, these leaders tend to put off duties until the last minute, miss deadlines, and present their organization as a place where no one knows what might happen at any moment. This actually causes more crises and the cycle increases its pull away from effective work.

One Street has created our Priority Matrix as a graphic way to show how to avoid spending too much time in crisis mode so you can focus your time and energy on increasing bicycling.

If you realize that even close to half of your time with your organization is spent in crisis mode it’s time to make big changes. You can escape crisis mode and even avoid many crises by planning and keeping ahead of all your duties. Have you and your fellow leaders approved a work plan and budget for this year? If not, this would be the most important step. If you have a work plan and budget and you’ve still slipped into crisis mode, were these documents realistic? Have you been following them? Let us know if we can help with any of this.

Another critical duty for leaders is to keep track of upcoming deadlines and ensure that every report, proposal, bill to pay, and other important paperwork duties are submitted well before their deadline. Even a simple list in Word or Excel in chronological order will take care of this, if you check it regularly and ensure these duties are taken care of promptly. Also, look for potential crises and steps for avoiding them before they hit. As a leader of your organization your most important responsibility is to see everything, but not to actually do everything.

You must have a strong team of helpers you can rely on to take care of the important duties of running an organization. But only you, as leader, will be looking at everything. Stay ahead of deadlines and your work plan and budget. And make sure to celebrate all your accomplishments with your team so they will be glad to spend their time helping your organization achieve great things with bicycles.

Supporter Spotlight – The Robin Lee Whittlesey Foundation